September 15, 2003 Murder Suspect 'Will Not Be Extradited'
By Alan Erwin, PA News

A republican facing a police murder charge will not be extradited from the Irish Republic provided the INLA's five-year ceasefire holds, it was claimed today.

Eddie McNicholl, 51, who escaped from the Maze Prison before standing trial, was deported from America following a failed legal battle to stay in the States.

He was flown into Dublin to avoid being re-arrested by police in Northern Ireland.

Even though detectives in Belfast who monitored his return said they may ask for him to be handed over, republican sources claimed assurances were given to the violent terrorist faction.

One said: "A blind eye is going to be turned to Eddie, but it all depends on the state of the INLA ceasefire.

"If it breaks then it's a whole different playing field."

Outraged unionists now plan to challenge chief constable Hugh Orde about McNicholl when he reports to the Policing Board in Belfast next week on his return from holiday.

The republican fled to America after a dramatic jail escape nearly 30 years ago.

He was arrested and charged with murdering RUC Constable Robert McPherson, 25, during an ambush in Dungiven, Co Londonderry in July 1975.

The officer was gunned down in front of shoppers in the town's sloping main street as he investigated a hoax car bomb alert used to lure him to his death.

But in May 1976 McNicholl tunnelled out of the now-closed Maze Prison near Lisburn, Co Antrim where he was on remand along with seven other men.

He fled to the US and began a new life there. For the last six years, McNicholl fought a deportation order, insisting he was held for a crime he did not commit.

After US officials also accused him of having been an INLA member he was finally ordered back to Ireland last month.

Government prosecutors said he entered the US illegally, belonged to a terrorist group and was one of the gunmen who shot the constables.

McNicholl admitted he arrived in America unlawfully, but denied any role in the paramilitary group or the 1975 shooting.

Despite the deportation, authorities in Belfast do not have any powers to demand his rearrest.

It is understood McNicholl, who is from the Dungiven area, has now set up home in the Dublin area. He plans to bring his US-born wife and children to live with him.

And with the INLA claiming to have halted all shootings since 1998, despite being linked to drug-related assassinations in Dublin and the murder of a loyalist in the Strabane area, sources close to the terror organisation were confident he will be given a wide berth.

"If Eddie was convicted he would only do two years because this happened before the (1998) Good Friday Agreement, but we don't expect it to go that far.

"We've been told serving extradition papers would be a waste of time."

William Hay, one of Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, claimed detectives desperately wanted to question McNicholl.

"There is a lot of anger within senior police ranks because it seems like people are dragging their heels," Mr Hay said.

"Because of the ceasefire and the peace process this man will not be coming across the border to answer questions about this murder.

"It's totally and utterly wrong and I will be questioning the chief constable on this issue."

Eric Hayes Patkowski ehp@irsm.org
http://irsm.org/ (Pairtí Poblachtach Sóisialach na h-Éireann)
http://www.wageslave.org/jcs/ (James Connolly Society)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/ (James Connolly Archive)
http://irsm.org/irsp/free_dessie/ (Free Dessie O'Hare)