Adams criticised over claims about murder suspects by victim’s son

The son of murdered prison officer Brian Stack has again disputed claims by Gerry Adams that he told the Sinn Féin leader the names of the people he suspected killed his father.

Mr Adams has said the names of three Sinn Féin figures, and a fourth former IRA figure, said to be connected with the murder of prison officer Brian Stack in 1983, were given to him by Austin Stack, the deceased’s son.

Mr Stack says there are inconsistencies in the claims by Mr Adams.

“He said he gave the names to the Garda Commissioner in an email on 22nd February 2016 ‘in the immediate aftermath’ of a meeting with me and my brother.

“This is not possible as the last time we met with Gerry Adams was in November 2013,” Mr Stack told Newstalk Breakfast.

In an interview on LM FM yesterday, Mr Adams repeated his claim that Austin Stack gave him the names of the suspects.

“This would mean he sat on those names for two and a half years,” said Mr Stack on Friday.

“My family has been subjected to a pattern of denial from Gerry Adams for 30 years. Now we are being subjected to a pattern of untruth and deception.

“It is very disappointing that he would behave in this fashion.”

Mr Stack said there was further inconsistency as one of the four names on the list sent by Mr Adams to the commissioner is of a person he does not believe was involved in his father’s death.

“Why would I give him the name of someone I did not believe had anything to do with my father’s death?”

‘Kangaroo courts’

Taoiseach Enda Kenny rebuked Mr Gerry Adams during his visit to the United States for the failure of the Republican movement to disclose information about the murder.

Mr Adams has said that the killing was not authorised by the IRA and that a senior Republican figure was “disciplined” by the group, while its leadership had apologised to the Stack family.

“Kangaroo courts are no substitute for the courts of the land. Gerry Adams seems to have known about this for a very long time. This is another case of the full truth not being known,” Mr Kenny told reporters during his second day of his US visit.

“The laws of the land are that justice should apply to everybody and somebody’s who has murdered a man in cold-blood should be brought before the court to be punished by the courts and dealt with by the laws of the land.”

The Taoiseach said that he was prepared to meet the murdered Austin Stack and and that he would expect to hear more about the killing when he speaks to Mr Adams.

“This is a cold-blooded murder. The person or persons who carried that out were not brought before the courts, were not punished by the courts and they are after all the only courts we have in our country,” he said.

“Kangaroo courts need not apply here.”