The BelTel

A majority of those polled in from the latest Belfast Telegraph / Lucidtalk polling believe that Gerry Adams was a member of the IRA.  The former Sinn Féin leader has always denied being a member of the organisation.  However, the overwhelming majority of people across the political spectrum say the matter has no impact on how they would vote.  Sinn Féin remain as the most popular party, despite First Minister Michelle O’Neill’s personal popularity dropping.  

And over 60% don’t want US President Trump to visit – but unionists and nationalists sharply disagree on the Donald.   

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by the Belfast Telegraph’s Political Editor Suzanne Breen. 

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When a lone Garda decided to arrest a squad of SAS men found in the Republic of Ireland on 1976, little did he know he had sparked an international incident which would involve the Taoiseach and Prime Minister – or that it would see the Irish government interfere with the justice system. Top secret files have revealed how the PM drew up a law to let two SAS men go on the run from the Irish but that in fact Dublin was determined that the soldiers would never do time. 

Belfast Telegraph Northern Ireland editor Sam McBride discovered the file at the National Archives in Kew, London. 

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The chief and only suspect in a Belfast satanic-style murder of a 10-year-old schoolboy is maintaining his innocence. Billy McDermott says he did not kill his little brother Brian. Brian McDermott’s dismembered remains were found in the River Lagan in 1973. Now living in England, Billy McDermott says his life has been ruined by accusations over the notorious murder of his sibling.  

The Sunday Life’s Angela Davison travelled to Liverpool to put the accusations to McDermott - she has also spoken to other members of the family. 

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The jury at the inquest on the death of Noah Donohoe has now heard an 11th week of evidence. Noah had been missing for six days after leaving his home in south Belfast before his body was discovered in a north Belfast culvert. On Monday, an expert witness said it is likely that the 14-year-old died close to midnight on the day he went missing, as the tide rose in the culvert. A post-mortem examination found the cause of death was likely to be drowning. On Thursday, the jury heard members of the public present at the search ‘were angry at police’ as ‘conspiracy theories’ were ‘floating about’. 

Liam Tunney is covering the inquest for the Belfast Telegraph. 

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Gerry Adams features heavily in now declassified documents and reveal that the British considered him, along with Martin McGuinness, to be the leaders of republicanism.  Mr Adams denies ever being a member of the IRA, but a formerly secret document includes a claim that he was re-elected to the Army Council in 1996. 

Another document records a former IRA man, then a member of the Workers Party telling the Government that he was told by Adams in Long Kesh that he would be prepared ‘to wade up to my knees in Protestant blood to a united Ireland’ - something Adams says he never said or believed. 

The Belfast Telegraph’s Northern Ireland Editor, Sam McBride, joins Ciarán Dunbar on the BelTel. 

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Rory McIlroy has joined Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods in the exclusive club of men who have won the Masters back-to-back. At Augusta National on Sunday night the co. Down man produced an assured performance to win by a single shot.

Can Northern Ireland’s most famous son add more majors to his CV and where does he rank in the grand pantheon of golfing greats?

Keith Bailie is joined by Belfast Telegraph Chief Sportswriter Steven Beacom and Chief Audience Editor Gareth Hanna.

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On a spring morning in June 2001 an eight-year-old girl gathers moss for her grandmother’s hanging baskets in a forest near Ballinamore in Co Leitrim. The child lets out a scream, she had discovered a body.  The remains belonged to Enniskillen businessman, Gerry McGinley and it was clear that he been murdered.  He had been killed by his own wife Julie and her lover, in fact they were already in custody over it.  But it wasn’t a simple tale of adultery. It involved hotel sex with strangers, lies, blackmail and videotape – and included many prominent people in Fermanagh.  

Andrew Madden researched this sordid story for the Belfast Telegraph. 

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30 years on from the violent killing of publican Tom Nevin, part two of this special podcast looks at how Nevin's wife, Catherine Nevin, emerged as the prime suspect; the murder trial and media blitz that followed; and why Ireland’s ‘Black Widow’ still fascinates us to this day.  

Host: Fionnán Sheahan  

Guest: Mary Wilson  

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Thirty years ago, Wicklow publican Tom Nevin was shot dead as he counted the takings following a busy day at Jack White’s Inn. Initially, the incident appeared to be a robbery gone wrong, but grieving wife Catherine Nevin would eventually emerge as the prime suspect and later come to be known as ‘The Black Widow’.

On the first of a two-part special, we look back at how one of Ireland’s most famous criminals came into the spotlight. 

Host: Fionnán Sheahan 

Guest: Mary Wilson

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Roger Casement was hanged in August 1916 for treason against the Crown. Formerly Sir Roger, his assistance to Germany during the First World Ward was undeniable and from a British point of view he was a traitor.  

From from an Irish nationalist point of view, he was a rebel and a hero who now took his place in history among the martyrs of republicanism and the leader of the 1916 Rising.  

No knight of the realm had faced treason charges for centuries, let alone be executed. His story was without precedent.  

A Protestant Anglo-Irish man who had been a loyal servant of the British empire, he had exposed horrific abuses of indigenous people in Africa and South America. But he then came to believe Ireland urgently needed to free itself of Britain. 

Who was this complex individual and how did he end up being killed by the state he had served?   

Casement is a subject of a new book – A Rebel And A Traitor – by Rory Carroll, the Guardian's Ireland correspondent. 

He joined Sam McBride on the BelTel.  

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