Bradley 'stopped officer murder'

Denis Bradley said he stopped the IRA murdering a police officer

The vice chairman of the Policing Board has revealed he stopped the IRA from killing a policeman in Londonderry during the 1970s.

Denis Bradley said he did so at the request of the local RUC commander at the time, the late Frank Lagan.

He said he was contacted by Mr Lagan, who died last week, to get the attack called off as he feared Special Branch was going to "sacrifice the officer".

He said he persuaded the IRA to call it off just before it was to happen.

"He (Mr Lagan) had got information that the Special Branch knew of an operation that the IRA were about to do and the Special Branch were going to let it go ahead even though it would have involved one of their own officers being killed," Mr Bradley said.

"He asked me to go and stop it, about an hour before it happened if I could get in touch with somebody to stop it.

"He said to me: 'This is crazy if we let this kind of stuff go on'."

Mr Bradley, a former priest, was involved in community and mediation work in Derry for many years.

He has been the target of threats and attacks by dissident republicans since taking his position on the Policing Board.