A "SQUALID" newspaper was morally responsible for the death of a Presbyterian minister following a so called punishment beating in the North, Mr David Norris (Ind) claimed.
He called on the Government to raise with the British authorities the murder of the Rev David Templeton. It should raise, in particular, the role played by the RUC, the customs authorities and the "squalid newspaper which splashed the story of the seizure of an erotic video from this man. That newspaper is, in my opinion, morally responsible for the death of this man.
Mr Norris urged that the matter be raised in the context of inter governmental relations, on the grounds of the abhorrence they all felt at such beatings and to examine the situation "in which, apparently, some little turd, either in the immigration, in the Customs or the RUC maliciously released information to some tabloid newspaper, thereby causing the death of this man.
"I would remind the House that the RUC, in the past, has contained within itself elements that not only targeted sections of the nationalist community but also organised witch hunts against the gay community in areas of Northern Ireland".
In an equally forthright condemnation, the House leader, Mr Maurice Manning, said Mr Norris had raised a very important point, that this had been an appalling murder apart from the sheer horror of so called punishment beatings which were carried out by the scum of the earth.
"The way in which he was set up should lead to very serious investigation. There is no doubt that someone in the RUC, the Customs or that appalling newspaper set him up. He was a marked man, and even if he had not been killed, his life would not have been worth living from then on.