A PRISON officer has been suspended and a criminal investigation begun after a note with details concerning the then governor of the North’s main jail was planted in the cell of a republican suspect.
The finding was made by Pauline McCabe, the Prison Ombudsman, following her investigation into the incident involving Brendan McConville, who is being held in Maghaberry Prison. He is charged with the murder of PSNI constable Stephen Carroll in Craigavon, Co Armagh, in March 2009.
Ms McCabe, who had been investigating the alleged planting of a note by a member of staff in Mr McConville’s cell in December 2009, claims: “On the balance of probabilities, the note was planted in Mr McConville’s cell to try to encourage the governor of Maghaberry Prison to reconsider planned changes he was proposing to make at the prison”.
The governor at the time was Stephen Rodford and he has since resigned from the post fearing his life and his family were under threat from republican dissidents. The note, written on toilet paper, contained his name and car registration.
Mr McConville’s solicitor believes his client is being framed. Kevin Winters said: “A key component of the investigation will be whether or not this was an isolated act or, indeed, whether or not a person or persons were acting in concert”.
He added: “This is a devastating blow to the credibility of the prison regime and we intend to raise the findings in the courts”.
The police investigation will be undertaken by a detective new to the case rather than one from the unit involved in the original inquiry.
A Prison Service spokeswoman confirmed an officer has been suspended: “We have launched a disciplinary investigation into this matter which has been adjourned pending the outcome of a police investigation”.