RAYMOND McCORD has criticised Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward for formally accepting that the UVF and its sister paramilitary organisation, the Red Hand Commando, are honouring their ceasefires.
Mr McCord, whose son, also called Raymond, was murdered by the UVF in 1997, said the British government was wrong to “despecify” these organisations – ie accept they are observing their ceasefire commitments.
Mr McCord’s autobiography, Justice for Raymond, from Gill and Macmillan, was launched in Belfast last night. It is a gritty account of how his son was murdered and how elements in the RUC Special Branch protected his UVF killers because they were also police informants.
Former police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan’s investigation of how the police handled the murder investigation of his son resulted in her report last year confirming the thrust of Mr McCord’s allegations against the UVF and RUC Special Branch.
In her foreword to the book Mrs O’Loan described Mr McCord as a brave man. She said her report and the revelations in his book could never have been told but for his persistence in “his fight for justice”.
Mr McCord said it was wrong to despecify the UVF and Red Hand Commando when they had not decommissioned any weapons. These organisations remained involved in drug dealing, extortion, intimidation and other forms of crime, he said.
“In recent months my two sons were told by a prominent UVF member that they would end up the same as their brother, Raymond. And I am still on a key personal protection scheme because of the threat to my life from the UVF.
“How can that be observing a ceasefire?” asked Mr McCord.
“I want to hear from the UVF that my family and I are under no threat from them, but they refuse to issue such a statement. Shaun Woodward is letting them off far too easily,” he said.