The BelTel

Michael Briggs has a famous scientist but as it turns out he had faked some of his qualifications. He also faked research that supposedly showed the safety a brand of oral contraceptives. His daughter Joanne has written a book about him - ‘The Scientist Who Wasn't There’  She joined Ciarán Dunbar to tell her incredible story and to try and answer the question, who really was her father? &nbsp...

Marianne Smyth had a long career on both sides of the Atlantic as a swindler and a con-woman. Smyth has now been convicted in Downpatrick of swindling more than £115,000 from four victims, including Derry GAA player Dermot McNicholl. Born in Maine, Smyth claimed she had ordered IRA killings, been the heir of a multi-million dollar fortune, and survived cancer, among many other absurd lies. &n...

Thirty-one-year-old conservative activist and father-of-two Charlie Kirk was fatally shot during a public event on Wednesday. With an intense manhunt underway, US president Donald Trump has blamed the “radical left” for the gruesome killing. How is an already splintered America responding to the murder of Charlie Kirk? And what happens next in a bitterly divided county awash with guns? ...

Riots were a familiar feature of the Troubles, but with political violence now almost a thing of the past, rioting is rare. However, sparked by a decision not to allow the Orange Order to parade on west Belfast’s Springfield Road, the September 2005 riots were complete mayhem. Loyalists rampaged for three nights causing two thousand police and soldiers to be deployed.  Belfast Telegraph’s sec...

Sean Hegarty is a brutal double murderer. He is currently in Northern Ireland’s maximum-security prison, Maghaberry. But he is somehow updating a Facebook account from behind bars. Hegarty murdered his ex-girlfriend Caron Smyth and her friend Finbar McGrillen in December 2013. Hegarty had just days before been released on bail for domestic violence charges. An inquest found that the...

Twenty-five years ago, as a long summer drew to a close, a night out ended in tragedy. It changed the lives of four young men forever, ending another’s far too soon. It happened in the leafy, affluent suburb of Donnybrook in south Dublin. A fight broke out among a group of young men outside Anabel’s nightclub. When it was over, 18-year-old Brian Murphy lay on the ground. Hours later, he...

Irish man Graham Linehan is one of the brains behind one of TV’s finest ever comedies – Father Ted. He is now a self-described ‘gender critical’ activist, causing much controversy and offence to those who believe in trans rights. In the latest twist, he was arrested by five armed police over posts made on X in April of this year.  How did Graham Linehan go from comedic genius to such a d...

When an IRA Stormont spy ring was alleged in 2002, devolution quickly plunged into crisis. A PSNI raid on Sinn Féin's Stormont offices discovered a map of castle buildings with instructions on bypassing security, and intelligence on the prison service, including personal details of prison officers. But in 2004, Denis Donaldson – the most senior republican arrested during the raids – admitted...

In March 1994 the IRA attacked Heathrow Airport with mortar bombs, they were high profile and highly symbolic acts.    One of those involved was Glasgow-born IRA man Michael Gallagher.   He was eventually arrested and charged but he managed to convince his English partner Mary Attenborough that he was innocent.  Mary then campaigned for what she thought was justi...

Lord Alderdice is a former leader of the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland who still sits in the House of Lords. He has a background steeped in Presbyterian in Northern Ireland but resigned from the church in 2018. Having heard about allegations of bullying and harassment within the Presbyterian Church, he commissioned a dossier outlining the experiences of some whose claims included be...

The death of a man in Newcastle brings the number of people murdered in Northern Ireland in the past nine weeks to nine, with twelve people murdered so far this year. 84-year-old pensioner Sean Small was found dead in his Newcastle home on Sunday night. The week before, a west Belfast father was stabbed to death in his home. Named locally as Shane Lowry, the 32-year-old's brother has been charged...

Donaldson walked away from the Good Friday Agreement talks but formerly secret files show that he was far from a staunch hardliner, Hours before the deal was signed, the then Lagan Valley MP famously left Castle Buildings in protest at what the UUP was about to sign up to. Jeffrey Donaldson was the political hardliner – at least in public. But newly declassified documents reveal that in private –...

"Im convinced Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly aren't working off their on agenda and their own mind" - that’s the verdict of a leading female loyalist. The ‘PUL’ Community – Protestants, Unionists, Loyalists. There is sometimes debate over what those terms actually mean. That debate is suggested as being a factor in a reluctance of loyalist figures to speak to the media – especially loya...

On the 4th of January 1976, UVF gunmen burst in to a house in Whitecross, in South Armagh. They shot three young brothers, John Martin, Brian, and Anthony Reavey. John Martin and Brian died at the scene – Anthony died almost a month later. Their brother Eugene Reavey has now written a book - ‘The Killings of the Reavey Brothers: British murder and cover-up in Northern Ireland’. Eugene Reavey belie...

The judge hearing Kneecap member Mo Chara’s terror charge case needs more time to think about what he’s going to do next. 27-year-old  Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh from Ballymurphy was charged in May, over the alleged display of a banned Hezbollah flag at a gig in north London. The case has become stuck over a technical argument over the timing of the charge against the rapper.  "Keep talking abou...

The TUV has dramatically emerged as the third most popular party in Northern Ireland in the latest BelTel / LucidTalk polling. Most unionists want electoral pacts, a significant minority even want the existing parties to merge. Most of those polled want a commission to regulate bonfires and flags and less than a third of our readers agree with Belfast City Council’s dual Irish-English languag...

The IRA's internal security unit, responsible for hunting down informers and executing them, was known as 'The Nutting Squad'. Ruthless, cruel, efficient, but riddled with informers - promoting questions, who were they actually loyal to? Paddy ‘PM’ Monaghan has been reported as a British agent, making him the third senior member to be suspected of being a double agent. Its top tier also included t...

‘Racism, pure and simple’ - that’s the PSNI’s assessment of an anti-migrant group roaming the streets of east Belfast. The self-styled vigilantes were posting their antics to TikTok, which has now banned them. Sometimes accompanied by dogs the group have been demanding to see IDs, have made threats on doorsteps, and have been enquiring about work-statuses. One the main movers in the group is dog ‘...

South Armagh republican Colm Murphy was at various points a member of the Provisional IRA, the INLA and the Real IRA. In his later years, he was linked to the Óglaigh na hÉireann dissident group. He had been convicted but later acquitted of involvement in the Omagh bombing. He was later found liable in a civil court for the 1998 attack which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins....

Flattery, deceit, a bung, MI5, and the secret back-channel to Sinn Féin- uncovered files have revealed the DUP’s route to power-sharing. Publicly the DUP refused to talk to Sinn Féin, but the truth was that the party was in direct talks with republicans.  Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Sam McBride who reveals what he has discovered in the secret files.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

In September 1966 the body of a baby girl – Lynda Cochrane – was discovered at Ballykinler Army Base in County Down. It wasn’t until 2006 when former soldier Harry Doyle was arrested after telling an ex-lover that his disability was an act of divine punishment for the killing of a baby. Just months before he was due to stand trial, he died.    Former Detective Superintendent Tim Hanley l...

In the early hours of 7 August 1986, hundreds of Ulster Loyalists, some in paramilitary uniforms, spilled over the border and into the County Monaghan village of Clontibret. A trail of destruction ensued, and Gardaí were attacked with two officers ending up in hospital. The so-called ‘invasion’ was led by then DUP Deputy leader Peter Robinson. He was later convicted of unlawful assembly and g...

From the parish newsletter to the daily death notices, we like to keep tabs on the comings and goings of life around us. And when it comes to celebrities, especially where fame and romance collide, we just can't look away. Take this week, for example, when TV power couple Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley announced their separation. But just how difficult is it to navigate a relationship under th...

There are reports that the London UDA has transitioned into an “old comrades association”. The faction fundraised for loyalist activities in Northern Ireland during the troubles, and at times took part in smuggling weapons for the UDA. Two of the London UDA’s leading members, far-right activists Frank Portinari and Eddie Whicker, were arrested in Birmingham sting operation in May 1993.  Ciará...

The so-called ‘White Widow’ is one of the world’s most wanted Islamic terror suspects. Samantha Lewthwaite has been linked to 400 deaths and the 7/7 attacks, and is alleged to remain at large in Somalia. She’s been on the wanted list in multiple countries for 20 years – and she’s from Banbridge.  How did she go from County Down schoolgirl to a hunted Al-Qaeda suspect?  Ciarán Dunbar...