30/06/2016 BBC Newsline

Good evening, this is BBC Newsline and these are the headlines

The killing of an IRA man by the RUC in Downpatrick

is to be re-examined after a new eyewitness

The abuse inquiry hears a former MI6 director deny

the agency had any knowledge of a paedophile ring

The police investigate how a woman suffered life-threatening head

A Belfast court hears a man who brutally killed two others

with a Samurai sword could not explain why he had attacked them.

I'm at the Ulster Tower in northern France ahead of tomorrow's centenary

commemorations for the Battle of the Somme.

A former world champion at underage level.

This summer, Belfast athlete Patrick Huston will take his place

Shame there's no summer weather to go with it.

A cool breeze and heavy showers on the cards.

A new investigation is to be launched into the controversial

killing of an IRA member by the RUC in Downpatrick 25 years ago.

An eyewitness has come forward and supported claims by the family

of Colum Marks that he was shot after being arrested.

Our home affairs correspondent Vincent Kearney reports.

RUC officers were in weight when an irony were ordered to carry out an

attack in April 19 91. One of the IRA members Colum Marks was shot

dead. The police officer who fired the shot said he believed Colum

Marks was armed and had refused to stop when an attempt was made to

arrest him. No gun was ever found. His family claimed Colum Marks was

shot after being arrested. The RUC insisted that was not the case.

Lawyers for the family have been taking legal action in a bid to

force the police to investigate the circumstances of the killing. They

have said they couldn't do so because the RUC had already

investigated the shooting. That all changed when an eye witness came

forward two months ago. The eyewitness has said that during the

shooting, he saw a man believed to be Colum Marks walking along the

street under police guard. He said it was clear the man was under

arrest and three RUC officers were with him. That contradicts police

claims that Colum Marks be to arrest and was shot because it was feared

he posed a threat. Lawyers for the Marx family haven't disclosed any

information to the police. There legal action was finished today now

that it's been decided that any investigation will be launched. The

decision was welcomed by a lawyer well -- representing the family.

This information disputes the previous statements are the RUC. It

was a shoot to kill operation. And assessment of the case will may be

carried out to establish when the investigation can begin. Two months

ago, the Attorney General asked the prosecution service to review the

decision not to prosecute any police officers involved in the incident.

The inquiry into historic abuse at institutions has been shown

an MI6 Intelligence document which claimed at least one agent

was aware of sexual abuse at Kincora Boys Home.

It's long been at the centre of allegations that a paedophile

ring involving high-profile political and military figures

Lisa McAlister was in Banbridge for us.

The document emerged during evidence given via video link

by Deputy Director of MI6 which operated here in

Known as SIS officer A, he was asked about the 1989 note which stated:

SIS officer A also said the service found no credible evidence

to support the claims former M16 chief Sir Maurice Oldfield

It was asked whether the author of the note had some personal knowledge

but he hadn't recorded or F, for some reason, had the wrong end of

the stick. Officer 38 replied he couldn't speculate as to what the

author was thinking when he it. -- wrote it.

operations in Northern Ireland had his clearance revoked in 1980

At the time, the security services would not give clearance to gay men,

amid fears that foreign spies would blackmail them.

None of the former Kincora residents who have given evidence to the HIA

have claimed Sir Maurice abused them though one claimed

A woman is in a critical condition in hospital after being found

The police are still investigating what happened

Our reporter Dan Stanton has the details.

Forensic teams searched the road and bushes if you hundreds yards from

the house for the women in her 50s was found earlier this morning.

Neighbours have told me an ambulance arrived the property just after 3am.

It was followed soon afterwards by a number of police cars. Locals, who

didn't want to appear on camera, said they were shocked something so

serious should happen at this new development close to the town. A

serious incident has occurred here and it's a shame about the fact that

the road has been closed after a considerable time. Incidents like

this do cause fear and distress in the team unity but our thoughts and

prayers are with the lady who has been entered. We would hope that

incidents like this would be few and far between. It is essentially a

very, very peaceful committee but people get on very well together and

we would hope that that would continue. Police were alerted to the

area after a member of the public noticed a very intoxicated manual to

the roundabout. The women was taking to the Daisy hill hospital that has

now been transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

A court has heard how a double murderer admitted to his girlfriend

that he had used a Samurai sword to kill two men he had

47-year-old Colin Lindsay had been almost decapitated.

Police found the two casualties in the living room of this

Appearing for sentencing today was 47-year-old

Armstrong initially denied carrying out the frenzied attack,

claiming he had arrived at the house to discover

Later, he admitted killing both Colin Lindsay and Stanley Wightman.

All three men lived close to each other in the Belvoir Estate in south

Belfast and were well known to each other.

Mr Lindsay apparently telephoned Armstrong asking him to come

All three men then spent most of the day drinking together.

The attack happened later that evening.

He returned home and his girlfriend noticed he would covered in blood on

his face and hands. She noted there was a samurai sword in the passenger

well of the car he was driving. to the victims' hands and arms point

to the murdered men trying vainly Autopsy results record multiple

sword blows to the neck Two incisions to Mr Lindsay's spinal

cord would have Police arrived at the murder

scene shortly after 8pm. They found two casualties

in the living room. Colin Lindsay was

slumped on the sofa. Mr Wightman was found

lying in a doorway. He too had sustained multiple

injuries to his head and neck. He died of his injuries

though two days later. Bereaved family members and friends

of the two murdered men were in the public gallery for today's hearing.

He will learn next month the minimum tariff he will have to serve.

Still to come. With the number of swifts declining, we find out how

GPS technology is being used to track the noisy summer visitors.

Preparations are being made for the centenary commemoration

events in the UK and in France marking the start of the Battle

Tonight, in County Down, there is an overnight

vigil at the Somme Museum near Newtownards.

Then, tomorrow, most of the attention will shift

to the battlefields at Theipval in France.

After the main joint British and French ceremony in the morning,

a Northern Ireland event has been organised by the Somme Association.

Tara Mills is there in France for BBC Newsline.

This is the memorial to the thousands of men

from the 36th Ulster Division who died at the Somme.

The men fought and died alongside friends and neighbours

Thousands perished in the most horrific circumstances.

Tomorrow is about remembering the sacrifice they made.

The Royal Irish regiment's and had to learn a new anthem in preparation

for tomorrow Saum centenary service in France. The ground at the Ulster

Tower in the Thiepval have been transformed this special

commemorative event. The service needs to be dignified and showed

respect to the soldiers that lost their lives here on the 1st of July.

We have to put a lot of effort into it to make sure it's dignified and

done respectfully. Several thousand people will join a range of

dignitaries for what will be a solemn remembrance of the lives lost

in one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War. To Derry, to

foil, to Belfast the arts are also involved in marking the special

centenary. These players from the Abbey Theatre staged the moves of

Ulster moving towards the Somme at the Somme. It is a remarkable

privilege to put the right next to the reality and see how the top to

each other. It's already very moving and very just in herself, surrounded

by the noise of nail guns and practising bands. To commemorate

these men and this event and how it has resonated down 100 years. Such

was the sacrifice of the 36th Ulster Division that it led the French

Government to making a rather unique gesture of gratitude. The site that

we are standing on here was donated in perpetuity by the people of

France to the people of Ulster after the war. This was for the sacrifice

made by the men from home on this site. It is our piece of land as

long as there is a memorial on it. Technically, when you come through

every date, you are no longer in France. As French protocol, to this

day, they don't walk into the site without an invitation. Over 2000

Ulstermen were killed with 5500 killed, wounded and missing on the

first day of the fighting. Tomorrow, the slaughter at the Somme will be

remembered by tens of thousands of people 100 years after the battle.

Everything is now in place for this special televised Saum centenary

service. Probably the most important of all the centenary commemorations,

particularly for those families who have connections with the 36th

Ulster Division. With me now is the historian fill

up. Pick the battle into some context. It is really probably the

worst battle as far as the British Army is concerned in its entire

history. It broke out on the 1st of July. Tomorrow, 100 years ago. If we

had been here 100 years ago, there would have been an enormous

artillery bombardment happening. We wouldn't have been able to hear our

ears. In the Thiepval would, which is not far from us here, the Ulster

division were waiting to go over the top into no man's land and they

wanted to charge up the hell, which we have behind the Ulster Tower here

and take the German position. It was the beginning of 141 days of

enormous conflict and a terrible loss of life. You interviewed many

of the veterans in the 1980s. How'd they reflect on the battle that they

had managed to survive given that so few had survived? I was talking to

old men who were coming towards the end of their lives and I have to say

that none of them that I ever spoke to talk about the battle in terms of

glory in terms of personal achievements they had. They talked

in terms of, first of all, lost comrades young men that had gone to

be worn with them and weren't there any more. They had vanished on the

slopes we are standing on here today 100 years ago. One man told me that

when he came back here in 1866 on the 50th anniversary, when he was on

the way back to Belfast by plane, he turned round the person beside him

and said, I don't care if that plane goes down now because I have seen

the place for all those young fellows who went off with us to the

battle and proudly perished. That somehow got some kind of closure of

him and managed to close the issue. Many of the men I talk to refer to

horrible circumstances. One man called Tommy talked about being in

the German trenches in the 1st of July and he came round the corner of

the Trent and there was a German soldier and it was kill the killed.

He had to shoot the German soldier. He told me that all those years

later, when he tried to think back to the battle of the Somme and the

various people that he knew and the incidence, the one thing that stayed

in his mind alongside the sound of the guns, all those decades later,

was the face of the man that he'd had to. We are talking about an

enormously important battle, full of courage and we have to acknowledge

and respect that but also a time of terrible suffering on all sides.

Thank you very much. We will be broadcasting the service life here

on BBC One. In a BBC newsline special starting at 1:15pm tomorrow.

An overnight vigil will be held at the Somme

It's open to the public and is one of several similar events

The vigil here at the Somme Museum will start at 7pm this evening, it's

one of several being held around the UK, Cardiff and Edinburgh over the

Queen will be attending a service at Westminster Abbey around the grave

of the unknown Warrior. This is a particularly iconic location to have

the vigil in Northern Ireland because the soldiers of the 36th

Ulster Division trained in the grounds not far from here before

they headed to the battlefields of France. The vigil will go on

overnight. It is open to the public and will end with a service at 7pm

tomorrow -- 7am tomorrow morning. That will last 45 minutes and

exactly 728, Wessels will be blown in marking the moment soldiers of

the 36th Ulster Division left their trenches to take part in one of the

bloodiest battles in human history. Some of the other stories making

the news this evening: A doctor who falsified drug

trials has won his appeal Senior judges in Belfast ruled

that the nine-month jail term imposed on Dr Hugh McGoldrick

of Crossgar Road East in Crossgar should instead be

suspended for two years. The Downpatrick based GP admitted

falsifying clinical trials A teenager from west Belfast has

been jailed for killing his best friend and seriously injuring a nun

in a car crash. The driver, who cannot be

named for legal reasons, was travelling at speeds of up

to 100mph when he hit a car being driven by Sister Josephine

McAteer on the Saintfield Conal Daly died in the crash,

which happened in October 2014. A major housing association says it

has secured loans worth ?135 million to help build

2,500 new homes. Clanmil Housing Group says three

local banks are providing the loans, which will go into an eight-year

building programme Tiny trackers are being fitted

to one of our noisiest summer visitors in an attempt to reverse

a decline in their numbers. For the first time, GPS technology

is being used to map precise movements of our swifts,

birds which are known The idea is to work out

where they're feeding so we can help But as our agriculture

and environment correspondent finds out,

swifts aren't stupid. Catching swifts is not

work you do quickly. We'd put up our net at this nest

site and sat back to wait for one Two hours later, and aware

of our presence, they still hadn't When one finally did,

it was a mad dash to get to it This is what the residents of those

boxes are after. This is the ground up remains of three to 500 bugs

properly from the nearby towns. To find a exactly where those birds go

to get this stuff, that this project is about.

To do that we need to take our captive

swift indoors and fit in with a tiny tracker.

It's an intricate ten minute job to tie this GPS logger

Scientists are hoping it'll provide them important new information.

We are trying to understand how five-year going to forage, what

habitats they are foraging over and so on and all of this is designed to

inform us about the habitats that they need.

Swifts travel up to 12,000 miles from Africa to

They're mainly urban birds nesting in old buildings,

many of which are being knocked down or restored.

They're known for aeriel acrobatics so the backpack won't affect

We have to put on loosely and else but tightly enough so that when the

bird is moving around at very high speeds subjecting itself to four

times the force of normal gravity, it stays in the bird and doesn't

interfere with it. And if a little reluctant at first,

our swift is ready to fly again. His daily hunt for food now, part

of a scientific effort to help him Now, for the past month it's been

the footballers action in France. Today, it's some

of our local golfers. Thomas Nilblock is with

us this evening. It's just 93 days until

the Ryder Cup begins. Rory McIlroy and Graeme

McDowell helped Europe Today, they are playing

in the French Open and, this year, the competition carries double

Ryder Cup qualification points. However, it's been a very bad day

at the office for McDowell who struggled on his way to a nine

over par round of 80. McIlroy, who's assured a place

on the Ryder Cup team, Starting on the 10th tee,

he birdied three of his first six But the world number four admitted

he's struggling with his swing as he fell back to even for the day

- five shots behind leader Meanwhile, the European team captain

Darren Clarke finished McIlroy, though, is still well

in contention in his final event before the Open championship

in two weeks time. Now he's just 20-years old,

and at junior level he's a three time world champion

but this summer comes the biggest challenge of them all -

the Olympic Games in Brazil. Huston qualified as a member

of the Great Britain team and he believes he is good enough

to win an Olympic medal. This is what qualifying for the

Olympics looks like 420 old Patrick Huston, the fulfilment of the dream.

I've been working on it for years and it's brilliant to finally the

T-shirt today. I've put an awful lot into it and people have helped me

and it'll be great to reserve -- represent them on the best stage

possible. I know when I qualified my spot, my coach is the double bronze

medallist and three-time Olympian and he shook my hand and said

welcome to the club. That meant a lot. With the Olympics just over a

month away, Houston is finalising his preparation and determined to

make an impact on the games begin. The realistic ambition of me is the

medal. I want to be a limit champion so does everybody but I've won a

host of Betway World Cup of Darts career up until now and I plan on

winning a host via as well. As much as I want to win, the fact of

getting to the Olympic Games when they are so many British archers, to

be able to be that person selected to represent Great Britain at the

Olympic Games is just a surreal and incredible experience. If hosting

can be on target in real, you might just bring home the ultimate prize.

Roy Carroll could make his debut for Linfield in tonight's

Europa League qualifying round first leg tie against Cork

The 38-year-old goalkeeper was part of Northern Ireland's squad for Euro

2016 in France but comes straight into contention for the game.

Cliftonville are away to FC Differ-dange of Luxembourg.

At half-time, Cliftonville trailed 1-0.

Half time and it's? Irish Cup champions Glenavon are also away

in the first leg this evening against Iceland's KR Reykjavik.

Northern Ireland and the Republic may be out of the Euros

but their fans have been hailed as the best in the tournament.

Both sets of supporters are to be given the prestigious Medal

of the city of Paris, which marks international cultural,

Different sets of supporters but both in green and both winners.

Announcing a special award from the city of Paris,

There was no shortage of joyful moments.

Northern Ireland supporters won over the Germans.

And the Republic's fans had a sing-song with the French police.

And what really impressed their hosts was when they made

Now let's have a look at the weather forecast here's Geoff Maskell.

Tomorrow is the first day of July and the schools are breaking up and

I would like to be able to give you a tale of glorious summer sunshine

but unfortunately it's going to look a bit like this. This is the rain we

have had through this evening causing problems for drivers. It

will ease off overnight. Those showers are not away for a very

long. We go through tomorrow, it's going to be a pretty breezy, showery

sort of day and some of that breeze will really hold the temperatures

back. We start of drive but it won't take very long before the showers

started coming. The farm up into bands and could be quite heavy.

There will be the odd break here and there but the area is very unstable.

Always the chance of some thunder and maybe the odd flash of

lightning. Consider that this time last year we were having

temperatures of around the 30 degrees mark. Tomorrow is the very

different story. As we go through the evening, the showers will

continue off and on. Heading into the weekend with some pretty

unstable weather. It is being caused by this area of low pressure which

has become firmly established in northern Scotland. These are tightly

packed ice of eyes which are a sign of a strong westerly breeze. It will

be in evidence to the weekend. Well things become drier, it will still

feel cool because of that breeze. The shower is never terribly far

away. This is what you will wake up to on Saturday morning. If you

showers. They will ease as we go through the day with the impact on

the temperatures. A little warmer by the time we get to Sunday. Things

can definitely see the daytime but it's not long before that next

weather system starts to approach bringing the morning. If this is

what summer is going to look like, I think we should all ask for a refund

Our refund late summary is at 10.30pm.You can also

keep in contact with us via Facebook and twitter.

On the 30th of June, we'll be coming together

to commemorate the centenery of the Battle of the Somme.