A Sinn Féin official who had charges dropped against him over an alleged republican spy ring at Stormont claimed today that police arrested him as part of a campaign to save David Trimble's political career.
Denis Donaldson, who with Ciaran Kearney and William Mackessy had charges dropped at Belfast Crown Court yesterday, said he was not surprised at the decision to drop the case against them.
Mr Donaldson, Sinn Féin's head of administration
"I wasn't surprised because we weren't guilty," said Mr Donaldson, Sinn Féin's head of administration at Stormont at the time of the arrests in 2002.
"There was no spy ring at Stormont. There never was. What it all added up to was politically inspired charges which should never have been brought.
"The fact that the media was here on the morning that our office [at Stormont] was raided testifies to that.
"It was part of a Save Dave campaign initially and it was also designed to bring down the institutions, which it did."
Mr Donaldson (55) of Altnamonagh Crescent in West Belfast and his son-in-law, Mr Kearney (34), of Commedagh Drive, were charged with having information that was likely to be of use to terrorists. Civil servant William Mackessy (47), from Wolfend Way in North Belfast, was also charged.
But in a dramatic development yesterday, the prosecutor told Belfast Crown Court that it was withdrawing all evidence against the men and a prosecution was no longer in the public interest.
With no evidence against them, Mr Justice Hart ruled that all three should be found not guilty.
Mr Donaldson, Mr Kearney and Mr Mackessy joined Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and the party's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness at Stormont today.
They were also joined by East Derry Assembly member Francie Brolly who was released last week after being questioned by the Police Service of Northern Ireland about a triple IRA car bomb attack on the village of Claudy that killed nine people in 1972.
In a statement yesterday the PSNI, which arrested the three men and carried out a high-profile raid on Sinn Féin's offices in October 2002, noted the decision of the Public Prosecution Service.
The PSNI said: "The entitlement of those three individuals to the presumption of innocence remains intact."
"There are no further lines of inquiry and no individuals are being sought by the police," the statement said.
Mr Donaldson said today he was not surprised by the PSNI statement.
"I didn't expect the police to say any less than what they said or anything different from what they said."
Mr Donaldson, who was previously an IRA prisoner, said the trio were consulting legal representatives about what course of action they could follow regarding the police arrests following their acquittal.
Mr Adams said the collapse of the case once again underlined the need to face up to elements within the PSNI who, he claimed, were opposed to political progress.
PA