The Leader, Nollaig 1988

CHRISTMAS BEHIND BARS This Christmas as you enjoy the turkey and the plum pudding, spare a thought for 31 year-old Carole Richardson, who will be spend– ing her 15th Christmas behind bars in Styal prison in England. Carole is one of the so– called Guilford 4 who were convicted and jailed for the IRAGuildford pub bombings in the early 70s, which killed 5 people and injured 65. The four (like the Birmingham Six) maintained their innocence, yet have spent the best years of their lives behind prison bars where they have often been ill-treated. The British Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, is riow facing pressure to send the case of the Guildford Four back to the Court of Ap– peal and is expected to announce his decision after Christmas. Legal experts close to the prosecution believe that if Carole Richardson ever goes free, all 4 prisoners will be released, because they were all convicted on the basis of uncorroborated confessions, which they later retracted. In a letter to a friend, Carole recent– ly wrote: "I'd rather forget there is a world out there which I could be part of. This waiting is really getting to me. Trying to be cheerful really is an effort. I'll get my head together one day but at the moment it is harder as each Christmas ap– proaches. Number 15 is coming up and I'm no nearer knowing where my future lies that I was at year one. I'm just older with more to look back on and wonder why it had to happen to me. What did I do to deserve all this? Iwas out at the eye hospital on Thursday, handcuffs, police escort, the works. All "Home Office" instructions so there's not really much hope of Hurd making a positive move in the case if he really thinks I'm that dangerous. At least I got out for a drive which is something. I have to go back for a checkup in nine months so that's something to look forward to even if it is only a couple of hours out..." She has four more years to serve before going to an open prison. "It's not long is you say it quickly", she says. In this extract from an article which was published in the "Independent" in London on November 28th, Sarah Helm looks at the new medical evidence now being examined by Dou– glas Hurd which suggest that Carole Richard– son's confessions to the Guildford 4 bombings were unreliable. Dr. Kasimir Makos, a general practitioner who examined Carole Richardson soon after her arrest, has detailed how he gave her opiate and barbiturate drugs 20 minutes before she made admissions of the bombings. His evidence, which was not presented to the jury, was obtained by Dr. James McKeith, a leading consultant psychiatrist, who has pre– pared an assessment of Richardson, which is before Mr. Hurd. Dr. McKeith's report is probably the most powerful piece of new evidence in the Guilford Four case. Mr. Hurd is under mounting press– ure to refer the four convictions back to the Court of Appeal. His decision is expected after Christmas. Carole Richardson, Paddy Armstrong, Paul Hill and Gerard Conlon were convicted of murder after IRA pub bombs in Guildford and Woolich. In Guilford, five people were killed and 57 injured at the Horse and Groom and eight were injured at the Seven Stars. The four were convicted solely on the basis of their own confessions which they later retracted in court. In his report, Dr. McKeith says that at the time of her arrest, Richardson was an emotion– ally maladjusted 17-year-old "exceptionally vul– nerable even in a benign situation", and unusually suggestible. She made admissions under the influence of drugs, with no adult and no solicitor present, in circumstances which would now be against the law. "I conclude that the statements that re– sulted in her conviction on the several charges are very probably unreliable". Dr. McKeith's findings about Richard– son's confessions to terrorist outrages were first revealed in a new book on the case, Time Bomb, by Grant McKee and Ros Francy. It was after prison doctors said they believed Richard– son was innocent that the Home Office agreed to an assessment by Dr. McKeith. After looking at contemporary doctors' notes and extensive interviews and examin– ation of Richardson's psychiatric history, Dr. McKeith finds cause for profound concern. He finds her "a vulnerable personality with low self– esteem, poor self-confidence and undue re– liance on the good opinion of others". He highlights her heightened vulnerable state at the time of her admissions. Dr. McKeith says that she had been heav– ily abusing a drug called Tuinal just before her arrest on 3 December 1974, almost a month after the Guildford bombings. Immediately after her arrest, when questioned by police on 3 and 4 December, she made no admission of guilt. This was probably before withdrawal symptoms from the drug had begun to affect her. As the time passed, however, she was ine– vitably moving into a state of withdrawal, which meant she would have quickly become anxious and mentally confused. This state of withdrawal began to be reached on the evening of 4 December. She became hysterical in her cell and Dr. Makos, a local GP, was called by police to treat her, the report says. Dr. Makos told Dr. McKeith in a let– ter last year that he had found Carole Richard– son in her cell that evening "in considerable distress, agitation, crying, restless, her dress and her hair were in some disorder". She told him she was a drug addict. 11 Dr. Makos says that he first prescribed her more Tuinal, which medical experts now say is a mistake, because it would have pro– longed the period of withdrawal. Perhaps even more controversially, he also prescribed Pethidine, a narcotic drug. Consultant psychiatrists now say giving her Pe– thidine, in the state she was in, "made no phar– macological sense". It is a drug often used pre-operatively and it generally produces a state of euphoria. Dr. Makos describes to Dr. McKeith how, about 20 minutes later, once the Pethidine had taken effect, Richardson told him she did the bombings. These were her first admissions. Dr. Makos writes." She told me that she was given a bomb by the others involved in this terrorist action at the pub in Guildford. It was her who carried the bomb and it was her who placed the bomb under the seat at the pub...I was listening to her story under the impression that she treated the whole affair as a slight prank. I did not ask whether she knew that there were casualties and that the whole inci– dent was an act of terrorism. There was some– thing weird in her confession and I was almost convinced she did not realise the meaning of the tragedy..." During her confession to Dr. Makos, a policewoman was present. This meant that the following day when Richardson was inter– viewed further by police, she was confronted by her own admission made to the doctor, under the influence of a narcotic drug. The various pressures on her were, by now, having a cumulative effect. She was iso– lated and frightened in police custody and had still not seen a solicitor. She was still withdraw– ing from a drug and she was facing police offi– cers who told her she had made admissions to a doctor the night before. She went on to make her first statements of admission to police. Interpreting the admis– sions that Carole Richardson made on 5 De– cember, Dr. McKeith writes: "Given Dr. Makos's description of her condition, it is, in my opinion, most unlikely that a doctor with appropriate awareness and knowledge would have re– garded her as fit for further interrogation and giving of a reliable statement without making and recording a careful psychiatric assess– ment. There is no indication that Dr. Makos undertook a psychiatric assessment, deter– mined her understanding or perception of her circumstances, or generally inquired into the reliability of subsequent statements she might make". Four days later, she began retracting her earlier statements. She, like the other three in– volved, denied all charges at the trial. AAMELTON EXHAUSTCENTRE THEPORTCENTRE Ramelton (074) 51154 also Letterkenny (074) 22923 Exhausts ShockAbsorbers Batteries 'WHILEUWAIT Port Road, Letterkenny Tel: (074) 22689 Bingo Mon & Fri 9.00pm Bar and Snooker Bar Lunches Mon-Fri 12.00 - 2.30 We wish all our patrons a Happy and peaceful Christmas