As part of a prolonged PSNI vendetta against the man the force falsely accused him in 2020 of being in possession of 81 indecent images, some of which were categorised as 'A' - those considered most depraved. The allegation was withdrawn after 24 hours and unconvincingly explained away as a computer error by the PSNI.
A complaint was upheld by the Police Ombudsman regarding this incident and the officer in question was removed from duties and given further training . . . This was an extremely distressing ordeal for our client to go through, not only for himself, but for his wife and young family. He attended several counselling services in the years following to help him cope with the trauma. To date, the police have not issued our client with an apology and legal proceedings are ongoing.
The father of one has claimed that from he reached the age of sixteen he has been in the sights of the PSNI, keen to monitor his republican activism. So unrelenting has the harassment been, resulting in the egregiously false accusation, that the former prisoner said he has been rendered traumatised, leading to suicidal ideation. Had this young man ended his own life on receipt of the allegation against him, PSNI perfidy would have been covered up and the smear that he took a coward's way out rather than face accountability for his actions allowed to prevail, even though he was guilty of nothing.
He and his wife have been repeatedly arrested, held for days, and had social services referred to their house a number of times by the PSNI. They have catalogued every time police officers called to their home.In total, since 2013, he said he has been stopped and searched at least 89 times.
His home has been the target of many PSNI raids. When not searching his abode the cops would frequently drive up to it and and shine lights into it, causing distress to his family and discomfort to his neighbours.
As it transpires the inaptly named PSNI Intelligence Unit now acknowledges that he is no longer a person of interest.
In a month week that saw the PSNI take extra large egg to its face as a result of its failed ten year legal pursuit, and ultimately collapsed prosecution, of three republican activists, the force has yet again demonstrated that the PSNI apple did not fall far from the RUC tree which bore it. During that trial the force's dissembling, bamboozling and manipulation of evidence led to the case it sought to present being thrown out. A waste of a decade, not to mention the draining effect on the public purse.
While the man's solicitor has described the latest allegations as a 'catastrophic error', the PSNI's victim suggests that while catastrophic it was not an error but deliberate and vindictive. Speaking to TPQ he said:
I believe the PSNI did not make a mistake and this was a deliberate attempt to warn me as to what they were capable of doing in order to deter me for constantly challenging them whether it be during stop and searches, arrests, while they were sitting outside my house at all hours etc. I was lodging numerous complaints with PONI and other legal bodies and NGOs in an attempt to hold them to account, supplying evidence of harassment and misconduct. The PSNI were also aware of my personal battles with my mental health and I often wonder if this was a way to try and send me over the edge and get me to end my own life (as it is harder for them in this day and age to get away with actually killing people themselves). I intend to take this case against the PSNI all the way for what they did to me and my family. I still suffer today from the effects this has had on me. My son at the time was 5 weeks old and they’ve taken away my joy of being a new father. I will never get this time back.
His wife added that there was no genuine sense of regret on the part of the PSNI in the wake of acknowledging it had got things all so wrong:
Dealing with the matter by granting an individual cop a fool's pardon, does not remotely address the systemic vindictiveness that courses through the PSNI veins. The Jeffrey Donaldson sage in recent days has demonstrated the depth of hostility that accusations of paedophilia can engender. Even when not yet proven, the accused can plummet from hero to zero in a heartbeat. A community or family can turn on a person in an instant, leaving them friendless, marginalised and isolated. The trauma that this former republican prisoner and his family was forced to endure is unimaginable, and then to be given the ha ha ha treatment and still no apology four years on.
Seeing is believing. If I hadn’t lived with my husband for the past 8 years and he told me what the PSNI had done to him, I would be thinking “this guy has lost his mind or he must be paranoid!” Sadly, I have witnessed and been the victim of the PSNI and other British state agencies’ insidious tactics. I thought that the constant stop and searches, antagonising and harassing of my husband was bad enough but when they pulled that stunt with the images, it didn’t look just petty anymore. In fact, I took it as a personal attack on my family because, at this point, they didn’t care about the impact this would have on us. The day after we were told that they had made a “mistake”, an unmarked police car drove up to our street, the two occupants put their window down, put Covid masks on and shouted “Ha! Ha! Ha!” three times all over our street. I couldn’t believe it! If someone told me that, I’d think they’re full of it but when you see it with your own eyes, it’s staggering!
Dealing with the matter by granting an individual cop a fool's pardon, does not remotely address the systemic vindictiveness that courses through the PSNI veins. The Jeffrey Donaldson sage in recent days has demonstrated the depth of hostility that accusations of paedophilia can engender. Even when not yet proven, the accused can plummet from hero to zero in a heartbeat. A community or family can turn on a person in an instant, leaving them friendless, marginalised and isolated. The trauma that this former republican prisoner and his family was forced to endure is unimaginable, and then to be given the ha ha ha treatment and still no apology four years on.
Despicable and disgraceful are two words which leap to mind when characterising the PSNI behaviour. It is being called to account not by the toothless Policing Board which did nothing other than sing The Sound Of Silence, but by the man, his wife and their solicitor, with little help from other bodies. Their lonely struggle is underscored by the lack of assistance from agencies appealed to.
I personally have raised it with International Red Cross, CAJ, Amnesty international, MOJO, SDLP, PBP, Saoradh, RNU, 32 CSM, IRSP, Provisional Sinn Fein, Human Rights Commission, Equality Commission. Most above refused to provide any assistance or condemnation.
The man at the centre of this PSNI vendetta, while having emerged the other side battered and bruised, remains on the ground rather than in it. Others might not be so fortunate, finding the burden of trauma occasioned by vindictiveness too weighty to carry. By highlighting their experience the former republican prison and his supportive wife hope to shine the spotlight, so often shone into their own home, deep into the recesses of PSNI perfidy.
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