DAVID ROSE OF THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER TALKS ABOUT GERRY CONLON OF THE GUILDFORD 4 ON RTE NEWS IRELAND — Transcript

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1. 0:02aailable in the sense that lawyers had
2. 0:03it but uh I think it's come as news to
3. 0:06the general public and uh to those
4. 0:08engaged in the uh The Wider process of
5. 0:11debate about the criminal justice system
6. 0:13which is what this story is really about
7. 0:15about the effectiveness of the criminal
8. 0:16justice system at getting at the truth
9. 0:18it has been said it has been alleged
10. 0:20that it was hawked about by police
11. 0:21sources for quite some time before the
12. 0:24guardian picked it up well that's
13. 0:25complete rubbish this this story emerged
14. 0:28after a long process of straightforward
15. 0:30investigative journalism and I can say
16. 0:32that uh the length of time I worked on
17. 0:34it checking it out very carefully from
18. 0:36many different sources if it was being
19. 0:37hked about somebody else would have
20. 0:39published it long before now does it
21. 0:41does publication imply that gered Conan
22. 0:43may have in any way been implicated in
23. 0:46the Guilford or wo bombing publication
24. 0:48doesn't imply anything of that kind at
25. 0:50all what publication does imply is that
26. 0:52he said he was after his conviction now
27. 0:55what we have to do now is to look at
28. 0:57that process ask why did he say that
29. 0:59what was his state of mind what did it
30. 1:02what does it really mean it's a huge
31. 1:03piece of evidence which has never been
32. 1:04considered properly before it's never
33. 1:06been tested by cross-examination and
34. 1:08both the police and Conan's
35. 1:10Representatives say they want to put it
36. 1:11to the test they both say they have
37. 1:13points to prove by putting it out in
38. 1:15public before the May inquiry into the
39. 1:16case now I think that should happen and
40. 1:19I think it's it's a vital part of of the
41. 1:22May inquiry's works it has been
42. 1:23described by the by some some critics as
43. 1:27a blatant attempt by the police to
44. 1:29rehabilitate themselves
45. 1:30well inevitably some people may see it
46. 1:32as that all I can say is I'm an
47. 1:33independent journalist I've gone to all
48. 1:35sorts of different sources and I can
49. 1:37tell you this that the source that
50. 1:38originally put me onto this story was
51. 1:39nothing to do with the police and in
52. 1:41fact I mentioned the existence of the
53. 1:42tape at the time they were freed though
54. 1:44at that stage I had no idea what it
55. 1:45contained I you but um I I don't think
56. 1:48it's any kind of Rehabilitation at all
57. 1:49and quite frankly as I say in the story
58. 1:51explicitly s Peter int's reputation is
59. 1:53on the line with this publication just
60. 1:55as much as Jerry Conan's I gather you'll
61. 1:57be publishing further Revelations
62. 1:59tomorrow can can you tell us what they
63. 2:00will contain I'm afraid you're going to
64. 2:02have to buy the paper to find out David
65. 2:04Rose thank you for talking to 61