The BelTel

Roger Casement was hanged in August 1916 for treason against the Crown. Formerly Sir Roger, his assistance to Germany during the First World Ward was undeniable and from a British point of view he was a traitor.   From from an Irish nationalist point of view, he was a rebel and a hero who now took his place in history among...

Belfast poet, Sinéad Morrisey, was brought up in a Communist family. Hers was a childhood lived in the little world created by the party, a world apart from others and from the Troubles.   It involved smoke-filled rooms, endless meetings, and dreams of a future utopia – coupled with a belief that east of the Iron Curtain, there were people already living in it.  ...

Members of the jury in the Noah Donohoe inquest have been asked to indicate their availability for the month of May.   The inquest officially began on the 19th of January and was expected to finish up in mid-March.   Fourteen-year-old Noah’s body was discovered in north Belfast on the 27 of June 2020 - six days after he had gone missing. ...

It was supposed to be an oral record of the Troubles, made by the paramilitaries, and initially the ‘Boston Tapes’ project seemed like a really good idea, albeit one which would include descriptions of violence and terror.  The concept was simple – former paramilitaries would be interviewed, the tapes would then be kept in storage, and their storie...

Murderer Stephen McCullagh has been aptly described as “a monster hiding in plain sight”. A week on from his conviction there has been a lot of reaction to the the nerd-culture YouTuber’s conviction of murdering Natalie McNally. He denied the killing, but the jury unanimously found him guilty in a matter of hours. He has yet to be given his tariff, but Natalie’s family says he should never be let...

The jury at the inquest into the death of Noah Donohoe has now heard nine weeks of evidence – the process could last until May.   This week they heard more on how police dealt with CCTV footage of the missing teenager and how his school books were found in a Belfast flat.   A police officer also revealed that he was briefed before he spok...

‘How I stumbled on Stormont’s new policy of extreme censorship - which means we’ll understand NI’s past less fully’.    That was the stark headline on a recent comment piece from my colleague Sam McBride – the Belfast Telegraph’s Northern Ireland editor.    He discovered the unannounced policy whilst exploring declassified files in London...

Stephen McCullagh has been found guilty of murdering Lurgan woman Natalie McNally.   The jury unanimously convicted 36-year-old McCullagh, of Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, of killing the 32-year-old mother to be in December 2022.   The four-week trial heard how McCullagh murdered Ms McNally after setting up a “false alibi” that he was livestreaming...

IRA leader Rory O’Connor was once a close comrade of fellow republican Michael Collins and Kevin O’Higgins - indeed he was O’Higgins best man.    But just over a year later after the wedding, O’Higgins signed his friend’s death warrant.     O’Connor’s execution along with Liam Mellows, Dick Barrett and Joe McKelvey, added to the bitterness of Ireland’s civil war...

UPDATE: Victims drop High Court claim against Gerry Adams over IRA bombings For decades, Gerry Adams has denied being a member of the Provisional IRA. Now, for the first time, that claim is being challenged in an English courtroom. Three men, all victims of separate IRA bombings, have taken civil action against the former Sinn Féin leader for the symbolic sum of&...

The man accused of murdering Natalie McNally “lied and lied again”, a barrister has told Belfast Crown Court.   Delivering his closing statement in the case, prosecuting barrister Charles MacCreanor KC reminded the jury that the accused Stephen McCullagh had chosen not to give evidence to his trial.  However, defence barrister John Kearney KC said the case against Stephen McCullagh...

A witness says the unusual behaviour exhibited by Noah Donohoe prior to his disappearance could be associated with synthetic cannabinoids or a mental health condition.   The jury at the inquest into the teenager’s death heard evidence from the toxicologists on Wednesday.  Noah’s body was discovered in north Belfast on 27 June2020 - six days after the St Malachy’s College student wen...

This time last year, Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin was grasping an American-flag emblazoned short straw, playing second fiddle to Conor McGregor as our disgraced UFC representative took the St Patrick’s Day podium. Now that the Taoiseach has been restored to March 17 parity, he has one hell of a job on his hands. What kind of reception awaits him in Donald Trump’s Oval Office next week? &nbs...

Serial killer Robert Black is now the subject of Netflix documentary 'Manhunt: The Child Snatcher'. Black was a monster, an abuser and murder of little girls - he was the child snatcher that all parents feared. His first murder victim we can be certain of was nine-year-old Co Antrim child Jennifer Cardy on 12 August 1981. He was convicted of killing four young girls but is suspected of abusing and...

Elon Musk has built an encyclopedia which contains countless errors about Northern Ireland and its history.  Grokipedia, which was launched in October last year, now has more than six million AI generated articles, but many articles related to Northern Ireland contain major mistakes or are highly misleading.  The AI encyclopedia says that Ian Paisleys paramilitary Third Force was operati...

An ex-partner of Natalie McNally has told a court that he did not kill the Co Armagh woman.   Ms McNally, 32, was 15 weeks pregnant when she was killed at her home in Lurgan on December 18 2022.  On his third and final day of evidence, the witness shouted “you killed her” in an angry courtroom outburst at Stephen McCullagh, who stands accused of her murder.   Her...

A former partner of Natalie McNally was arrested last week on suspicion of making threats to kill a woman he had been seeing at the time of Ms McNally’s death, court has heard. The anonymous ex-boyfriend of Ms McNally told the court he reset his phone to factory settings after learning detectives were at his home in connection with the murder investigation, claiming h...

Pathologists at the inquest into the death of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe have agreed that his cause of death was drowning, with no indication of assault. All three pathologists agreed there was “no positive evidence” of toxicological contribution to Noah’s death, but this could not be excluded because of the limitations on toxicological analysis. Liam Tunney joins Olivia Peden. Hosted on Acast. See...

In the early hours of December 3, 1995, a small aircraft vanished over the Mediterranean. On board was Belfast-born engineer Desi Boomer, travelling home from Libya’s oil fields to Northern Ireland via Malta. Instead of welcoming him home, Desi’s wife Mandy received a visit from two RUC officers telling her the plane had disappeared.  Initially treated as a routine aviation accident...

The trial of Stephen McCullagh for the murder of Natalie McNally is continuing at Belfast Crown Court. In court today, a former partner of the murder accused gave evidence. The woman alleged that McCullagh had ‘recorded’ counselling sessions after she had suffered a stillbirth. She also said she withdrew a 2019 police statement relating to an alleged assault by McCullagh.   Natalie McNal...

The inquest into the death of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe has concluded its sixth week. Today in court the jury was shown a transcript of anonymous phone call involving man selling schoolboy’s possessions. On Wednesday, Sergeant Hutchings, a leading officer in the search for Noah, faced questions over whether police actions had delayed the identification of the culvert where the teenag...

One of the main suspects in the murder of west Belfast man John George has been shot dead in the Costa Blanca. Michel Maly, a former soldier from the Czech republic, was shot dead in the early hours of Sunday morning in Torrevieja in the Alicante region of Spain. He had been on bail in connection with the murder of father-of-two John George, whose body was discovered...

A man who was abused at a so-called ‘Christian nightclub’ has accused the Presbyterian Church and the PSNI of failing him and other potential victims.  Ross Hunter, now 39 years old, says he was sexually abused by his cousin Jonathan Hyndman, who was a youth leader in a co. Londonderry church in the 1990s. Hyndman, who became a policeman in th...

The trial of Stephen McCullagh for the murder of 32-year-old Natalie McNally has entered its second week. Today in court a transcript was read out of McCullagh’s first interview with police, where he said Natalie was “having problems with her ex”. Ms McNally was killed at her home in Lurgan, suffering fatal injuries in what has been described as a “prolonged attack”. McCullagh (36) denies murderin...

Twenty years ago this week, Willie Frazer's planned ‘Love Ulster’ march ended in some of the worst riots ever witnessed in Dublin city centre. So how did a bright and busy Saturday afternoon descend into violence, disorder and chaos? We hear a first-hand account from a journalist who reported on the scene. Host: Fionnán Sheahan | Guest: Neil Fetherstonhaugh Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...