Gerry Adams signed off on operations of the Provisional IRA in the mid- to late 1990s, such as the 1996 Manchester truck bombs, a former British intelligence officer has told London’s high court.
Retired brigadier Ian Liles, who was posted to Northern Ireland over several years while in the British army, alleged Adams “would have authorised all attacks on the mainland at that time, as they were cleared through the army council [of the Provisional IRA], of which he was an active member”.
“There is simply no way that the bombings in 1996 could have happened without the oversight and approval of Adams,” Liles (72) told the fifth day of the civil case against the former Sinn Féin leader.
Three victims of IRA bombings in Britain are taking the case against Adams: 1973 Old Bailey bombing survivor John Clark; 1996 London docklands bombing survivor Jonathan Ganesh; and Barry Laycock, survivor of the 1996 Manchester Arndale bombing.
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They are seeking £1 “vindicatory” damages from Adams and claim he was responsible for the bombs. Adams (77) strongly denies any involvement and has always rejected claims he was in the IRA.
Liles, who served in the army for more than 30 years, said he did not know whether Adams has “started to believe his own story” that he was not in the Provisional IRA, but “to me it looks like the only person who thinks that Adams wasn’t in the PIRA [Provisional IRA] is Adams”.
He said intelligence from “high-grade, well-placed sources” said Adams joined the army council around the late 1970s and remained on it into the late 2000s.
“By 1994 to 1995, Adams had wiped his hands of putting a combat jack on, but he was still the leading figure on the PIRA army council and steered the army council into the type of attacks he wanted to achieve a political aim; all the mainland bombings would have been cleared through him without a doubt,” he said.
Cross-examined by Adams’s barrister, James Robottom, Liles denied he was “speculating” about Adams’s membership of the army council by 1996.
Between 1995 and 1997, Liles commanded a battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment. Robottom suggested he was not, during this time, in an “intelligence role”. Liles said this appointment did not say “intelligence officer”, but he had access to “high-grade intelligence” during this period.
He was “not speculating at all” in his claim that Adams approved the 1996 Manchester bomb, he said, adding that this assertion was based on “briefings and intelligence”.
Robottom said that by 1996, Adams was a leading proponent of the peace proposal, while there were also “splits” in the IRA around this time, with some elements “pushing harder to continue the armed struggle”.
Liles did not agree with counsel that any intelligence source who was at this point claiming Adams wanted to “take the war to the Brits” would not have had Adams’s interests at heart. However, he told the court he did not know exactly who this source was.
Questioned about his support of maintaining the United Kingdom’s Legacy Act, which has offered conditional immunity to British soldiers against prosecution for alleged crimes during the Troubles, Liles said he was interested in soldiers’ interests but was not the “most vocal” proponent of retaining the original Act.
He refuted Robottom’s suggestion that he was not an independent witness or that he was “hostile” to Adams.
The case continues on Tuesday, when Adams is due to give evidence.
