British permit return of 8 OTRs

By Jack Holland

The British government’s recent move to permit eight IRA escapees to return to Northern Ireland was based on a list of about 40 wanted men and women which Sinn Fein drew up and handed to the authorities, according to an informed source.

The list originally included only 36 OTRs, the acronym meaning On the Run, but names were later added by Sinn Fein.

The prosecuting authorities reviewed the list to see if prosecutions were warranted. Eight were resolved, including, according to the Guardian newspaper, Seamus Campbell, Gerard Fryers, James Clark, Dermott McNally, and Seamus Clarke, who escaped from the Maze Prison in 1983, Liam Averill, who escaped in 1997, and Gerard Sloan, who escaped from the Crumlin Road Jail in 1981. The Guardian reported that the eighth man is Patrick McIntyre, who absconded in 1986 after failing to return to the prison from home leave. All were IRA men.

According to the source, an additional 12 cases will be resolved "soon," and moves are then expected on eight outstanding "post-conviction cases."

However, the problem arises about what to do with about a dozen cases of suspects who have not been convicted but against whom prosecutions could be brought if they fell into the hands of the British authorities. This so-called "dirty dozen" would require legislation in the British parliament, which would in effect grant them an amnesty. The British government is known to be resisting such an approach, fearing that it would meet resistance from within its own ranks, as well as the expected outcry from Unionists and Conservatives. Some of those on the list are wanted for serious offenses. The BBC reported that one of them is Evelyn Glenholmes, sought for the bombing of Harrod’s in London, which killed six people in December 1983.

The Sinn Fein list is thought to be only the tip of a veritable OTR iceberg.