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(www.stakeknife.eu)
Twitter: @seankellyis
(16)
*
Collateral Damage - Transcript
(A Prelude)
A
transcript of Australian television company Channel 7 film Collateral Damage
follows. It relates to the 27 May I990 murder of Nick Spanos and Stephan
Melrose in Roermond,
Apart
from the documentary receiving advance newspaper publicity in
On
securing both Irish newspaper reports and written to the involved journalist,
Suzanne Breen, and then to the Australian Channel 7 film producer Ross
Coulthart without return, I would in the early months of 2011 look more closely
at the film. The fruits of that effort are contained in the coming two
presentations.
Part
one is a transcript of the film broken into numbered sections. Working within
the numbered sections, part two lends context to the transcript.
Emphasis,
where used, is mine.
Paragraph
three of transcript has these words: “And to this day what’s never been
revealed is that British spies could have stopped this attack.”
From
a reading of my letters to Australian prime ministers’ Rudd and Gillard, you
will realise this is not a factual statement. Two of the three letters pre-date
the Collateral Damage filming and the underlined sentence, even if only
narrowly in respect of the second letter. My understanding of this position is
likely to have preceded despatch of letters by years.
The
letters informed Prime Ministers’ Rudd and Gillard the lives of Nick Spanos and
Stephan Melrose, and others, were capriciously sacrificed on the high altar of
intelligence agency modus operandi, namely in the promotion and the protection
of IRA informers.
If
the chief player in that cooperative intelligence process was Britain’s
Security Service (MI5), there is a shared culpability for the deaths with the
national agencies of a number of continental countries whose facilitation made
possible MI5’s overarching control. The collective silence is also fraternal.
In
short, the “spies” of a number of nations “could have stopped this [and other]
attack[s].”
The
youngest victim of the IRA in their continental actions was six month old
Nivruti Islania. A name surely unheard in Australia.
Few
at this end of the world would be aware that Nivruti and her Royal Air Force
corporal father Maheshkumar “Mick” Islania were shot in
The
IRA unit responsible for the deaths of Mick and Nivruti Islania was also responsible
for shooting dead Nick Spanos and Stephan Melrose, even if there was a
shuffling of pack with actions spread over two instalments.
*
Family members of Stephan Melrose depicted in
the film are father, mother and sisters, Roy and Beverley Melrose, Susy Fraser,
Helen Jackson; and brother-in-law Ian Fraser.
The family member of Nick Spanos depicted in
film is Greg Vaurdalis – a cousin.
*
Collateral Damage
(Transcript)
(Broadcast 5 September 2010)
“Clip: Stakeknife-Collateral Damage-By Ross Coulthart. Collateral Damage
– The Murder of Australian Lawyers Stephan Melrose (24) and Nick Spanos (28).”
1) “[Voiceover] For four young Australians it began as a happy few days
enjoying Holland’s historic sights. ‘[Ross Coulthart] What sort of a bloke was
Stephan?’ ‘[Susy Fraser, Stephan’s sister] He was always happy. And just the
fact that he lived life to the full, I’m really proud of him.’ ‘[Roy Melrose,
Stephan’s father] We felt we were ah… We done really well and then all this
happened.’
2) “[Voiceover] Twenty years ago a hit team of Irish Republican Army
terrorists cut a murderous swathe across Europe. Two young Australians murdered
by the IRA. Innocent victims of a dirty war. To this day the killers still walk
free. And to this day what’s never been revealed is that British spies could
have stopped this attack.
“‘[Ross Coulthart] British intelligence knew that the IRA had sent this
team to Europe?’ ’[Kevin Fulton]
They would have been… I am positive [MI5] would have known there was an IRA hit
team in Europe.’
3) “[Voiceover] Stephan Melrose was from Brisbane and had only married
his wife Lyndal nine months earlier. The newly weds took time off from their
jobs in London to join Nick Spanos and his girlfriend Vicki for a weekend in
the Netherlands. ‘[Ross Coulthart] What sort of a bloke was Stephan?’ ‘[Susy
Fraser, Stephan’s sister] Oh... He was always happy. And just the fact that he
lived life to the full, I’m really proud of him.’ ‘[Roy Melrose] I used to call
him a loveable larriker.’
“[Voiceover] Stephan’s father Roy was very proud his son had become a
lawyer and was now working in London. ‘[Roy Melrose] And we are glad he
followed the path to be educated. And ah… and ah… we felt we were, ah, we had
done really well to educate him.’
“[Voiceover] Nick Spanos too was the apple of his family’s eye. ‘[Greg
Vaurdalis, Nick’s cousin] He was handsome. He had everything. Love. He was a
god to his people or to his parents or to everybody who knew him.’
“[Voiceover] It was a spur of the moment decision to stop at the Dutch
town of Roermond for a quick meal on their way home.
“‘[Ross Coulthart] Have you found any meaning behind what happened to
Stephan?’ ‘[Roy Melrose] No meaning. No meaning whatsoever. He seemed to be the
wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time.’
4) “[Voiceover] Roermond was a favourite haunt for off-duty British
troops visiting from nearby bases in West Germany. Stephan and Nick had no
reason to know that their short haircuts and the British number plate on their
car, marked them as targets for an Irish hit team hunting British soldiers.
“’[Ian Fraser, Stephan’s brother-in-law] Something has always annoyed me
is the IRA – they call it an army. It is not an army when you go around killing
innocent people.’
5) “[Voiceover] We know now that these four people [a montage of four
photographs], Gerard Harte, Donna Maguire, Seán Hick and Paul Hughes were
members of an IRA terrorist cell hiding in the area, preparing for an attack. As
the couples’ crossed the square after their dinner they had no idea they were
being watched. They got to their car. Stephan decided to take one more photo to
remember the night. Then horror. ‘[Vicki Coss, Nick Spanos’ girlfriend,
speaking in contemporary footage] We were just sitting ducks. I mean, we were
there… and we didn’t have any forewarning of what was going on’. ‘[Lyndal
Melrose, wife of Stephan, also speaking in contemporary footage] When the
window smashed and the shooting was still going on, my door was open and I sort
of felt I was waiting for them to come at me but… but they didn’t.’
“[Voiceover] Nick and Stephan had no chance. Both men were dead within
seconds.
“’[Susy Fraser, Stephan’s sister] It was very cruel the way they did it.
The fact that they, even after Stephan would have been dead, they shot him
again, both of them, a couple of times.’
“’[Ross Coulthart speaking to Jos Heitzer, an eye-witness] So you are
absolutely sure that the man you saw that night was Gerard Harte?’ ‘[Heitzer]
Yes, absolutely sure.’ [Voiceover] Watching from his first floor window on the
road out of the square was Jos Heitzer. He got a very clear look at the face of
one of the gunmen, Gerard Harte. ‘[Coulthart] How long did you get a look at
the face?’ ‘[Heitzer] I think about 5 to 6 seconds. That’s enough for me to
recognise a face.’ ‘[Coulthart] So you got a good look?’ ‘[Heitzer] I have a
good look.’
“[Voiceover] Fleeing town and heading south the killers absurdly got
lost, stopping at a petrol station for directions. Jon Luthan [manager of the
petrol station] later identified the woman as Donna Maguire. ‘[Ross Coulthart,
speaking to Jon Luthan] And what did Donna ask you?’ ‘[Jon Luthan, in
translation] She just asked for the shortest way to Belgium.’
“[Voiceover] Donna Maguire is the so-called Angel of Death. One of the
IRA’s most notorious female terrorists. Luthan also identified the get-away
car, later found burnt out nearby. The next day, the killers still on the run,
the IRA acknowledged its mistaken killing of the two Australians.
6) “[Contemporary report on British TV] Today in London, Gerry Adams
president of Sinn Fein, the IRA’s political wing, said the attack was
inexcusable. ‘[Gerry Adams] I can understand absolutely the outrage that was
felt in Australia because these people were innocent victims.’
7) “[Voiceover] The killers disappeared… But then three weeks later,
land owner Jean Voortman heard gunshots near his country house just over the
border in Belgium. By the time he and his sons reached the scene, Donna Maguire
and Seán Hick were posing as picnicers, their weapons nowhere to be seen.
‘[Jean Voortman] Two people came out of the woods… was the girl and a boy.’
[Voiceover] As the couple walked away, Voortman, suspicious, noticed freshly dug
earth and soon uncovered their weapons. ‘[Jean Voortman] The Kalashnikov and
two revolvers.’
“[Voiceover] Voortman left one son, Felipe, to guard the guns, while he
called the police. When Gerard Harte returned to recover the weapons, Felipe
fired over his head. ‘[Ross Coulthart, speaking to Jean Voortman.] So your son
fired a shot to keep them away?’ ‘[Jean Voortman] Yes.’ ‘[Ross
Coulthart] He’s a brave lad.’ ‘[Jean Voortman] In they are… because he was here
at fifty metres he is… [language difficulties].’
8) “[Voiceover] All four of the
terrorists were soon captured. Two of the recovered guns were quickly tied to
the murder of Stephan and Nick. ‘[Ross Coulthart] The evidence of a terrorist conspiracy
was overwhelming. Dutch police soon found this safe house in The Hague
[depiction of the property]. Fingerprints found inside linked the IRA suspects
to fake i/d’s and passports they made here to hide their trail.’ ‘[Jo Lauman]
If I was a judge in that time, with that evidence, I should have convicted
them.’
“[Voiceover] Prosecutor Jo Lauman said there was overwhelming evidence
to convict the team for membership of a criminal organisation and he is
convinced of their guilt for the murder. ’[Ross Coulthart] Can I ask you this,
sir. Is there any doubt in your mind that Gerard Harte was one of the killers?’
‘[Jo Lauman] No, I have never doubted.’ ‘[Ross Coulthart] Is there any doubt in
your mind that Donna Maguire and Hick were also involved?’ ‘[Jo Lauman] That
they were involved – yes, yes, yes.’
“[Voiceover] Initially Gerard Harte was found guilty of murder but
within months he was out of jail. The investigators bungled [in that] they
prematurely released photographs identifying the IRA team before eye witnesses
were interviewed. So Harte, Maguire, Hick and Hughes all walked free on appeal.
“’[Ian Fraser, Stephan’s brother-in-law] The evidence was overwhelming.
But for three judges on an appeal, no. Something just doesn’t add up.’ ‘[Ross
Coulthart] Why doesn’t it add up?’ ‘[Ian Fraser] The evidence was there.’
‘[Coulthart] What do you think Stephan would say?’ ‘[Susy Fraser, Stephan’s
sister] Ohh. Being a lawyer I think he’d be horrified, particularly with the
court case and the appeal. And not getting justice.’
9) “[Voiceover] Twenty years after Stephan’s death his family is seeing
for the first time the quiet Dutch square where he and Nick were murdered.
‘[Ross Coulthart, speaking to Roy Melrose and family] Stephan was, would be
about here, and one of them got out, walked up, shot Stephan… Sorry, Roy… [Roy
Melrose withdraws from Coulthart’s consoling hand] and then the car drove up,
came very close, here – and then, ah, shot Nick. [Coulthart then verbally
retraces to when the four Australians left the restaurant after their meal]
They walked back to the car here and as you know they all hopped into the car
and Stephan was just taking one last photograph.’
“’[Susy Fraser, Stephan’s sister] If, you know, you just had that feeling
that it was very final, very shocking… with the, em, violence of it all. Ohhh.
I just didn’t like to think that he may have suffered or known what was
coming.’ ‘[Roy Melrose] How could you do such a thing… to just to… just to,
just to go up behind somebody and shoot them?’ ‘[Helen Jackson, Stephan’s
sister] It does bring up that anger that the killer… you know, I would think
the killer should be sitting in a jail.’
10) “[Voiceover] One explanation for why so many such murders may have
gone unpunished comes from the shadowy world of espionage. This man who goes by
the name Kevin Fulton was a secret British agent inside the IRA. He admits
he committed terrible crimes as a supposed IRA terrorist, all the while
reporting them to his British handler, a man who is now at the highest echelon
of MI5. [Footage of Coulthart and Fulton meeting in London.]
“’[Kevin Fulton] I made bombs in the Irish republic with the full
knowledge of my handlers. I would go out with IRA operations with other IRA
men.’
“’[Ross Coulthart] Would it have been known to British intelligence that
there was an IRA hit team in Europe?’
“’[Kevin Fulton] It would have been… I am positive [MI5] would have
known there was an IRA hit team in Europe.’
“[Voiceover] Fulton knew well some of the terrorists involved in the
murder of Stephan Melrose and Nick Spanos. ‘[Coulthart] What sort of person was
Gerard Harte?’ ‘[Kevin Fulton] No doubt he’s well capable of killing.’
11) “[Voiceover] But it is what Fulton can now reveal about this man,
Desmond Grew, that is especially interesting. Grew helped plot the IRA’s
European attacks, including Roermond, and he visited the hit team shortly
before the killings. ‘[Fulton] Grew had been sent out to the continent to them
because they were actually doing nothing, they were pissing it up as someone
actually, as he’d said, they were able to, thought they were on holidays. So
Grew actually went out and chastised them and put the thing up and running
again.’
“‘[Ross Coulthart] A British agent, you believe, knew that Desmond Grew
was going to Europe?’ ‘[Kevin Fulton] Yes.’ ‘[Ross Coulthart] Is that something
that you believe British intelligence would admit now?’ ‘[Kevin Fulton] No,
they would never admit it. You see, this is what your viewers, people, would have
to understand. This is a covert war. This is Dirty Joe actions
everywhere.’
“‘[Ross Coulthart] But if they knew that there was an IRA hit team in
Europe, why didn’t they go and arrest them and stop them?’ ‘[Kevin Fulton] But
see sometimes to protect an agent, you’ve got to let, you call it a firebreak,
you let things happen.’ ‘[Coulthart] So the protection of a source was more
important than the protection of innocent civilians?’ ‘[Kevin Fulton]
Sometimes.’
“’[Susy Fraser, Stephan Melrose’s sister] Why didn’t they do something?
They are as responsible.’ ‘[Ross Coulthart] Because if the British did have
somebody inside the IRA who were telling them about operations – and they did!’
‘[Susy Fraser] A conflict of interest, maybe?’
12) “[Voiceover] But the blood on Desmond Grew’s hands didn’t stop Gerry
Adams from giving the oration at his funeral less than a year later.
[Contemporary funeral film shown.] Adams described the Roermond mastermind as a
decent upstanding Irish citizen.
“Today Gerry Adams has carved a role for himself as the very model of
decency. A family man and an MP in the Northern Ireland parliament. But twenty
years ago he was secretly on the terrorist front line.
“‘[Ross Coulthart, door-stepping Gerry Adams at a Northern Ireland event.]
Did you have any role in ordering the operation that killed the two
Australians?’ ‘[Gerry Adams] None whatsoever.’ ‘[Ross Coulthart] You were on
the IRA Army Council at the period, though, weren’t you?’ ‘[Gerry Adams] Now…
first of all, I wasn’t. But you shouldn’t be coming here, you know, presuming
to make assertions or allegations like that.’ ‘[Ross Coulthart] Why do so
many of your former colleagues in the IRA say that you were a very senior
IRA member?’ ‘[Gerry Adams] You’ll have to ask them that.’ ‘[Ross Coulthart]
Brendan Hughes – one of your closest mates.’ ‘[Gerry Adams] Brendan is dead
now.’
“[Voiceover] But the voice of Gerry Adams’ closest IRA comrade is now
speaking from the grave. ‘[Taped voice of the deceased Brendan Hughes relating
on Gerry Adams] He could have stopped every bullet from being fired.’
[Voiceover] Here in the vaults of Boston College are the secret tapes of IRA
fighters, not to be released until their deaths. ‘[Brendan Hughes] Throughout
[?] this war, Gerry was a major, major player in the war, not just…’ [Voiceover
speaking on the book] Voices from the
Grave records the allegations of Brendan Hughes who died two years ago.
‘[Brendan Hughes] I never carried out a major operation without the okay or the
order from Gerry. And for him to sit in his plush office in Westminster or
Stormont or whatever and deny it, I mean it is like Hitler denying there was
ever a Holocaust. I don’t know where…’ [Voiceover] Gerry Adams has always
denied being a member of the IRA. But on the tapes his dead friend tells a very
different story. ‘[Brendan Hughes] It is totally disgusting and a disgrace to
all the people who have died.’
“’[Ross Coulthart, talking to writer Ed Moloney] If Brendan Hughes is telling
the truth it means, doesn’t it, that Gerry Adams had foreknowledge of major
operations like Roermond?’ ‘[Ed Moloney, author of book, Voices From the Grave.] Yes, he would
have known about it and authorised and approved it. It was IRA military policy
and he was involved in making IRA military policy.’
“‘[Ross Coulthart] So he’s just lying through his teeth when he denies a
role?’ ‘[Ed Moloney] Absolutely. Yes, there is no other way you can say it.’
“‘[Gerry Adams, further responding to Ross Coulthart at the Stormont
event] Let me tell you this. The IRA is off the stage now. Now, clearly, a lot
of people have suffered, and I make the case again, particularly civilians and
those who lost loved ones as a result of the conflict.’
13) “[Voiceover] Stephan’s family recently went to Belfast searching for
answers. In smart suburbs, in good streets, in comfortable homes, surrounded by
their own families, live the terrorists who took the lives of two innocent
Australians.
“‘[Ross Coulthart, speaking to Roy Melrose] Somewhere near where we are
at the moment, Roy, there’s the man who killed Stephan. How do you feel towards
that person?’ ‘[Roy Melrose] Ohh, just complete hatred.’ ‘[Coulthart visits
Gerard Harte’s house.] (I’m calling for?) Gerard, Gerard Harte.’ ‘[An
unidentified female householder answering] He’s not here.’
“[Voiceover] There’s a wall of silence. ‘[Ross Coulthart] Do you think
that you’d ever be able to forgive the people that killed Stephan?’ ‘[Ian
Fraser, Stephan’s brother in law] No.’ ‘[Ross Coulthart] Not at all?’ ‘[Ian
Fraser] Emm, I think if I’d my heart I’d take his throat out.’
“’[Ross Coulthart, moving to Donna Maguire who is at the steering wheel
of a car. A tap on the driver’s window.] Hello, Donna Maguire. Ross Coulthart.
Australian TV. It’s twenty years, Donna. Twenty years. Do you have anything to
say to the Australian family? Do you have anything to say to that family you
caused so much heartbreak to? Why can’t you say something, Donna? Why not a
simple sorry? Why not say sorry? [Maguire gives no oral response.]’
“‘[Ross Coulthart to Roy Melrose] If they truthfully and honestly opened
up to you and said, “Mr. Melrose, I know this won’t bring your son back but we
are so sorry.”’ ‘[Roy Melrose] I wouldn’t believe them.’ ‘[Ross Coulthart] You
wouldn’t believe them?’ ‘[Roy Melrose] No way in the world. No.’
“‘[Film returns to clip of Coulthart door-stepping Donna Maguire] Spare
a thought for the family. Twenty years ago you helped to murder a young
Australian. How do you feel about that? Did you never expect that your past
would catch up with you? His name was Stephan. Stephan Melrose, Donna.’ [Film
ends with Donna Maguire still trying to extricate car and self from scene.]”
END
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Kevin Rudd P.M. and Julia Gillard P.M. |