British Agent Involved in Killing Two Teenage Girls and a Shopkeeper?

It was a horrific crime. The investigation seemed straightforward. A man confessed to his role in shooting up a shop that left one man and two teenage girls dead. This wasn’t a robbery gone wrong. The three were killed for being Catholics as part of a sectarian murder campaign by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

In 1991 in Craigavon Eileen Duffy (19), Katrina Rennie (16) alongside, the shop owner Brian Frizzell (29) were shot dead. One man, Thomas Harper received a life sentence for his part in the attack.

During police interrogation, Harper identified Alan Oliver as the killer and Anthony 'Tony' McNeill as also being involved. No action was taken against the two men.

Oliver is a suspected British agent who played a central role in the Mid Ulster UVF, which was responsible for dozens of sectarian murders.

It confirmed to lawyers acting for relatives of the dead that "no investigation file in respect of Oliver or McNeill was ever submitted to the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) for a decision as to prosecution."

Oliver now a born-again Christian, in recorded testimonies posted online claimed to having been "heavily involved in organized crime and political violence”.

This week the families of those killed were permitted by the court to progress a civil action against those involved in this murder including the Chief Constable and the British Ministry of Defense.

They are also seeking answers to questions of why were Oliver and McNeill not charged at the time or a file submitted for a prosecution.

The lawyer for the families told the Irish News in Belfast,

“this is a timely reminder to the police, military, the intelligence services and the British government itself that collectively they haven’t done their job in pursuing killers. Any attempts at amnesties to try and concrete over the past won’t stop legal action like this."