RUC BRUTALITY FILE:IN A revealing note on the RUC brutality file, Dr Maurice Hayes (the future Northern Ireland Ombudsman and a member of Seanad Éireann 1997-2007) reported a meeting with Dr Robert Irwin, one of the police surgeons, on April 4th, 1978.
Irwin struck the official as "a completely credible witness . . . concerned about his own professional standards and aware of the difficulties of the police. He is not a troublemaker or an agitator but is concerned with the public good . . . and with the human rights of persons in custody".
Hayes reported to ministers: "Dr Irwin said that the recent report to the Police Authority had effected no change. He was alarmed at the number of prisoners showing signs of injury which could not be self-inflicted. These were continuing and were associated with a group of eight or 10 policemen who were consistently described to the doctors by injured prisoners and were familiarly known as the "Goon Squad". He was convinced that these officers were maltreating prisoners under interrogation as a matter of policy approved by the chief constable." Irwin said there was a marked increase in the incidence of injuries when deputy chief constable Jack Hermon was on leave.
More importantly, Hayes added: "The surgeons also feel that they were used to secure a favourable report from Amnesty International and are determined not to be so used again. If asked by Amnesty, they were not prepared to stand over the present practice.
"It is very obvious to me that the doctors are nearly at the end of their patience and getting little satisfaction from the Police Authority and less from the chief constable. Some have been subjected to personal threats by anonymous phone calls."
On April 17th, 1978, one of the police surgeons, Dr Elliott, tendered his request for a transfer from Gough Barracks, Armagh, triggering a flurry at Stormont Castle. At the same time chairman of the police authority Sir Myles Humphreys wrote to secretary of state for Northern Ireland Roy Mason regarding the concerns of police doctors that the ill-treatment had resumed in March 1978.
In his letter Elliott noted that he had asked for a transfer due to "the intolerable situation regarding the mal-treatment of prisoners". The issue was discussed at a meeting in Dundonald House, Belfast, on April 18th, 1978. It was attended by junior minister James Dunn and officials. Dunn said he wished to get to the root of the problem so that it could be rectified. He emphasised that "he would not condone cruelty or the man-handling of persons being questioned in Armagh or other centres and, if it was happening, it would have to be stopped". Dunn took the view that it was essential that Elliott was persuaded to stay in his position on the assurance that action would be taken. His departure would trigger a public argument which would only assist men of violence.
By April 1978 the Standing Advisory Committee on Human Rights had taken up the case of ill-treatment. Under pressure, the RUC chief constable agreed to meet police doctors Alexander, Elliott and Irwin and to consider closed-circuit television at interrogation centres. The doctors welcomed his initiative and Elliott agreed to withdraw his transfer request.
The situation improved rapidly. In a letter to Mason on May 11th, 1978, Humphreys reported that the police surgeons were satisfied that "the recrudescence of cases" which had caused them such disquiet in March had ceased.
In June an Amnesty report confirmed consistent evidence of malpractice by RUC interrogators. The following March (1979) the Bennett report confirmed medical evidence of ill-treatment at holding centres and the British government accepted its main recommendations.
Maltreatment: pressure mounts
THE RUC brutality crisis deepened on December 9th, 1977, with a strong letter from Joe Cooper, a leading trade unionist and chairman of the Armagh Prison Board of Visitors.
Cooper informed secretary of state for Northern Ireland Roy Mason that the board had on the previous day interviewed six female prisoners at Armagh Jail who had just returned from Armagh courthouse, having been escorted by a detail of the RUC.
"The prisoners were in a very distressed and shocked condition. A couple had torn clothing and others had bruises and marks of having been recently physically assaulted by the RUC escort party at Armagh courthouse. Cooper impressed on the secretary of state: "The Board of Visitors were very concerned at the condition of the prisoners who were seen in the prison hospital where they were examined by the Prison Doctor and nurse. It was unanimously decided to minute this concern and to request that the allegations be investigated to prevent a re-occurrence of the distressed witness."