OLDEST IRISH AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN USA, ESTABLISHED IN 1928
Category: Archive

Company man?

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

Lord Brian Hutton delivered his report last Wednesday. In it, he slams the reporting of BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan, who used Kelly as a source for his story about alleged government attempts to “sex-up” intelligence in order to win support for an invasion of Iraq. He also accuses the BBC editorial system of being highly defective.
With many critics already labeling the report a “whitewash,” public attention is now turning to Hutton’s own credibility. Born in Belfast of Presbyterian stock, Hutton cut his teeth as a barrister for the Unionist Stormont regime in the late 1960s and early ’70s.
One of his first cases involved the successful prosecution of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, the nationalist MP for Mid-Ulster, for rioting in Derry’s Bogside.
However, it is his role as senior counsel for the British Ministry of Defense during the Widgery tribunal into the shooting dead of 14 unarmed civilians in Derry in January 1972 that has raised the most eyebrows.
Widgery exonerated the soldiers involved in what immediately became known as Bloody Sunday. Hutton played a vital role in the proceedings, arguing robustly that the soldiers had done nothing untoward. The tribunal was immediately labeled a whitewash by nationalists. When the coroner appointed to the tribunal accused the parachute regiment of “sheer unadulterated murder,” Hutton responded by saying, “It is not for you or the jury to express such wide-ranging views, particularly when a most eminent judge has spent 20 days hearing evidence and come to a very different conclusion.”
Hutton went on to defend the British government against claims that it had tortured detainees in the North. He attempted to argue in the European Court of Human Rights that the reported incidents of torture or mistreatment were isolated and that they did not constitute an official policy.
After being made a judge in 1979, the second youngest appointment ever, Hutton presided over the no-jury diplock courts in the North. These courts processed hundreds of paramilitary suspects, many wrongly, and incurred the wrath of republicans and nationalists alike. It was during this time that Hutton prosecuted the late INLA leader Dominic “Mad Dog” McGlinchey. McGlinchey later won an appeal against the conviction.
Hutton dismissed a murder charge brought against an RUC officer who had killed Sean Downes by firing a plastic bullet into his chest. He cleared two British soldiers of the murder of south Armagh man Fergal Caraher in 1992, citing the fact that eyewitness testimony implicating the two was not given to the RUC but through solicitors.
Though Hutton became lord chief justice in the North in 1988, he largely escaped the notice of the British public. However, on becoming a law lord in 1996, he went on to make interventions in at least two high-profile cases. He took a conservative, pro-establishment view in both. First, he condemned fellow Law Lord Haysham after Haysham had ruled that Chilean dictator General Pinochet be extradited for crimes against humanity. Hutton claimed that as Haysham had not revealed his links to human-rights group Amnesty International, the ruling was unsafe.
Again, Hutton supported the establishment line in the case of MI5 agent David Shayler. Shayler revealed to the public high-level British intelligence information. Hutton rejected Shayler’s argument that he was acting in the public interest. Shayler was later arrested.
While many reports prior to his report noted that Hutton was not the most repressive of Northern judges, his findings surprised many, who felt he would come down hard on the British Ministry of Defense as well as the BBC.
It was revealed in evidence at his inquiry that a decision was taken within the ministry to reveal Kelly as the source for the BBC story. Tony Blair’s chief spin doctor, Alastair Campell, wrote in his diary at the time that if Kelly’s name were to become public, it would “[expletive] Gilligan.”
However, Hutton reserved little criticism for the British government and lambasted the British state broadcaster. His criticisms prompted the resignation of several high-ranking BBC directors and that of Gilligan himself.
A series of public opinion polls have revealed that a clear majority of respondents believe Hutton’s report to be a whitewash. This has created problems for Blair, who many feel got off too lightly in the report.

Other Articles You Might Like

Sign up to our Daily Newsletter

Click to access the login or register cheese