Trimble dismisses allegations by DUP over NI murder

The Northern Ireland Office and the North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, have dismissed a DUP claim that Mr Peter Mandelson is withholding information on whether the IRA killed Mr Edmund McCoy in order to protect the fledgling devolved administration.

Mr Ian Paisley jnr, of the DUP, based his allegations on a purported NIO letter to Mr Trimble which allegedly stated that it would be politically "counterproductive" for the Northern Secretary, Mr Mandelson, to state who he believed murdered Mr McCoy in Dunmurry two weeks ago.

Mr Paisley yesterday disclosed a copy of the letter, purportedly written to Mr Trimble by an NIO civil servant on Mr Mandelson's behalf in response to a query from the First Minister about the McCoy murder.

The letter suggests that Mr Mandelson was suppressing information about the murder to safeguard the Assembly and the Executive. The letter allegedly states: "While the Secretary of State understands the need for clarity in relation to the security assessment of this matter, he feels it would be counterproductive to announce a clear view of that assessment at this time, as there is need to build confidence in the present arrangements."

Mr Paisley asserted that the letter was genuine and claimed it was "proof of a conspiracy of silence" in the heart of the NIO about the McCoy murder. Despite the official denials, the authenticity of the letter would be "established in time", he added.

However, a spokeswoman for Mr Mandelson said that no such letter had been written by the NIO or sent to Mr Trimble. "No such memo was written or received", she said.

Mr Trimble also denied that there was any such correspondence between him and the NIO. He suggested that the letter was a forgery. "I can only imagine that this is a letter that has been planted. I am very sorry that the DUP have rushed into the media on this without bothering to check the authenticity. It is not the first time that they have been taken in by things which later turn out to be forgeries", he said.

Meanwhile, yesterday's statement by the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, that there were "certain intelligence indications" that the IRA murdered Mr McCoy prompted further calls to have Sinn Fein's two ministers excluded from government.

Mr Mandelson said last week that if there was evidence that the IRA killed Mr McCoy, that could have an impact on IRA prisoner releases. However, unless such evidence is established quickly, Mr Mandelson's threat could prove academic, as almost all remaining 50 IRA prisoners will have been released by July 28th under the early release scheme of the Belfast Agreement.

The deputy leader of the DUP, Mr Peter Robinson, said that the Chief Constable's comments made it imperative that "any democrat with a modicum of propriety" would support his party's attempts to table an Assembly motion seeking to have Mr Martin McGuinness and Ms Bairbre de Brun excluded from the Executive. Any unionist who refused to support the motion would be "swept from office" at the first opportunity, he added.

Despite this warning, the DUP has so far failed to obtain the required 30 signatures to have its motion discussed at the next Assembly sitting on Monday.

However, even if the motion was eventually tabled, Mr McGuinness and Ms de Brun could only be removed from ministerial office on a cross-community vote of the Assembly. This appears unlikely, as the SDLP would be reluctant to support an expulsion order against Sinn Fein.