Paul Quinn, 21, who was murdered seven years ago. An insider in the killing gang has given a statement to the Gardai implicating up to ten associates in the murder.
An insider in the gang of ex-IRA activists and associates has broken ranks and told the Gardai the identities of the men who organised the brutal murder of Paul Quinn (21) in October 2007 near the border in Co Monaghan, the Sunday World has learned.
The murder by a gang of up to ten, with as many as 20 involved in the set up, has been intractable for the Gardai and the PSNI because of the Omerta that pervades the border areas.
The murder of Paul Quinn was said to have originated from a dispute between Paul Quinn and the son of an IRA leader in the area and he was given a brutal and torturous exit from this world in front of three of his friends - who were held hostage as he was beaten to a pulp at a farm, near Oram - Co. Monaghan seven years ago this week.
He was lured there with a request for assistance and found up to ten men waiting for him.
Some of the men were wearing forensic clothing and the planning and execution of the murder was done to such a high degree that security specialists pointed the blame immediately at the IRA command in the area.
His very public falling out with the son of a major IRA figure placed the IRA and their associates, in the frame for the murder despite the widely discredited interventions by Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and Connor Murphy .
Both men claimed that it was criminals and not the IRA that carried out the brutal beating causing Paul’s death.
"It was the IRA criminals who caused the death of my son and now it seems justice will be done”, the dead man’s mother told the Sunday World today.
"We have had a major breakthrough. It seems that one of the gang is telling all. I asked the Gardai if they knew who did it and they said yes. But they said that they would need more evidence than that to convict. Now it seems they have that. I know that phone records all connect the gang to the event and which with the insider’s testimony will make the difference. We at last are very hopeful of arrests”, Brid Quinn, Paul’s mother, told the Sunday World.
"The people I met who I thought killed my son were in fact the same people in the phone circle which acted in unison around the time of my son’s death. I feel happier that at least I know who killed my son and I don’t have to be polite to them when they pass my door many times a day”, a determined Brid Quinn said, in advance of the seventh anniversary of her son’s death this weekend.
"We know who did it. The Gardai know and now Sinn Fein and the IRA will be quaking because one of the gang is speaking. With the arrests, we will see Gerry Adams exposed for lying about the death of my son. It took him thirty years to discover that Mr Brian Stack, the chief officer of Portlaoise Prison, was shot by the IRA in 1983 but within 24 hours Adams and Connor Murphy could say definitely that the IRA were not involved in my son’s death. They act according to their interests and not the truth”, Brid Quinn told the Sunday World.
There was initially little forensic evidence found at the scene after it had been doused with an unusual substance specifically sprayed to damage DNA evidence but with advances coming daily in the science, the Gardai have send the rope used to tie up Paul at the scene, for additional forensic testing.
This case allegedly involving Sinn Fein associates and IRA members in South Armagh, is particularly problematic for Sinn Fein as it occurred in peace time and the party has nearly staked its peacetime position on the innocence of all those in its political family, in relation to Paul Quinn’s death.
The party waded into the controversy last year when in a recorded telephone conversation, it's senior press officer, Mark Mclernon, told the Sunday World that he knew ‘for a fact’ who had killed Paul Quinn, another man and Garda Adrian Donoghue.
McLernon claimed in the phone call that dissident republicans were involved in the death of the three men but McLernon never contacted the Gardai with his evidence and then later claimed it was just gossip.
The Quinn family - father Stephen and Brid Quinn - slammed Sinn Fein for trying to blacken the name of their son and to deflect from the involvement of key republicans in the murder of Paul Quinn.
Martin McGuinness denied all knowledge of his press officer’s actions when confronted earlier this year about Mark McLernon’s refusal to bring his evidence to the Gardai when questioned by the Sunday World.
The Deputy First minister then refused to answer any further questions on the matter.
"Sinn Fein are ducking an diving on this but with an insider talking their lies will soon come out", Brid Quinn said.
The insider who has given the Gardai a statement is believed to be still in the area and both the PSNI and the Gardai are ensuring that he has a security blanket over him without blowing his cover.
