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Elaine
Moore is a twenty one year old girl, born and raised
in a North Dublin suburb, who finds herself living
in London because of a job opportunity too good to
miss. She makes a number of acquaintances after arriving
and soon has a number of close friends and develops
an especially close friendship with Rory Hearty, a
man from the North of Ireland. She settles into a
daily routine of working and socialising, and becomes
part of the Irish community in London.
This is how Tony McCullagh introduces Elaine Moore
in his book, Danger to Society - Elaine Moore's
Story. He goes on to detail the events which led
to her arrest on the 10th of July 1998 and her subsequent
detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and
the campaign which followed to secure her release.
He portrays her as a friendly and hospitable person,
and it is these qualities which inevitability helped
to seal her fate. She is approached one day by an
old school friend of her brother's who needs a place
to stay. A week later the same man, Tony Hyland, returns
to London to intrude on her hospitality once again.
Elaine dutifully lets him stay. The next day she is
arrested at work, unsure of the reasons why. She finds
herself embroiled in an Irish republican bombing plot,
one in which she is heavily implicated by police.
A self-professed pacifist she says of the experience
"Being accused of such dreadful acts stripped
me of my life as I knew it." The details of her
arrest and interrogation over the next four days give
an interesting insight into the mentality of the British
security system and its attitude towards Irish people
in general. This attitude almost borders on the ridiculous
with posters of Michael Collins found in Elaine's
room being cited as republican paraphernalia and a
gold pendant shaped as a map of Ireland being a secret
symbol for the 32 County Sovereignty Committee. Elaine
was charged, along with the three Irishmen eventually
sentenced, with conspiring to cause an explosion and
possession of explosive substances with intent to
endanger lives. She was remanded to Woodhill Prison,
a men's prison where she was detained for several
weeks, before being granted bail.
Tony Mc Cullagh gives a detailed description of the
loneliness and isolation she experienced while in
prison, as well as the humiliation and degradation
she was subjected to. However, throughout the book
he makes constant comparisons to the cases of the
Guildford Four and Birmingham Six. True that Elaine
Moore shared the same legal representation as both
groups but I'm afraid that's where the similarities
between them end. The reader has to bear in mind that
although Elaine Moore, like the Guildford Four and
Birmingham Six, was wrongly charged when she was completely
innocent, unlike them she was vindicated in a matter
of months when she was released and all charges were
dropped. She didn't spend almost two decades in an
English prison fully aware of her innocence.
I also feel that too much emphasis is put on small
details which takes away from more important things.
For example the details of her brother watching "In
the Name of the Father" immediately before his
arrest and his wearing a T-shirt with a Tricolour
on it are not crucial to the description of the arrest
and don't really add to the reader's empathy with
Elaine's family. Details like the ridiculous attitude
of the judge during the renewal of Elaine's bail,
which saw her being remanded in custody on the slightest
of details, or the later revelation that an undercover
policewoman had attempted to rent the extra room in
the flat should have been explored in more depth.
Tony Mc Cullagh's book Danger to Society - Elaine
Moore's Story contains all the facts about Elaine's
case and her experience. However, as harrowing as
that experience may have been I can't help but feel
that his analysis of these events is just slightly
exaggerated. Without being spiteful, I feel that Tony
Mc Cullagh loses all perspective in drawing comparisons
with the cases of the Guildford Four and Birmingham
Six. Although Elaine Moore was justifiably upset by
her experiences while in custody, one must bear in
mind that the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six were
all badly beaten so as to obtain confessions, and
were all subsequently sentenced to between fourteen
and eighteen years respectively. This is not to mention
the fact that Giuseppe Conlon died while serving this
sentence, more than likely as a result of injuries
received while held in custody. Elaine Moore on the
other hand spent a total of twenty three days in custody
and although understandably the daily strip searches
were upsetting and humiliating for her I feel that
Tony Mc Cullagh should have stuck to the facts rather
than speculate over what could have happened to her.
I have to admit that I was quite disappointed with
this book, as it had the potential to be of benefit
to anyone interested in the treatment of foreign nationals
in Britain, particularly during the current climate
of draconian "anti-terrorist legislation".
Instead this book tries too hard to portray the victim
as an attractive young wallflower, caught up in a
vicious world of ruthless bombers, 'mean' judges and
evil screws. Mc Cullagh loses sight of the fact that
this treatment could have been meted out on anyone,
not just a former model from a middle-class background
with a respectable job. If Elaine had been an ugly,
common middle-aged woman would her treatment have
been any less harsh or unjustified?
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