Daughter of Hooded Man delighted at Supreme Court verdict against PSNI

The daughter of one of the 'Hooded Men' has spoken of her delight at today's Supreme Court verdict that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) were wrong not to investigate allegations of torture.

Fiona Montgomery, whose father Michael – who would in 1973 be elected as a Derry councillor, also said that were he still alive today, he too would also be delighted.

Michael Montgomery, along with 13 other men including Michael Donnelly from Derry, was taken by the British army and – with their heads covered with hoods – subjected to interrogation procedures which have been alleged as being those associated with torture.

The PSNI took the case to the Supreme Court having failed in Belfast’s court of appeal to overturn a High Court decision that the police should revisit its 2014 decision to end its investigation into how the 'Hooded Men' had been treated.

Speaking of the Supreme Court's verdict, Fiona Montgomery said: “It's just really emotional because of what we've been through. We are delighted with the decision.

“I was just contacting my brother in San Francisco to let him know and also my sister in Belfast just to let them know that we are a step closer to getting justice and establishing that they were tortured.

“My father would have been delighted to have heard this verdict were he still with us today.

“He never talked to us about what he had been through. Even after all this time the memories are still raw. When I heard on the phone of the verdict it just broke me down – it brought it all back. “

During the early hours of August 9, 1971, Michael returned to his Derry home after a night out with his wife Doris in the Argony Bar in Donegal.

Not long after, the RUC Special Branch and the British Army arrived at his house. Similar raids were being carried out across the North under the policy of 'Internment' and Michael was one of many taken away that night.

Out of the 1981 people interned, 14 – including Michael – were selected for 'in-depth interrogation' at an undisclosed place which we now know to be Ballykelly in Co. Derry.

Having served as an airfield for the British during World War II, Ballykelly was now a purpose-built interrogation centre.

The 'Hooded Men' were subjected to methods known as “the five techniques” that had been applied in past British army campaigns in Cyprus, Kenya and Aden.

Techniques which Fiona believes caused a great deal of stress upon her father which in turn led to his death in December 1984.

She added: “My father died of a heart-attack aged 48 and I do believe it was the stress of all the torture that they went through.

“It was only when the enquiry opened that I learnt what had happened to him.

“When he was taken away, we were told that he was dead and that we would never see him again. Obviously he wasn't and he was let out a few weeks later.

“We then found out that he was in Ballykelly the whole time. They were tortured with white noise, Because of that, after he came out and was back in the house, we could never turn the hoover on.

“The washing machine spinning as well and other loud noises would annoy him as well.

“As well as the white noise, they would put a brush up his back passage – they were spread-eagled by their fingertips against the wall. To think he went through all that is heart-breaking.

“He was a fantastic father – he really was. Him and my mother would split up afterwards. I don't think about it unless somebody asks me about it and that's when it breaks me down.

“But I want to talk about it as I want people to know what happened.

“Last night I was just going through things in the house and I had his death certificate, his marriage certificate and I found this book on the Hooded Men and I just put it back in the suitcase. Then I hear this news today.

“I'm just delighted that this decision has been made – I really am.”

Meanwhile, Paul O'Connor from the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry (PFC), said the verdict put paid to aspersions that both the PFC and TV broadcaster RTÉ had 'colluded' to 'falsify' claims against the British State.

An RTÉ documentary shown in 2014, “The Torture Files”, uncovered a memo from Merlyn Rees who as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland under the Labour government of 1974-1979, wrote in a memo in 1975 that “the decision to use methods of torture in Northern Ireland in 1971/72 was taken by Ministers - in particular Lord Carrington, then Secretary of State for Defence”.

At a subsequent Policing Board meeting, the PSNI said it would seek to confirm or clarify the document’s contents. An investigator from Historical Enquiries Team (HET) reported back that “I did not discover any documentation which linked Lord Carrington to matters of ‘torture’.”

The Supreme Court concluded that his conclusions were “seriously flawed” for two reasons.

First, because he had only looked for documents which explicitly authorised the use of the word ‘torture’. The Supreme Court held that to “expect the authorisation of torture to be described so explicitly” was “unrealistic”.

Mr O'Connor from the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry said: “The Court was very critical of the fact that when the PSNI sought copies of the documents that appeared in the RTÉ programme and couldn't find them, they then made inferences about the programme maker and about the PFC's relationship with RTÉ.

“Those inferences were baseless as the Court has found and this said something about the bias of the investigation carried out in the wake of the RTÉ programme.

“We found some documents that showed that the men had been held at Ballykelly – which hadn't been known – and that a doctor had thought that one of the men (Sean McKenna of Newry) who died of a heart-attack soon after, should not have been interrogated.

“We gave those to RTÉ and they then did their own digging and found the memo from Mervyn (then-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland) saying that it was torture.

“When someone was sent to the National Archives to look for that memo and couldn't find it, they then made all kinds of allegations about what was happening.

“Suggestions that this was made up and aspersions were cast upon RTÉ and ourselves about collusion – simply because Gerry Adams put a tweet about it (on Twitter). It was really mad stuff.

“It's kind of the anatomy of a cover-up, but not a clever one.”

In response to the ruling from the Supreme Court, Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts said: “The Police Service of Northern Ireland acknowledges today’s judgment of the UK Supreme Court and welcomes the clarity it brings to some complex legal issues.

_{Assistant Chief Constable of the PSNI, Jonathan Roberts said:
"We must find a way of dealing with our past and we are committed to playing our part in that process."}

“We recognise the difficult realities that victims, families, friends and broader society continue to deal with as a result of our troubled past.

“We will now take time to study today’s judgment around these complex legacy issues in detail and we will carefully consider its implications for future legacy investigations.

“If we are to build a safe, confident and peaceful society, then we must find a way of dealing with our past and we are committed to playing our part in that process.”

A United Kingdom Government spokesman added: “We will take time to carefully consider the Supreme Court's judgment and its conclusions.

“Access to information and accountability, via a thorough and robust investigative process, is absolutely vital to victims and survivors, and their families.

“That is why obtaining information – supported by full disclosure by the State – is the cornerstone of the proposals the UK Government has put forward to address the legacy of Northern Ireland’s past.

“The Government’s proposals do not propose the prohibition of investigations into Troubles-related incidents.

“In fact, the proposals would establish a new independent body to conduct investigations into Troubles-related deaths and cases of very serious injury, for the purposes of information recovery.”