British Politics in the Case of Lee Clegg
British Politics in the Case of Lee Clegg
Was Lee Clegg a murderer or just a political pawn? Was this the Nationalists revenge for Bloody Sunday? The DPP thought there was no case to answer. Why was he then convicted, paroled and then acquitted of the charge? The army obviously never thought of him as a killer so then why did the British government bow to Irish pressure and then act on Public Pressure for his release and acquittal?
The incident of which Lee Clegg was convicted of happened in September 1990. Some reports state that there was no Vehicle Stop Point that night, yet a sixteen man Army /RUC joint patrol set off to the Upper Glen to arrest joyriders. The army hid in the bushes while the RUC officers set up the Vehicle Stop Point to stop suspect vehicles. Just before midnight auxiliary psychiatric nurse Eugene Brannigan missed his turning after dropping a friend at home. He stopped in the middle of the Glen Road to do a U-turn. There was no Vehicle Stop Point, no soldiers, and no police. Suddenly, soldiers appeared "out of the bushes". While the soldiers were dealing with Eugene the stolen Astra appeared. At the wheel was 17-year-old Martin Peake, in the back was 18-year-old Karen Reilly, and teenager Markievicz Gorman was the third occupant of the car. They trio had been driving around West Belfast for several hours. They failed to stop at the Vehicle Stop Point so the soldiers opened fire fearing that they could have been terrorists carrying explosives, Karen Reilly was killed The car occupants apart from breaking the law by joyriding must have seen the soldiers and RUC at the Vehicle Stop Point. It was claimed that the soldiers concocted a story to cover their tracks and the PC Gibson one of the RUC officers went along with the false tale. The soldiers including Lee Clegg continued to patrol the streets for a further eleven months. In January 1991 the DPP stamped the case “No Prosecution”. A Panorama program on “Shoot to kill” policy led to unrest in the local people of Belfast, PC Gibson changed his story, and the soldiers were arrested. Lee Clegg was tried in a Diplock court. A lower standard of...