Alex Constantine - August 24, 2010
" ... A report released Tuesday, Aug. 24, by Northern Ireland's police ombudsman found that the police, the British government and the Catholic Church worked together to protect a priest who was suspected of being involved in one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles. On a summer's day in 1972, the sleepy village of Claudy in County Londonderry was ripped apart by three no-warning car bombs. Nine people were killed — five Catholics and four Protestants — and 30 injured, some horrifically. Three of the victims were children, including 8-year-old Kathryn Eakin, who was earning pocket money by cleaning the windows of her parents' shop on the village's main street. According to ombudsman Al Hutchinson's report, top-grade intelligence indicated that Father James Chesney, believed to be the IRA's director of operations in south Derry, was a prime suspect in the attack. But after secret talks between Secretary of State for Northern Ireland William Whitelaw and Cardinal William Conway, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Chesney was transferred to a parish in Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. He was never investigated by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) — predecessor to the current Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) — and died suddenly in 1980 at age 46. No one was ever charged with the Claudy attack. ... " - Time, Aug. 24, 2010
