They say Bobby Storey was the mastermind behind the Northern Bank heist. I never met the man so I know nothing about him. He died during the summer of 2020 and many people attended his funeral on 30th June during the time when people were not allowed to attend wakes and funerals save for family and close friends. Numbers allowed to attend were restricted to 30. This horror was condoned by the Roman Catholic church leaders and the various Protestant church leaders and Evangelical churches also…
In Belfast, politicians who made the rules broke the rules and they were aided and abetted by the PSNI and the PPS.
This is an excerpt from The Nolan Show when Stephen Nolan interviewed Gordon Lyons of the DUP regarding public confidence in the Chief Constable of the PSNI.
NOLAN: Does the DUP have confidence in the Chief Constable?
LYONS: You only have to look back at the events of the last number of years to see the lack of confidence that exists within the Unionist community, if you look back and see the way they have policed some events and in particular in and around the Bobby Storey funeral where the police worked together with Sinn Fein and organised that contrary to the Covid Regulations at the time.
NOLAN: Well, it was established that the Covid Regulations were confused. That’s what the Public Prosecution Service established, isn’t it?
LYONS: I don’t think that anyone who saw those pictures at the funeral was confused. Everyone at that time knew it was a breach of the Regulations.
NOLAN: It was a breach of the guidance, there’s no doubt about that, but the Public Prosecution Service determined that the Regulations were so confused that a prosecution was not possible.
LYONS: And I’ve disputed that and I’ve disputed that on your programme as well. It was very clear at the time and if you read the Regulations, the Regulations said only 30 people could be at a funeral limited to family members. Some people couldn’t go to the funeral of their grandparents, yet Sinn Fein brought 5000 people out onto the streets for an IRA funeral. Now do you understand how difficult it was for people who saw that, what that does to confidence in the police whenever they see one rule for Sinn Fein and one rule for everybody else. The police were involved in that, the police took the decision to essentially work with Sinn Fein and organising something that was clearly a breach of the Regulations, and I think anybody looking at what took place would see that as a breach of the Regulations.
The Public Prosecution Service made a public statement relating to decisions not to prosecute 24 individuals (all of whom held elected office in Northern Ireland) reported for breaches of the coronavirus regulations in connection with attendance at the funeral of Bobby Storey.
According to the PPS, everyone of the individuals could avail of the “reasonable excuse defence”.
Final paragraph in PPS Statement
“24. In this case the judgement was made independently and impartially by a team of senior prosecutors assisted by Senior Counsel. The conclusion was that, whether considered alone or in combination, the two excuses referred to above in relation to: (i) the lack of clarity and coherence within the Regulations; and (ii) the prior engagement with the organisers and the policing approach on the day, would pose an insurmountable difficulty if any of the reported individuals were prosecuted. In these circumstances the Test for Prosecution was not met.” Tuesday 30th March 2021
Yet somehow the decision to prosecute me did meet the evidential and public interest thresholds and the decision was taken by one Senior Prosecutor, Alison Dougan. Coincidentally she made that decision right about the same time the PPS released their bullshit statement on the bank robber’s funeral.
The inalienable right to protest, assemble and freely speak one’s mind (enshrined in the Human Rights Act 1998 & the European Convention on Human Rights) somehow does not fall under the blanket of “reasonable excuse”.