Nationalist claims that priest led IRA bombers

Claims that a Catholic priest was the leader of an IRA unit that killed nine people in a bombing have been unexpectedly supported by a prominent former nationalist politician in Northern Ireland.

That the support came from Ivan Cooper, a Protestant who was a founder member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party and active in the civil rights movement, has lent considerable weight to this week's allegations.

But the claim that the bombers were led by a priest, named yesterday as Father James Chesney, who is now dead, remains hotly contested, and has been angrily rejected by the Catholic Church.

The bombing in question was in the Co Londonderry village of Claudy in 1972, when three car bombs killed nine people, one of them a nine-year-old girl. Residents recently marked the 30th anniversary of the attack by laying wreaths at a memorial in the village.

For many years rumours circulated that a priest was involved in the incident, with speculation centring on Fr Chesney, who has been described as "a bit of a maverick". He later moved across the border into the Irish Republic, and died in 1980.

Mr Cooper, who was portrayed in a recent film on Bloody Sunday, said a republican source had confirmed to him that the priest led the IRA bombing unit. He added: "It is my view that Fr Jim Chesney was OC [Officer Commanding] on the day, and members of the South Derry brigade drove those three cars to Claudy."

There have been only rare instances of Catholic priests being involved in violent republican activities. One served a lengthy sentence in England for bombing offences.

The present case has been enthusiastically taken up by the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, who is to write to Tony Blair calling for an inquiry.

The Claudy episode was re-examined when the Ulster Unionist deputy mayor of Londonderry, Mary Hamilton, received an anonymous letter purportedly written by a priest based in England.

The author said Fr Chesney had broken down and told him he had been involved in the bombing. The letter, which was signed "Father Liam", said that if the investigation was reopened the author would come forward and tell all he knew.

The Catholic diocese of Derry issued a statement describing it as "an anonymous letter of questionable credibility which contains obvious inaccuracies". It pointed out that while the author claimed to know Fr Chesney for many years, he referred to him as John rather than James. The church statement added: "The letter is not signed, does not give a proper address of the author, nor does it give the full name of the priest/author.

"The Church has consistently and vigorously condemned violence."

Mr Cooper was sceptical about the letter, commenting: "I am not satisfied as to the authenticity of the letter which allegedly went to Mary Hamilton. There are many discrepancies in that letter which have led me to the conclusion that the letter is probably bogus, but time will tell."