THE man who admitted killing a schoolboy, Gavin Malcolm, said yesterday he hinted at a police deal in letters he had sent while on remand.
Thomas Haggan (19), giving evidence against three other Lurgan men at Belfast Crown Court accused of the April 1994 killing, denied he ever made a deal with the authorities.
Haggan denied he even thought, about seeking a deal and said that what he had written was just one, of "a lot of stupid things" he had put in a number of letters he had sent. In another instance, he claimed what he had written had been done in order to see if hem could trust someone.
Haggan made the claims while being cross examined for the fourth day by Mr James Gallagher, defence lawyer for Mr Keith Brown (23), of Ashleigh Crescent, who with RIR Private Jason Chittick (22), of Pine Park, and Mr William Turkington (18), of Monroe Avenue, all of Lurgan, deny throwing the schoolboy to his death from a block of flats.
In one letter, sent in October 1994 to Mr Brown's girlfriend Haggan admitted writing that the "RUC bastards say that if I plead guilty to murder they will be able to make me some sort of deal". But when asked why he should write something like that if it were not true, Haggan replied: "To see if I could trust her. I just made it up to see if she would repeat it."
He made the same claim when asked about a second letter in which he talked about turning queen's evidence, and sent to her four months after being given indefinite detention for his part in the killing. But Haggan admitted he could not explain why writing about such matters would enable him to test her trust.
Throughout the cross examination Haggan claimed he never sought a deal with the police and that he was never made aware of "what options and deals" were open to him.
He also denied he thought it would be in his interests to seek a deal with the authorities in case, bone of his alleged accomplices did so first. Later, he denied that part of his motivation for giving evidence was "to get others convicted of murder" to make himself look better.
Dismissing the defence suggestion, Haggan said: "I admitted what I did." Under cross examination by Mr Terence McDonald QC, for Turkington, Haggan claimed he was not a "violent person", although he could not explain why he had jumped on the schoolboy's head. Pressed as to why he had done so, Haggan said he could not remember.
The trial continues today.