BRITISH DENY ROLE IN DUBLIN HOLDUP

BRITISH DENY ROLE IN DUBLIN HOLDUP

By Alvin Shuster Special to The New York Times

• Aug. 7, 1973

Credit…The New York Times Archives

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August 7, 1973,

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LONDON, Aug. 6—Amid mounting controversy over two brothers who were jailed after maintaining that they had robbed a Dublin bank on orders of British intelligence, the Defense Ministry denied tonight that the British authorities “were in any way connected with the bank raid in Dublin.”

The ministry acknowledged, however, that one of the brothers had been told to pass along “information about the activities” of the Irish Republican Army.

The bizarre affair involves a former Defense Ministry official who once performed on television, a socialite who is a social worker, an attempt to hang one brother in jail, the anger of the Irish Republican Army and the robbery itself, during which tellers were allowed to brew tea.

The two brothers, Kenneth and Keith Littlejohn, were sentenced by an Irish court Friday for the robbery, the biggest in the republic’s history. Kenneth, who was sentenced to 20 years, and Keith, who got 15, alleged that they were carrying out instructions of British agents who wanted the robbery to be blamed on the I.R.A., which is outlawed in both the republic and Northern Ireland.

About the time of the robbery in October, 1972, British officials were privately complaining that the Irish Government was not pursuing the I.R.A. with enough vigor and, in effect, was allowing Ireland to serve as a sanctuary for terrorists operating in Northern Ireland. Since then the republic has intensified its antiI.R.A. campaign.

Full Inquiry Demanded

Sensing the Conservatives’ embarrassment over the case, Opposition spokesmen today demanded a full inquiry into the activities of the Littlejohn borthers. Labor and Liberal members of Parliament asked whether it was British policy to sponsor criminal acts against people and property in Ireland.

The Defense Ministry statement said in this context: “Littlejohn was warned that the British Government was not authorizing or implicitly condoning the commission of criminal offenses in pursuace of such information.’

The actions of the Government after the arrest of the brothers, both English, has fed suspicions about the involvement of intelligence agents. The Littlejohns were arrested in London and their extradition hearings were held in secret after Government pleas of “national security.”

Moreover, British officials sought to have their trial in Dublin conducted in secret. The request was turned down and the sentences were handed down Friday.

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Kenneth, who is 32 years old, and Keith, who is 27, asserted that the robbery was part of a British strategy to infiltrate and discredit the Irish Irish Republican Army in Ireland. They said that the robbery was ordered to appear to be the work of the I.R.A. so that the Dublin Government would be provoked into taking stronger action against it.

Elements of Compassion

In any event the Irish Authorities quickly came to the conclusion that the robbers did not appear to follow I.R.A. patterns. There were too many elements of compassion.

When tellers, sitting on the floor, complained of the cold, the robbers gave them ledgers to sit on. And when they wanted tea, the robbers told them to brew it, then strolled out with the equivalent of about $170,000.

As the brothers tell it, Kenmeth, who had served five years for robbery, went to Ireland in 1970 after the British police sought to question him about a bank robbery. Kenneth told his brother about a Russian‐designed rifle presumably in the hands of the I.R.A. Keith said he gave the news to Lady Pamela Onslow, a social worker with an interest in prisons, who then arranged for Kenneth to meet with Geoffrey Johnson Smith, a former television personality then serving as a junior minister in defense.

In explaining it all tonight, the Defense Ministry confirmed that Keith made the contact with Lady Pamela, “whom he had met in her capacity as a prison visitor.” It said she passed the information on to Lord Carrington, Minister of Defense, who then arranged for Mr. Johnson Smith to meet with Kenneth “to ascertain what kind of information he could, in fact, pass on.”

According to the statement, Mr. Johnson Smith, who is now Parliamentary Secretary to the Civil Service, met Kenneth only once. It said other contacts were carried out by “appropriate authorities” who warned Kenneth not to expect help from London if he engaged in criminal acts.

The brothers are in prison in Dublin, where, they say they are living in fear because of I.R.A. prisoners. A pretria attempt by prisoners to hang Keith was foiled by prison guards.