Ulster probe finds "collusion" let suspected IRA priest go free

Aug 24, 2010, 14:48 GMT

Belfast - A Catholic priest suspected of being the Irish Republican Army (IRA) commander behind a fatal bombing in the 1970s was allowed to go free because of collusion between the British government and the Church, an investigation published Tuesday said.

The probe, conducted by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman into the bombing at Claudy, County Londonderry, in July 1972 found that the Northern Irish police at the time had evidence that Father James Chesney had played a key role in the atrocity.

However the Royal Ulster Constabulary did not move to arrest or question Chesney, but rather appealed to the British government to have the priest moved out of the province, in order to avoid antagonising the Catholic population or angering the Church, with whom the government cooperated informally.

The July 31 blast killed nine people, aged between 8 and 65, in the village, as part of the IRA's terrorist campaign against what it saw as the British occupation of Ireland. The IRA formally declared its armed campaign to be over in 2005, after a peace deal in the British province.

'Seeking and accepting the government's assistance in dealing with the problem of Father Chesney's alleged wrong doing was by definition a collusive act,' Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson said.

There was however 'no evidence that police had information ... that could have helped prevent the bombings,' the report said.

Chesney, who died in 1980, was transferred by the Church to a parish outside Northern Ireland. He denied involvement in terrorist activity.