Christy Walsh Hunger Strike: Day 23

Christy Walsh on Day 23 of his hunger strike with a copy of an email he sent this morning to Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson and his deputy, Martin McGuinness.


Dear Messrs Robinson & McGuinness

Today marks my 23rd day on Hunger-strike and still neither of you have responded to reasonable requests.


Under the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 and s.46 of the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 the Criminal Justice Inspectorate was given the power to inspect the Prosecution Service.  By law, CJI is not allowed to investigate individual cases but it can, when asked by the Minister for Justice, undertake specific pieces of work including investigations and reviews.  I am aware that the CJI has conducted one investigation of the PPS on other matters already at the Minister's request.

Some of the evidence against the Prosecutor in my case is as follows:


  1. All 4 members of the Parachute Regiment who Testified at my Trial swore on oath that they did not see anyone else near the scene of my arrest other than me on the 5th June 1991. 
  2. On 7th June 1991, RUC Officer, Adrian Smith, had my coat pockets measured to see if the device would fit in any.
  3. Later on 7th June 1991, Corporal Blacklock made a Statement alleging that I had the device in one of my pockets.
  4. Police were unaware of Private Boyce's Statement that he had also seen me with the device.  The existence of his Statement was only made known in February 1992.
  5. Private Willis was ordered to change his original statements to conceal the fact that he and his patrol had detained 3 other men in connection with the same device.
  6. Detective Superintendent John Derek Martindale was a crucial witness and could have Testified to confirm my innocence.  A report written by the senior dectective later that same day identified one of the other men as having had possession of the device.  This man, other reports  allege, was a known IRA member.
  7. In December 1992 the Prosecutor, Gary McCrudden, improperly prejudiced the Trial Judge's mind by including an unconnected murder file in the book of evidence.  When challenged by my lawyers for doing this he replied: “As your Honour will know, these matters can never be evidence in themselves in any event unless they are accepted expressly or implicitly by the accused.”  On the 8th June 2008, 16 years late, the Prosecution Service finally confirmed that the file referring to the murder “contains nothing relating to your client”.
  8. In November 1998 Corporal Blacklock confirmed that he and the other members of his patrol had been "coached" prior to my Trial.
  9. Also in 1998, Private Boyce retracted his Trial Testimony under Police caution after it was shown to be demonstrably false.
  10. In 2008, Kerr LCJ ordered the Prosecutor to bring Private Boyce before the Court of Appeal.  After a reasonable delay the Prosecutor later falsely told the Lord Chief Justice that Private Boyce could no longer be traced.  Detective Gary McMurran, appalled that the Prosecutor had perverted the course of justice, that same day gave my lawyers a written account of how he had successfully traced Private Boyce.
  11. In March 2010 I took crucial exculpatory evidence from the Prosecutor's files which the Prosecutor withheld from the exhibits file at my Trial and alleged that I was making up false claims about these Photographs in order to try and discredit the Police.
  12. On 16th March 2010 the Justice Minister, David Ford revived the malicious prosecution against me and has been using false evidence to criminalize me in order to cover-up for prosecutorial misconduct.
  13. David Ford maintains that the Soldiers accounts remain intact because I am not a credible  person.
  14. David Ford has also perverted the course of justice by falsely informing Weatherup J that only 1 other man had been arrested and not 3.
  15. David Ford also falsely claimed before Weatherup J that the arrest of the 'known IRA man' had occurred hours later in a follow up operation and not by the same patrol who had detained me.  Police records time his arrest to have occurred as much as 15minutes before I was.
  16. The Justice Minister falsely alleged that he had forensic evidence against me.  The Prosecutor conceded at my Trial that there was no Forensic evidence, I quote:

The essential matter in this case is that if the Crown case is correct, as I say it is, and if your honour accepts the evidence of the Crown witnesses then the jar was in his pocket; he had possession of it, and there was no forensic evidence. If there was no forensic evidence then it must be for the reasons explained by the forensic witnesses who gave evidence. But the contrary version of that is that if the accused is right then very serious misdeeds have taken place.


The Trial Judge concluded that the absence of “forensic evidence did not assist the Crown in relation to the crucial issue as to whether the device was in the possession of the defendant”.
During the proceedings none of my lawyers represented me, they did not challenge any of the Minister's false evidence nor did they mention anything remotely about the main reason we were in court that day, namely that the Minister was acting unlawfully (ultra vires) in refusing to exercise his statutory powers to refer the evidence to the CJI.

My acting Solicitor Mr Kevin Winters has made 2 allegations; 1) Ms Karen Quinlivan, QC did not follow his instructions, and, 2) he was intimidated by the Minister to the point that he feared for his personal safety.

These matters need to be independently investigated and until they are I will remain on Hunger-strike.

I think the contempt with which both of you are treating me with to date  is wholly unjustified and unconscionable.  

Yours sincerely
Christy Walsh

1 comment:

  1. I read Prime Minister David Cameron visited Belfast's Titanic Quarter yesterday as part of his pre election wooing. Perhaps a copy of my letter to him concerning your plight wouldn't go a miss along with one to our local conservative leader whom I'm no stranger to having lobbied her on various issues to date.

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