Punitive Measure Designed to Cloak Injustice

Angela Nelson, chair of Justice for the Craigavon 2 with a press release from yesterday about the sentence review for John Paul Wootton
 

Press Release on John Paul Wootton Sentence Review


Today the appeal court and the Public prosecution service have sought to increase the sentence of John Paul Wootton.

This punitive measure is designed to cloak the fact that John Paul Wootton and Brendan McConville are victims of one of the most blatant miscarriages of justice in recent times.

A cursory look at the facts and so called evidence used shows quite clearly that both men have for this past five years been used as scapegoats for a system determined to get someone get anyone for a killing most likely orchestrated by the very people tasked to prevent such things from happening.
 The litany of abuses, abnormalities, outright lies and under hand and devious tactics used by every strand of the so called justice system in this case is an indictment of a system that while claiming to safeguard a new dispensation actually exposes just how retrospective and draconian it has become. Years of special powers, Diplock courts and the erosion of the right of the individuals at the mercy of this system to the presumption of innocent until proven guilty has been turned on its head.

From the very start regardless of the fact that no evidence existed, it became very apparent that this system claimed Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton as guilty, and with a deck heavily stacked against them both men had to then prove their innocence.

An eye witness who's testimony was medically impossible, who was a paid perjurer, who has been called a Walter Mitty and a liar by his own family and despite the fact that we all know Witness Ms identity we all know of his vulnerable nature, we are barred by the system from speaking his name lest the public know the kind of individual this court of law accepts as credible and sends to men to jail for life on his word.

The spying by MI5, the destruction of evidence by the SAS, the sabotage of the appeal by the PSNI, the planting of evidence by the prison service, all set the tone and illustrated the lengths the system has sought to maintain the convictions of Brendan and John Paul.

The appeal court’s decision in the spring, conveniently threadbare, refusing to account for flawed and contradictory evidence by not dealing with it at all, afraid of the consequences a quashed conviction might bring, afraid that the veil may fall fully and expose the truth at the core of this miscarriage of justice.

We the Justice for the Craigavon Two Group have redoubled our efforts confident that next week, next month, next year, next time we will do enough to overturn this gross injustice.

We have called to the public for help, Brendan and John Paul have called for your help, and you have replied in kind, more and more are reading the case files the facts, and are coming to the same conclusions we have come to, more and more are raising their voices.

At some stage the rising crescendo will become a serious embarrassment to a system that prides itself as one of the best in the world, and when that day arrives they will concede defeat and the political decision that was taken to scapegoat the Craigavon Two will be rescinded.

2 comments:

  1. As a small first step we should all write/email all those people who we know are likely to be standing in our areas in the next elections asking them as to where they stand on this issue and reminding them that if they dont declare public support for Brendan and Pauls case they wont be receiving a vote

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  2. It's bloody sickening to think that Ford slaps himself on the back for a post well done and continues to focus on cutting the legal aid bill when such miscarriages of justice occur on his watch...these two are not the only ones.
    Meanwhile McGrory the poacher turned game keeper and a person who has extensive experience of the judicial system here publicly pushes for greater sentencing and pursued this case from the beginning knowing the injustice that was to be done....should he escape our attention?
    These people need publicly lambasted for these injustices since our glorious elected representatives don't see any injustice at all....I wonder if Brendan or Paul were called Padraig Wilson would that have made a difference or where is Seamus Mallon, that great warrior of injustice.....should we demand a Brendan and Paul law?

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