The BelTel

Gary Anderson is a dangerous murderer –and he’s on the run. The Derry man had been granted compassionate leave for his father's funeral, even though his brother Sean, guilty of the same murder, wasn’t.The 29-year-old was sentenced to a minimum tariff of 15 years for his role in the murder of father-of-five Karol Kelly in 2018.The manhunt continues on both sides of the border as we wonder why Anderson was granted the leave in the first place.Olivia Peden is joined by our crime correspondent Allison Morris.This episode was recorded on the afternoon of Tuesday 22nd September.

 “We’ll forget her soon enough.” That is the extraordinary comment Charles Spencer, Princess Diana's brother, claims King Charles made in the days following her death. Now, Spencer’s new book has reignited old tensions and prompted a rare response from Buckingham Palace. Daily Mail features writer Fred Kelly joins Kevin Doyle to ask why Spencer is speaking out now, whether his claims stack up and what this latest royal row means for Diana’s enduring legacy.

Johnny Adair, commonly referred to as ‘Mad dog Adair’, was one the most well-known terror bosses of the Troubles. He said his war was aimed at the IRA, but innocent Catholics were more often than not his real victims. His C Company of the west Belfast UDA also turned their guns on their fellow loyalists. Who is Mad dog Adair, what does he believe, and how does he view his murderous reign?  Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Aaron Edwards, a Senior Lecturer in Defence and International Affairs at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and author of ‘Enemies within: The explosive true story of Johnny ‘Mad dog’ Adair’.

William McGrath, was an influential loyalist, founder of the paramilitary group Tara, and a hardline evangelical Protestant.  He was also a notorious predatory paedophile who rape dozens of young boys.  Widely known as the ‘Beast of Kincora’ McGrath was convicted of abuse at the notorious east Belfast boys’ home and jailed in 1981. Now an audio tape of McGrath has emerged after more than half a century. In it he espouses an extreme ideology, inter-mixed with mythology, and fueled by religion.  The Belfast Telegraph's Northern Ireland editor Sam McBride joins me to tell the story of the tape, how he got it, and what is on it. 

On September the 15th, 1976, the Belfast Telegraph offices in Belfast centre was bombed by the Provisional IRA. Journalists were clattering at their typewriters when the second evacuation warning of the day went out on the Tannoy. Following the evacuation, a bomb in a van exploded in a loading bay, before many employees had the chance to get out. One of them – 64-year-old production worker Joe Paton - who'd been in a locker room above the bay - died from his injuries four days later. Ciarán Dunbar is joined by former Belfast Telegraph journalists Billy Graham and Alf McCreary, who were there on the day. 

The jury in the inquest into the death of Noah Donohoe has found that the teenager died on the night of his disappearance, meaning that the PSNI’s response to his disappearance did not contribute to his death.   However, the jury did find that police failings impacted on their ability to come to a conclusion in the inquest and found that the Department of Infrastructure “erred” in its management of the culvert in which the teenager died.  But it also found that it was not probable that the Department’s management of the culvert more than minimally contributed to Noah’s death.  They were unable to explain Noah’s behaviour on the day he went missing because the evidence was insufficient to enable them to reach a conclusion.   14-year-old Noah’s body was discovered in north Belfast six days after he went missing as he cycled to meet friends.  Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph’s Liam Tunney, who has been in court throughout the inquest. 

Once Ireland's richest man, Seán Quinn has returned to tell his story once again, this time through his new podcast, The Quinn Files. Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Sunday Independent’s Liam Collins and the Irish Independent’s Sean Pollock to examine Quinn's latest account of the events that transformed him from billionaire businessman to one of the most controversial figures of post-crash Ireland. From the extraordinary success of the Quinn Group to the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank, prison and life after bankruptcy, they ask whether Quinn's latest intervention brings fresh insight or simply revisits a story the public already knows. 

In September 1956 a Crossgar schoolboy made a shocking discovery after peering into a hen house and locking eyes with a child. The eyes belonged to seven-year-old Kevin Halfpenny – but he has been better known ever since as ‘the hen house boy’.Robbed of human interaction – he seemed to have learned his behavior from the chickens around him. His widowed mother Margaret Halfpenny was arrested and pleaded guilty to neglect. 70 years later, the heartbreaking story has been surrounded by folklore. Olivia Peden is joined by Belfast Telegraph Journalist Kurtis Reid.  

A senior DUP member set out their explicit support for violence - just weeks before the Good Friday Agreement.  Files released in the National Archives in Kew have revealed the details of a politician’s comments to a government official - the individual wasn’t named but there were clues to their identity. It’s also been revealed that First Minister David Trimble was being paid thousands of pounds more than the deputy first Minister, Seamus Mallon, a year after the agreement – despite the roles being equal.  Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Sam McBride.