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Kevin Fulton denies being liar at Smithwick Tribunal Kevin Fulton 'knew RUC officers who passed information to IRA'
(about 1 hour later)
A former British agent inside the IRA has denied being a "pathological liar" at the Smithwick Tribunal in Dublin. A former British agent has claimed that he knew of two RUC men who passed information to the IRA.
Kevin Fulton is testifying at the tribunal which is investigating alleged Garda collusion in the IRA murder of two RUC officers in March 1989. Kevin Fulton was testifying at the Smithwick tribunal into alleged Garda collusion in the IRA murders of two other RUC officers on 20 March 1989.
He claimed a senior Garda officer destroyed vital evidence after the 1979 Narrow Water IRA bomb attack which killed 18 British soldiers. Earlier, he denied being a "pathological liar" at the tribunal in Dublin.
He also claimed some RUC officers set up colleagues for the IRA. It is investigating the murders of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan.
The tribunal is investigating the murders of Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan, who were shot dead in south Armagh shortly after leaving a meeting at Dundalk Garda station. They were shot dead in south Armagh shortly after leaving a meeting at Dundalk Garda station.
Mr Fulton, whose real name is Peter Keeley, has claimed Dundalk-based Detective Garda Sergeant Owen Corrigan assisted the IRA on several occasions over the years. Mr Fulton, a former British agent who infiltrated the IRA, was cross-examined at the tribunal on Thursday. He spoke of how "top IRA men in Newry thought I was a great IRA person".
Mr Corrigan denies all such allegations. He described his work as a double agent as a "labour of love" and confirmed that he had previously worked for the British Army, MI5, Customs and Excise and the police.
On Thursday, Mr Fulton told the tribunal: "After the Narrow Water bombing it was said that Owen Corrigan helped the IRA that time." Mr Fulton claimed there were "cops in the north also helping us". When asked to clarify if he was suggesting some RUC officers helped the IRA, he said: "Of course there was. Certain ones are public knowledge, others are not."
Kidnapped and murdered "One was convicted and the other was arrested and they managed to get him out, he was an RUC reservist, he was associating with an IRA man in Dundalk, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy, the police knew about it as well."
The 51-year-old again alleged Mr Corrigan had also been involved in tipping off the IRA off that Mr Breen and Mr Buchanan were in Dundalk, cleaned fingerprints off a 1,000lb bomb found in Omeath and had told the IRA that County Louth farmer Tom Oliver was an informer. Mr Fulton wrote the names of the RUC officers for the chairman of the tribunal, Judge Peter Smithwick, and said he had no objections to the names being passed on to DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson.
Two months later, in July 1999, Mr Oliver was kidnapped and murdered. Mr Fulton was also asked for his reaction to previous evidence from RUC witnesses who described him as a "fantasist" and intelligence nuisance.
Cross-examining Mr Fulton, Mr Corrigan's barrister Jim O'Callaghan said he could prove the witness was a pathological liar. "I have done things that I am not proud of and they would be party to that" he said, "Maybe it's good to discredit someone who could do them harm."
He told tribunal his client had no involvement with the Narrow Water and Omeath bomb factory investigation, and that he was on sick leave when Mr Oliver was killed. "Sir Ronnie Flanagan called me a 'Walter Mitty' character but he later apologised for that."
"Owen Corrigan went on certified sick leave on 4 December 1989, 20 months before Tom Oliver was murdered," Mr O'Callaghan said. Mr Fulton has claimed that Owen Corrigan, a former detective sergeant in Dundalk was passing information to the IRA and was regarded as a "friend" of the group.
"After going on sick leave on 4 December 1989 he was totally unavailable to An Garda Siochana in 1990 and 1991 and retired from the forces on 4 February 1992. Describing that allegation as "astonishing", Jim O'Callaghan, counsel for Mr Corrigan, asked Mr Fulton if he had informed his handlers.
'Walter Mitty character' "Yes, you might describe it as astonishing information but when it becomes day-to-day, it is no big thing," Mr Fulton said.
"He had no access to any Garda information to say who or who was not an informer." Mr Fulton, who is giving his evidence behind a screen, would not name the handler but wrote the name down for Judge Smithwick.
Mr O'Callaghan told Mr Fulton several former police officers - on both sides of the Irish border - had questioned the agent's credibility, calling him a liar, fantasist and a Walter Mitty character. Mr Fulton conceded that he could not give the tribunal any specific examples of where Mr Corrigan assisted the IRA before 20 March 1989. He later denied that he was a "pathological liar" in respect of his evidence to the tribunal.
"I have done things that I'm not proud of - things my handlers know I have done and I'm party to that," Mr Fulton replied. He claimed an IRA member told him that the IRA operation to mount an IRA ambush had started after they were tipped off that the RUC officers were at Dundalk Garda station on the afternoon of 20 March 1989.
"Maybe it's because if I go down the road, they're coming with me. In a statement to an earlier inquiry held by Canadian judge Peter Cory in 2003, Mr Fulton alleged that former Detective Garda Corrigan saw the RUC officers "at the station" and "telephoned the IRA".
"Maybe it's good to discredit people who can do them harm." Mr O'Callaghan pointed out the difference in the statement he gave to the Smithwick Tribunal where he said "our friend" helped out.
Mr Fulton was asked on Thursday if the IRA would have had enough time to mount an operation if they were told of the RUC officers meeting in Dundalk Garda Station after 14:10 GMT. "I am putting it to you that a lot of what you are saying is speculation" said Mr O'Callaghan.
"That would have been too short notice" he said, "they would have to have known well in advance." "I never said it was anything else" Mr Fulton answered. He refused to withdraw allegations he made about Mr Corrigan.
But he said there would have been enough time to mount the type of IRA ambush that killed the officers if evidence showed that the operation started at 11:30 GMT.