The BelTel

An unlawfully at large Magilligan Prisoner with four names is to face a court in Rhode Island.  Timothy O’Reilly, also known as Elijah Gavin, Timothy Kelly, or Elijah Thomas, was arrested in New York in January on charges of conning over $800,000 dollars from a 78-year-old woman. He has been on the run since 2022 after failing to return to Magilligan Prison after a temporary compassionate rel...

Gerard Conway was last seen in Cookstown in 2007. The 32-year-old father-of-one was recorded on CCTV at a bank in the town on the 25th of January. He was officially reported missing by his family on 13th of February. Despite searches, he has never been seen since. What happened to Gerard remains a mystery, but the coroner is satisfied he is dead. An inquest has heard from family, friends and witne...

The PSNI have broken its silence on claims that it spied on journalist Donal MacIntyre, who is investing the death of teenager Noah Donohoe.  The Chief Constable Jon Boucher says that “No Journalistic material was viewed, recorded, or sought by the PSNI”. He says that the PSNI only accessed information that was publicly posted on two X accounts. The PSNI also now denies breaking into the inve...

The New IRA is in secret peace negations with the British and Irish governments. But the group’s leadership, who were previously arrested in an MI5 sting, is understood to be at loggerheads with hardliners over whether they should abandon their armed campaign. The New IRA is currently the most active of the dissident groups and is responsible for at least seven murders.  Ciarán Dunbar is join...

The tragic and highly unusual nature of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe’s death in 2020, along with criticism of the police search for him, had led to substantial public concern, speculation, and anger. Two years ago, investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre began investigating the disappearance and the circumstances around it. A source has now told the Belfast Telegraph that as Mr MacIntyre began h...

Journalist Martin Dillon disputes the ending of the ‘Say Nothing’ tv show depicting the murder of Jean McConville. In his new book ‘The Sorrow and the Loss: The Tragic Shadow Cast by the Troubles on the Lives of Women’, he writes about people like Caroline Moreland, shot as an informer just weeks before the IRA ceasefire – he believes Martin McGuinness must have known about it. Mairead Farrell kil...

Alliance was founded in 1970. Originally a strongly pro-union party before becoming agnostic on the border. 55 years later the party still exists and still seeks, as it would see it, to unite Northern Ireland. Who founded the party and why, what challenges has it faced, and how did it go from supporting the union to being agnostic on the question that dominates our politics? Ciarán Dunbar is...

Suzanne Breen joins Ciarán Dunbar to go through the Belfast Telegraph’s latest LucidTalk polling, including the narrowing gap between support for the union and a united Ireland, Sinn Féin’s decision to decline this year’s White House visit, and potential pay rises for MLAs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are fears of further bloodshed after an attempt on the life of a dissident republican in west Belfast. Taxi driver Sean O’Reilly was shot in the shoulder in Poleglass on Sunday. The shooting comes amid an escalating feud between factions of Óglaigh na hÉireann, better known as ONH. So far, the tensions have played out with graffiti and accusations on social media. But this shooting...

William Hampton was a nomadic millionaire famously described by Leo Varadkar “a vagabond who lived in a caravan”. Hampton left most of his fortune to Sinn Fein. Unsurprisingly – the party were happy to take the money, and equally unsurprisingly their rivals were quick to criticise that, especially given that the money went north. Now Sinn Féin is set to take in over £80k after a der...

Celebrity conman Jay Cartmill is facing prison after pleading guilty to 46 new fraud charges, taking his total number of criminal convictions to more than 200. Cartmill, who told Stephen Nolan in 2015 that he was changing his ways, has confessed to masterminding another scam which is believed to total close to £1m. Ciarán Dunbar is joined by the Sunday Life’s Ciaran Barnes.   Hosted on Acast....

Twelve people died when the IRA fired bombed the La Mons House hotel on the 17 February 1978. Scores were injured, some horrifically. The Provisional IRA claimed responsibility for the attack, it apologised for the deaths - claiming the bombers had planned to give adequate warning – but were thwarted by a broken phone box.  Journalist Ivan Little’s first shift as a news editor was on tha...

North Korea is one of the world’s most secretive states – known for its dictators who are treated like gods and an iron-clad grip on their citizens. Back in 1988, six members of the Official IRA made their way to North Korea to receive state of the art training – some were expelled from the country after a drunken brawl. The unusual alliance came as secretary general of the Irish Workers Party, Se...

23 years after its emergence, the PSNI is still less than one third Catholic and the numbers attempting to join are according to the Chief Constable "below what's needed". Its latest recruitment campaign attracted a total of 3,500 applications but only 27% are perceived to be Catholic. The PSNI was born out of the Patten reforms of the old RUC but the changes which reforms brought about were painf...

A Coleraine pensioner, who uses a mobility scooter, was shot five times in the arms and legs by the UDA. But what possible excuse would the loyalist paramilitaries have for carrying out such a heinous act? The attack came just 48 hours after the PSNI had raided a brothel in the town which it publicly connected to the UDA. That brothel was run by Bulgarian pimps and police say they w...

Methodist College Belfast’s insurers have been stung for £50,000 after a Carryduff boy sued over hazing at rugby camp. The boy was allegedly forced to strip naked and have his head shaved. Gabriel McConkey also claims he also witnessed other boys perform acts on a sex toy. He was also filmed in what the family say were “degrading” videos which left him “traumatised”. The school has apologised...

It all began in December, when an ex-girlfriend of Irish independent journalist John Meagher sent him screenshots of a fake dating-app profile using a photo of him. This would lead him on an extraordinary journey to find out who his catfish was – the answer to which would shock everyone involved. Host: Ellen Coyne. Guest: John Meagher Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informatio...

Sir Declan Morgan was formerly Northern Ireland’s most senior judge. The Londonderry man now heads the Legacy Commission. He describes the role not only as one of helping families get the truth about how relatives died but also about revealing the reality of political violence and the Troubles.   Sir Declan tells the Belfast Telegraph’s Northern Ireland Editor Sam McBride he won't flinch...

Former Big Brother contestant Seány O’Kane has been denied entry to Russia. O’Kane’s the owner of a popular Telegram platform for foreigners in Russia named ‘Moscow Pals’. Seany O’Kane has lived and worked in the country for years but was turned back from Moscow Airport before Christmas.  Moscow Pals also has a channel dealing with financial questions arising from how to extrac...

Robert McCartney was murdered by members of the IRA 20 years ago, in January 2005. He died after being stabbed in the street outside a bar in Belfast, near the the Markets area. Like many other murders, the IRA hoped that it would eventually blow over, but it did not, it became an international news story and a political nightmare for Sinn Féin - all due to the tenacity of his sisters.   Two...

In January 2024, opponents of the then DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, and the deal he struck with the government over post-Brexit arrangements put together a political plot - ‘Operation Torpedo’ - Its aim, to wreck the proposed deal. The wire-tapping and subsequent live-tweeting of a supposedly secret meeting caused a sensation. The key figure in the scheme was loyalist Jamie Bryson. Now The BelTel...

The Rev Harold Good witnessed the IRA decommissioning their arsenal of weapons. He facilitated secret talks at vital points during the Peace Process. In his new book he reveals his role as a back channel between the DUP and Sinn Féin.  He joins Ciarán Dunbar to discuss his role as a peacemaker, his experiences with Ian Paisley and his extraordinary friendship with Martin McGuinness.&nbsp...

A woman dubbed ‘The GAA catfish’ is now the subject of an official police probe after the PSNI received a complaint alleging harassment. The infamous catfish, who is believed to be from Armagh, is believed to have deceived up to 40 people including a number of Ulster GAA players. Who is the GAA catfish, how did she trick so many county players, and why did they fall for it? Ciarán Dunbar is&n...

Newtownards man Paddy Mayne was an unconventional soldier – a founder member of the SAS. He is one of the central characters in the BBC’s hit war drama, SAS: Rogue Heroes  But there is much controversy over how he has portrayed, foul mouthed, thuggish and with a very dodgy accent. Military historians in particular, say that’s not how he was.    And this publicity has once again...

Lagan Valley MP Sorcha Eastwood to start legal action against the Tate brothers over social media posts aimed at her. Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan are self-professed ‘Alpha Males’ and now aspiring politicians with their own ‘Bruv Party’. This spat comes as Elon Musk called Labour MP Jess Phillips a ‘Rape Genocide Apologist’. Meanwhile, as Donald Trump returns to the White House Ma...