Evidence of Colonel ‘X’, given from behind a screen, in a bathchair with ear trumpet.

– Colonel X, you say you saw intelligence that Gerry Adams was a senior member of the IRA at Thiepval Barracks in 1972.

– Yes.

– Was anyone with you who can corroborate your claim?

– Why, yes. Chap called Stewarty.

– And he was…?

– Local salt of the Earth loyalist type. Called in once a week to pick up black bin bags of intelligence collages on Catholics. Sorry, IRA suspects.

– He was in the UDA, Colonel, wasn’t he?

– Sometimes.

– Sometimes?

– He was technically UDR, but what’s a letter here and there when you’re bravely holding the ring in a near-civil war situation?

– Do you have any actual evidence, Colonel, that Mr Adams was involved in the bombings with which this trial is concerned?

– When you say evidence…?

– Eyewitness statements?

– Not really, no.

– Forensics?

– We tended not to bother with that stuff, I’m afraid.

– Circumstantial evidence?

– Circum what?

– Evidence that is not direct but from which nevertheless guilt may be logically and reasonably inferred.

– You’ve lost me now. 

– You’re excused, Colonel.

– Capital! Jam sponge and custard for dessert and Vera Lynn Night at the nursing home.

Evidence of Seamus Tadhg Dáithí O’Murphy, former head of social club republican ballots in London.

– You were in a position of great responsibility within the republican movement in the 1970s in London, were you not, Mr O’Murphy?

– There wasn’t a function I didn’t attend between 1971 and 1974 with my little book of cloakroom tickets.

– And that came to an end when you were jailed, is that right?

– Refused to recognise the court. Did hard time the way I was trained.

– And your sentence was?

– Ten days.

– For?

– Smoking downstairs on the bus, multiple infractions of the Gaming Act.

– You met Mr Adams in, let’s see now (pages rustle)… October 1973.

– Around then, yes.

– And you still remember the brief conversation you had with him?

– Never forget it. He looked at me through his sunglasses with those dead shark eyes, pulled his black beret down low and said: “I love being in the Ra, Seamie boy. Being in the Ra is magic, so it is. I’d rather be in the Ra than in Showaddywaddy. But if anybody ever asks me if I was in the Ra I’m going to to deny being in the Ra. And if you ever tell anybody I told you I was in the Ra you know what’ll happen.”

– And did, you, Mr O’Murphy?

– Did I what?

– Know? What would happen?

– Oh, yes. Everyone knew. That was the game. There was always a price to be paid.

– And that price was?

–  He wouldn’t have bought a ballot. I’m pretty sure about that. He was ruthless that way.

– What would you say if I put it to you that Mr Adams was in HMP Maze, which you may know as Long Kesh, in October 1973?

– I’d say you’re talking balls. I remember that night distinctly because Adams won the fondue set and that always stuck with me. 

Or was it the Super-Ser?

Evidence of Phil Whyte, veteran columnist, Irish Times; formerly RTÉ, Irish Independent, Irish Press, Belfast Telegraph, News Letter.

– You’ve considerable experience of reporting from Belfast during what we refer to as the Troubles, am I right, Mr Whyte?

– You could say I’ve filled a few notebooks in the Province, yes.

– And you always went about your work in the assumption that Mr Adams was in the IRA?

– I did. Matter of fact, that was the first thing I learned as a rookie reporter.

– And, tell me, how did you locate this nugget of information?

– Bloke called Nigel at the bar of the Whip and Saddle in the Europa. My editor put me on to him. Just sit at the bar, he said, and wait for a guy in a green jumper with patches on the elbows and shoulders to show up.

– That was by no means your only source for your claim, was it?

– Jesus, no. Let’s see now... There was the media Christmas party thrown by the PR types at Thiepval Barracks –  Nigel’s lot. That was a mine of information about people like Adams. Loose lips sink ships and all that. And of course there was the Twelfth of July do at RUC HQ Knock. Lot of blokes called Trevor there with sandy moustaches who were weren’t shy about filling me in on Adams.

– Looking back, did you find these fellows from the army and police to be generally trustworthy?

– Very much so, yes. Except when they weren’t.

– Naturally.

– And I’m as surprised as anyone to see all that collusion guff coming out these days. They did a good job of keeping that from me, I can tell you.

Evidence of retired RUC Chief Inspector ‘C’.

– You had overall responsibility for the processing and detention of prisoners for over 30 years, is that correct?

– It is, M’lud.

– He’s M’lud. I’m just defence counsel. You don’t have to call me anything.

– Oops. Been a while. Ring-rust, you might call it.

– Is it true you were known to republicans in and out of the criminal justice system as… (paper rustles)… Basher?

– (Cough. Chair scrape.) Bit of fun. Kind of an affectionate thing, if I’m being honest.

– It’s your evidence that several of the men who were interrogated in your custody told you or your officers that Mr Adams was in the Ra.

– Very much so. In fact, I believe you have an audio recording of a senior IRA man admitting as much.

– We do. Play the tape please.

– (Crackling.) Yith, if you thay tho. Gerry Adamth wath in the Ra. Everybody and hith granny knowth that for f**kth thake.

– Tell me, Chief Inspector, is this just a bad recording or did this man have a lisp?

– No, no. His front teeth were knocked out and his jaw was broken. Fell into a fire extinguisher as I remember.

– Would I be correct in saying you personally are in no doubt that Gerry Adams was in the IRA?

– You would. And in a very senior position too. 

– You served as media liaison as a young officer in the 1970s, is that right?

– It is. Great learning experience.

– And if you would have a look at this document, please.

– Let me just get my glasses on… Hmm-hmm… Hmm-hmm, Hmm-hmm.

– Can you tell us please what you’re looking at?

– It’s a press release we drew up an hour after a bombing.

– And the headline?

– ‘Provo own goal kills eight Catholics in bar next to nursery school beside orphanage for blind kids’.

– And was it, in fact, a Provo bomb that killed eight in a republican bar next to a nursery beside an orphanage for blind kids?

– No.

– So who did it?

– Inaudible.

– Sorry, can you speak up?

– The UVF.

– Was the bar next to a nursery?

– No.

– Was the nursery next to an orphanage for blind kids?

– Can I get back to you on that?