“I don’t think it is unavoidable – there are some positive signs. In previous years, we experienced nightly violence that thankfully has not been manifest in the past week. Intelligence at the moment is that the paramilitary organisations by and large do not want organisationally to be involved in this.”Assistant Chief Constable Steven White, who is responsible for policing Drumcree, said: “We are preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. It will only take one spark to ignite or inflame the situation.”The Presbyterian church moderator Dr Alastair Dunlop said: “Since in past years protests have got out of control, and have resulted in intimidation and death and chaos across much of Northern Ireland, I would encourage people to restrain themselves.”The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Rev Robin Eames, said: “I utterly condemn any effort by anyone to turn the Orange Order protest into a show of physical strength leading to violence.”.

The family of a black doorman found hanged in Telford said they were considering a private prosecution against police and a gang of alleged racists after an inquest found yesterday that he had been driven to taking his own life. The family of a black doorman found hanged in Telford said they were considering a private prosecution against police and a gang of alleged racists after an inquest found yesterday that he had been driven to taking his own life.Lawyers acting for the family of Errol McGowan, 34, are looking to bring a civil action under the Human Rights Act against the alleged perpetrators of a campaign of racial abuse and death threats against him. A similar action is being considered against West Mercia Police, for what the family alleges to have been an inadequate response to his complaints about the harassment he was suffering.The jury at Mr McGowan’s inquest returned a verdict, by a majority of eight to two, that he had taken his own life. Lawyers described it as Britain’s first officially recognised case of someone having been driven to suicide by racial harassment. The inquest had been told how Mr McGowan was found hanged in July 1999, with the flex of an electric iron around his neck.

His family claimed police failed to investigate the suspicious circumstances of the death.In a statement, the family rejected the finding of the all-white jury and said that the opportunity to give a “definitive answer” on the death had been lost when police did not treat the scene as suspicious.It said: “All witnesses, police and experts, accept this failure meant that third-party involvement could not be ruled out. There was a clear agenda in the police evidence given at the inquest to argue for a verdict of suicide that would provide a justification for their failings and incompetence.”The coroner overseeing the five-week inquest, which took evidence from 75 witnesses, made an emotional plea yesterday for racial harmony after the “extremely disturbing evidence” heard in the case.Michael Gwynne, coroner for Telford and the Wrekin, said: “For this community, and each and every part of it, the lessons are clear – the obscenity of racial abuse and harassment must be rooted out.”When I made my opening statement on the 4th of last month, I said that people would find some of the evidence – particularly that of racial abuse – shocking and that the attention of the media would be focused on this community. That has occurred just as I predicted.”For the police the events of mid-summer 1999 and the subsequent investigations and learning curve will never be forgotten.” He said certain phrases had been “continually repeated” during the hearing, showing a breakdown in relations between public and the police – “lack of confidence” and “patronising” attitudes.Mr Gwynne said that while things had “changed considerably” since the Macpherson report on the death of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence, “more still has to be done … there must not be lip service paid, there has to be positive action”.The coroner criticised West Mercia Police over their treatment of the scene of Mr McGowan’s death. The inquest was told that that officers did not take fingerprints or wear protective clothing. Mr Gwynne said: “I believe that it would be wise for the police to give some consideration to the wearing of protective clothing, et cetera, to prevent contamination of a scene once death has been established – just in case things do not turn out to be what they appear at first sight.”He said the force should give “detailed thought” to the evidence of a scenes-of-crime expert, Paul Millen, who criticised the failure to carry out forensic science tests.The Chief Constable of West Mercia, Peter Hampson, said in a statement: “All of us can be haunted by hindsight after a tragedy occurs and reproach ourselves for not doing more to prevent it. That is after all human nature, to regret things and wish we could have prevented them from happening.”But perhaps the people of Telford will have been re-assured about the professionalism of the police, the character and integrity of the force and the sincerity shown through the ranks to the principles of equality by all the officers who have given evidence.”An inquest into a similar hanging in January 2000 of a second member of the family, Jason McGowan, 20, is due to be heard in November..

The Government “regretfully” allowed former MI5 head Dame Stella Rimington to publish her memoirs yesterday. The Government “regretfully” allowed former MI5 head Dame Stella Rimington to publish her memoirs yesterday.
Despite fierce opposition from Whitehall, ministers decided they could no longer resist publication of the book Open Secret after Dame Stella agreed to make certain changes to the text.Tony Blair, Home Secretary David Blunkett and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made the decision that is believed to have been conveyed to Dame Stella by her successor Sir Stephen Lander.The Home Office said yesterday: “The Government insisted on a number of changes on national security grounds, to which she agreed. The Government regrets and disapproves of the decision to publish the book but nevertheless the concerns have been answered.”"She was informed today that the Government would not resist publication of the book. She had submitted the manuscript for clearance back in February 2000 and it has received long and careful consideration in Whitehall.”A spokeswoman for Random House, which is expected to publish the memoirs this autumn, said they were “delighted” to get formal authorisation.Dame Stella, 65, who became the first head of MI5 to have her identity revealed in 1992, was heavily criticised for her decision to publish the book for which she is believed to have received a £125,000 advance.But she said she had been fortunate to be in “a central position during a time of great change in the security scene”, insisting she wanted to explain her role as a woman in a man’s world at the serviceShe threatened to invoke the Human Rights Act, enshrining the right to freedom of expression, if the Government tried to block the book.. Cannabis is illegal.