DUP politician: Both the PSNI ACC Alan Todd and CC Simon Byrne should be suspended pending probe into IRA funeral response

A letter from Councillor John McDermott:
By John McDermott
Published 3rd Apr 2021, 11:54 BST
Updated 3rd Apr 2021, 12:05 BST
The PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd and the Chief Constable Simon Byrne speak after prosecutors said they will not be prosecuting anyone over the Bobby Storey funeral. According to the chief constable’s own apparent way of operating, he and Mr Todd should be suspended pending an investigation, says John McDermott. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEyeThe PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd and the Chief Constable Simon Byrne speak after prosecutors said they will not be prosecuting anyone over the Bobby Storey funeral. According to the chief constable’s own apparent way of operating, he and Mr Todd should be suspended pending an investigation, says John McDermott. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye
The PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd and the Chief Constable Simon Byrne speak after prosecutors said they will not be prosecuting anyone over the Bobby Storey funeral. According to the chief constable’s own apparent way of operating, he and Mr Todd should be suspended pending an investigation, says John McDermott. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd initially stated on June 30 that the PSNI was not involved in the organisation of the funeral but we now know that the police received the Sinn Fein funeral plan on June 28.

Indeed, that plan stated there would be 94 seats at the political rally in Milltown cemetery. We also know the police stood idle as 400 people gathered at the Storey house for a wake.

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The law at that time only permitted public gatherings of fewer than thirty people.

Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

I am a retired police officer. I have known ACC Alan Todd for a very long time. I count him to be an honourable man with integrity. I class him as a friend but his position as assistant chief constable is untenable.

Alan Todd has not denied that he liaised with Gerry Kelly. If so, a man of Alan Todd’s experience should have had concerns that Mr Kelly, driven by an allegiance and relentless urge to glorify his IRA colleague, might be an unreliable point of contact.

Alan Todd should have seen this coming. He’s the assistant chief constable for Belfast, if he can’t see the traps being led by Sinn Fein in their stampede for another act of IRA glorification, then god help us all.

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I’ve had the honour of serving under two of the greatest homegrown chief constables any police force could have. Jack Herman and Ronnie Flanagan. True policemen and men of honour and integrity. They are better in such leading positions than chief constables shoehorned in from England.

According to the chief constable’s own apparent way of operating, Simon Byrne and Alan Todd should be suspended from duty while a robust investigation is carried out.

John McDermott, Chairman, MEA, Police & Community Safety Panel, DUP councillor, Braid, Ballymena

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