A Belfast journalist who helped in the preparation of a Channel 4 documentary alleging the existence of a loyalist murder committee denied a suggestion in the High Court in London yesterday that the main source in the programme had based his testimony on press reports rather than on his knowledge of events.
Mr Martin O'Hagan, of the Sunday World, knew the main source, Mr Jim Sands, described in earlier court hearings as a loyalist fanatic, who made the allegations in the programme, which was broadcast in October 1991.
Mr O'Hagan was giving evidence in a libel action brought by television producer Mr Sean McPhilemy (52) following an article in the Sunday Times in May 1993 which claimed his programme, which also alleged collusion between the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries, was a hoax. The newspaper is standing over its claim and pleads justification.
The Dispatches programme alleged there was a secret committee of professional people, security forces and loyalist paramilitaries which colluded to murder Catholics and republicans. Yesterday, Mr McPhilemy's counsel, Mr James Price QC, said: "It has been suggested that Mr Sands might have been passing on information he had gained from stories you had published in the Sunday World."
Mr O'Hagan, giving evidence for Mr McPhilemy, replied: "That's not true, it's not true."
Mr O'Hagan told Mr Justice Eady and the jury that his conviction in the early 1970s for possessing firearms resulted from his agreeing to collect a number of rifles for the Official IRA. He served three-and-a-half years in the Maze Prison, regarding himself as a political prisoner, and took an Open University course which he later continued at the University of Ulster. He started working for the Sunday World in 1987. Mr O'Hagan said his relationship with Mr Sands went back to the late 1980s and they became good friends.
"He gave me a real insight into the closed Orange orders, run like Masonic lodges and very secretive. His information from the hub of loyalism was priceless, and he had information from the paramilitaries on the ground. I found him generally to be accurate," he said.
The hearing continues on Monday with further evidence from Mr O'Hagan.