Book description
In the early hours of 30 April 2003, twelve armed and uniformed
officers accompanied by four plain-clothes detectives burst into Alan
Barker's house. They stayed for hours, turning over rooms, seizing
documents, impounding computers, files and anything else that
interested them. The family were treated as terrorist suspects, the
operation resembling so many others in Northern Ireland during the
Troubles. But Alan Barker was and is no terrorist. In fact, he has
spent his adult life fighting terrorism on the streets of his native province.
Barker belonged to the Special Branch, the RUC's elite unit
dedicated to fighting the IRA, the INLA and loyalist terrorists. He
gives a gripping insider's account of life on the frontline and
demonstrates how the RUC used sophisticated listening devices and
informants, including the notorious supergrass Raymond Gilmour, in
their fight to gain the upper hand.
After nearly 30 years of loyal service, Barker retired angry and
disillusioned about what he views as the government's capitulation to
the terrorists. This is the book that Downing Street and the Northern
Ireland Office don't want you to read. It is a story of courage under
fire, guile, Le Carré-esque plots and treachery.
Shocking, thrilling, spellbinding (Book of the Year) News of the
World Gives an honest account of the motivations and driving forces
behind the RUC and its various off-shoots Sunday Business Post Powerful
... Northern Ireland wasn't worth the shedding of one drop of blood
never mind the loss of a single life. Alan Barker's book makes that
abundantly clear Sunday World Alan Barker was born in Belfast in 1955
and joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1973. After three years as a
uniform constable he transferred into Special Branch, where he remained
for 26 years until his retirement in 2002. He now lives in the south of
England, where he is self-employed.
