* Priest was IRA director of operations and prime suspect, says report
* Nine people died in attack on village, including an eight-year-old girl
* Head of the church: 'Knew the priest was a very bad man'
Father Jim Chesney was rumoured to have been involved in the 1972 bombing of Claudy. He died of cancer in 1980
A priest suspected of being an IRA leader and masterminding a bombing atrocity was allowed to escape arrest after a secret deal was struck between police, the Government and the Catholic Church, a report revealed today.
Father James Chesney was the ‘prime suspect’ after nine people, including an eight-year-old girl, were killed and 30 injured when three car bombs exploded in the quiet Northern Ireland village of Claudy in July 1972.
Detectives wanted to arrest the Catholic priest, who was believed to be the commander of an active IRA terrorist unit, but the move was blocked by an Assistant Chief Constable concerned about the consequences of such a controversial arrest during one of the most bloody periods of the Troubles.
The police chief wrote a letter which began an official cover-up, enabling the suspected terrorist to evade justice and move across the border to the Irish Republic, where he died from cancer eight years later at the age of 46.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305646/Claudy-bombing-priest-James-Chesney-Report-IRA-atrocity-reveals-cover-up.html#ixzz0xYX1831x
