A community worker was today (Friday) acquitted of a terrorist offence.
Sinead Clarke was charged with possessing documents or records likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism which arose from a police search of her home on June 27, 2018.
During the search, officers found eight Post-It notes in her living room which bore the names and addresses of nine alleged drug dealers in West Belfast as well as comments such as ‘top dealer in the Murph’ and ‘chemist that makes cocaine’.
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Clarke was arrested and over the course of several interviews, she chose not to answer any police questions.
The 43-year old mother-of-three, from White Glen in Dunmurry, denied the charge and during a two-day non-jury trial held last November she made the case that the notes were in her house as a result of her work.
From the witness box at Belfast Crown Court, Clarke confirmed that at the time of the raid she worked for Conflict Resolution Services Ireland (CRSI). Based on the Falls Road, part of the work undertaken by CRSI is to promote peaceful resolution to community conflicts through mediation.
She said that part of her role within CRSI was to liaise with representatives from dissident Republican groups, and to pass on any threats to the Base2 crisis intervention project.
Funded by the Housing Executive, the Base2 project offers support and mediation to those under threat by paramilitaries.
When she was asked how she came to be in possession of the notes, she said a man she knew called to her home at the start of June and gave her a “little parcel” containing a list of names of people under threat.
Clarke said she knew the parcel was brought on behalf of a paramilitary group and that she stored it safely on a bookshelf.
She said the following Monday she was off work due to illness but went into the office to inform her boss about the list, and claimed she also made several unsuccessful attempts to contact a manager within Base2 to inform him of the list.
Clarke did accept a suggestion that due to her inaction, none of the nine people on the list were ever notified of the threat. Branding this as “unprofessional”, she said: “I messed up and I’m sorry about that. I should have brought that information to my workplace.”
Giving his ruling on the case today, Judge Geoffery Miller KC criticised Clarke’s failure to answer police questions following her arrest.
He said: “Given the nature of her employment, had the defendant taken the Post-Its to her office and left them there, regardless of whether she followed up on them, it’s hard to see the basis upon which she would have faced prosecution.
“On the other hand, by keeping them in her home she opened herself up to the accusation she had them for an illegal purpose. She could so easily have avoided all that has befallen her had she simply told police during interview what she subsequently relied on in court.”
He did, however, conclude that after listening to her evidence during the trial, Clarke did provide a legitimate and reasonable explanation for being in possession of the Post It notes found in her home.
Judge Miller said that whilst there was “no doubt” that the prosecution case against Clarke was “strong”, he had taken into consideration her completely clear criminal record, good character and the work she had undertaken to “resolve dangerous issues of confrontation”.
He said that after weighting up all the evidence, he was acquitting Clarke of the single charge she faced. Speaking after the ruling, Clarke said that after almost five years after he arrest, she was relieved at today’s outcome.
She said: “It’s my opinion that this was a farce from the start. It was my job, it was literally my job.”
Clarke also made reference to her father Liam Adams arrest and conviction for sexually abusing her sister Áine and said: “Being back in court has been a real trigger for me from the last time. It’s been very stressful and I just want to thank my solicitor Ciaran Toner and barrister Stephen Toal.”
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