The Sunday Times
LIAM CLARKE looks into secrets that others tasked with that job are afraid to look at, for fear of what they might find (Secret service in the dock over Omagh, Comment, last week).
The world that Clarke talks about is one in which real danger exists and people like myself, a medically-retired RUC officer, had split seconds to make a judgment in real time. I made a judgment that prevented another Omagh, saving many lives. The bomb involved was made safe by experts.
My police partner and I had a large network of both loyalist and republican agents who saved the lives of countless people. But for ourselves and other security force members and their agents, the Lost Lives book would be twice its size. There are countless examples of agents and handlers risking their lives so that others could live. Ken Barrett is an example of an agent who killed, so we helped put him in jail. The same should have happened to Mark Haddock. No society can tolerate killers like Haddock and Barrett.
I, like many RUC officers, picked the dead from our streets, heard the screams of the victims. I, like many RUC officers, suffer post-traumatic stress disorder. Nightmares and flashbacks as a result of being in the front line against terrorism caused me to attempt suicide, spending six months in hospital. I spend my life in and out of hospital taking medication, as do countless other police officers.
Trevor McIlwrath Carrickfergus, Co Antrim
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