The collusive murder of Raymond McCord Jnr

No Edit with Patricia Devlin

What is ‘collusion?” The dictionary quotes it as: a secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy in order to deceive others.”

In Northern Ireland, far too many know its devastating reality.

On November 9, 1997, 22 year-old Raymond McCord Jnr was lured to the grounds of a disused quarry on the outskirts of Belfast. There, members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) brutally beat him to death. His injuries were so severe, he could be only identified through his fingerprints.

His murder sparked one of the most damning public inquiries into the workings of the UVF, and the paramilitary gang’s close workings with the RUC.

Operation Ballast, headed by then police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan, revealed how paramilitary killers were protected from prosecution because they were police agents.

The 2007 report also exposed UVF commander Mark Haddock as a high ranking police informant who carried out several murders, beatings and gun attacks whilst being on the pay roll of the security forces. It was estimated he’d been paid more £80,000 for information whilst his unit conducted a reign of terror in north Belfast and mid ulster. It was on Haddock’s orders that Raymond McCord Jnr was murdered.

Today, his father speaks to No Edit about the son he lost and his family’s battle to finally get justice for his killing.

Campaigner Raymond McCord Snr also reveals his own battles with paramilitaries and how a UVF threat on his life remains active to this very day.

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