MI5 British Security Service apply for Secret court hearing, closed material proceeding (CMP) in case of former

British Agent Martin McGartland.

No British Government has ever stood by those who stood by it unless forced to. The Martin McGartland case is the best evidence of that, he did his bit and now he is just an embarrassment that will be side-lined ...... a very dirty war that for some is never ending.
This case was in the news only a week or so ago. There are no issues of 'National Security' in this case but it shows how MI5 and Home Office will use CMP to Lie, Cover up and break the law just so they can conceal their own wrongdoing.

MI5 allegedly applies for secret court session after informant sues for being denied protection
Former IRA mole accuses Home Office of cover-up and claims he was denied medical treatment after being shot by IRA hit team
The Independent - Ian Burrell, Monday 06 May 2013

MI5 has allegedly applied for a controversial secret court hearing after being sued by a former IRA mole who claims he has been denied medical treatment after being shot in a reprisal attack. Martin McGartland, originally from west Belfast, has been credited with saving the lives of 50 police officers and soldiers in Northern Ireland as a spy within the IRA providing intelligence to the special branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He is suing MI5 and the Home Office for failing to support him after he was attacked and repeatedly shot by an IRA hit team who tracked him to a safe house in North Tyneside in 1999.

Mr McGartland has told The Independent that solicitors acting for the Home Office, the government department responsible for the Security Service, have applied to have the matter dealt with by a Closed Material Procedure (CMP) hearing. At CMPs, due to come into force shortly with the introduction of the Justice and Security Act 2013, claimants must be represented before the judge by special advocates who have been cleared for security. Such a hearing would mean that neither Mr McGartland or his lawyers were able to attend. Labour, which says CMPs deviate from the tradition of open and fair justice, has called for the use of such closed proceedings to be limited unless a judge agrees a fair verdict cannot be reached by any other means. The Law Society president, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, has also raised objections to CMPs on the grounds that they undermine the essential principle of justice that all parties are entitled to see and challenge all the evidence placed before the court. CMPs are seen by the Government as a way of bringing before a judge information which, for security reasons, cannot be revealed in open court. Mr McGartland said that funding for treatment he was receiving for the post-traumatic stress disorder he suffered after the assassination attempt had been stopped. He claimed the secret hearing was designed to cover up the Home Offices failure to meet its duty of care, rather than to protect genuine state secrets. This is being done despite my legal case against them being related to their removing funding for my medical treatment, which they were funding after my 1999 shooting, he told The Independent. They removed the medical funding even after they were supplied two medical reports stating that I required a further three to five years of

treatment. That resulted in a serious deterioration in my condition and it also led to my now requiring round-the-clock care, help and support. In other words MI5 are going to use CMP solely to cover up their own embarrassment and wrongdoing and not, as the Government has been claiming, in cases that relate to National Security. Mr McGartland has become a high-profile IRA mole, with his experiences forming the basis of the 2008 film 50 Dead Men Walking, named after the number of lives he is said to have saved. His cover was blown in 1991 when he fell under suspicion and was arrested by the IRA before being taken for interrogation. Believing he was about to be murdered after eight hours of questioning, he threw himself from a third-floor window. He suffered serious head injuries but was rescued by locals who called an ambulance. Although the security forces gave him a new identity and a home in England, he was outspoken in criticising what he saw as failures in the campaign to counteract terrorism. Mr McGartland believes that his willingness to speak out about his experiences has contributed to the Governments decision to stop paying for his medical and psychiatric care. A Home Office spokesman said: There are ongoing legal proceedings in this case and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment.
Readers Comments

roobosh 9 days ago Exactly how does this pertain to national security? A man is suing MI5 for failing to support him after he was shot, which happened 14 years ago.

Hotdangdiggidydawg 9 days ago I do like these feel good stories about rats that get their comeuppance

jaberwokie 9 days ago The secret services always want hearing behind doors. In Northern Ireland the police and military nearly always sided with the parties that were not catholic.

Gato Prato 9 days ago Perfidious Albion. Whats new?

jaberwokie Gato Prato 9 days ago

Ian C. Purdie - Sydney 9 days ago

"In other words MI5 are going to use CMP solely to cover up their own embarrassment and wrongdoing and not, as the Government has been claiming, in cases that relate to National Security.

Why does that have a ring of truth about it? Quite probably the government handbook has a whole chapter devoted to these scenarios and how to proceed forward.

Ken Huggard 9 days ago

An ugly war where people operated outside the law ,murder was committed by all sides and there was no shortage of rats of all shades who lived of the detritus. .

platypus56 9 days ago

Up until the 1970s people who worked for MI5 did not in many cases receive a pension, as outlined by the late spycatcher Peter Wright. No wonder they blow the whistle in the media to get some money.

English pensions are not indexed, the government is busy stripping cash from every quarter and dismantling the welfare net. We're all in it together as long as we went to Eton or Oxbridge..and even many of the old school spies turned out to be traitors.

Good to know Perfidious Albion is alive and kicking.

middle_england 9 days ago

Here we go...the Orwellian Courts have begun,

Now you won't be able to see the evidence, challenge it in court or have your own lawyer. Instead the Government, in all their "generosity" will appoint one for you.

Welcome to the brave new world of the "Justice" and "Security" Bill

Yoolander 10 days ago

A very dirty undeclared war where just about everyone was to some degree - expendable.

No British Government has ever stood by those who stood by it.unless forced to - he did his bit and now he is just an embarrassment that will be sidelined ......a very dirty war that for some is never ending.

Ian C. Purdie - Sydney Yoolander 9 days ago

Too true, the same applies here. Many an Afghanistan veteran is discovering that.

Guest 10 days ago

All life is not sacred, if you are an MP or a non-elected Lordie. or Lordette. Well anybody but a politicians life is not sacred.

Secret Court to stop the information coming out, or a secret Court to supress freedom from coming out?

Check out S14 and George Galloway, whom used his maiden speech to ilustrate such happenings.

I am not a fan most the time of George, but his maiden speech was spot on.

Yep, you can be an agent and locked away without a trial to stop the truth coming out.

I believe the man is still under the Mental Health lock-up to prevent any trial, according to the medics for HMG he is a paranoid schizophrenic.

Stops the politicians being named in corruption and deals.

A top operator for the Ulster, whom sometimes had to safeguard his position by giving not too much about the IRA he mixed with too. Erm if he was a paranoid schizophrenic would they have employed him in the first place as a top operator in a unit with higher psychological checks on entry than the SAS-No!

Yes you can be someone that knew too much and given a sentence without trial for knowing a little too much, happened to me. I did get a verbal apology at the end of twenty years, but no written one, and even had the acceptance given by top docs the condition never existed.

Meanwhile all I knew about was a MP or two and a few political men with an hidden social life preparing a firework spectacular. My then wife was told to get out of the room, she protested, I saw the handle move ever so slight, pointed in silence to the man from the Ministry at the handle, he crept to it after a few minutes, pulled the handle and she was there trying to listen, "he said if you want to continue living go upstairs and do not come down"

She sh@t herself and was never the same again with me. Always that barrier afterwards. In her village ignorance said you should have never asked him to come and dictate to me in my house.

Cannot say anything else as hey there is a justice system and a legal system and one other, as able in hiding the truth as that holiday camp for terrorists in Cuba. Not all there are guilty either.

Not all are guilty in this country either. Not all are ill. see more

britbob 10 days ago

People that have worked for MI5 to prevent death and destruction from acts of terrorism will need to be protected. It is a sad state of affairs that cases like this have had to be brought before the courts

kawasakiman 10 days ago

"...secret court..."

A very dodgy process which was always going to be misused.

realvikingking kawasakiman 10 days ago What should we expect from the government of sleeze and towelfolders? Story link; http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mi5allegedly-applies-for-secret-court-session-after-informant-sues-forbeing-denied-protection-8605107.html