Assume Nothing

It was the biggest bank robbery in British and Irish history. Days before Christmas 2004, gangs of armed men take over the homes of two Northern Bank officials in Belfast and County Down. With family members held hostage, the officials are instructed to remove cash from the vaults of Northern Bank headquarters in Belfast city-centre and load it into the back of a van - not once, but twice - before the van disappears into the night, along with more than £26.5 million in new and used notes. With the finger of blame pointed at the IRA, the raid makes headlines around the world and sends shock-waves through an already faltering Northern Ireland peace process. Through dramatized court testimonies, new interviews and archive, Glenn Patterson takes us into the unfolding story of a meticulously planned heist and its chaotic aftermath. Military precision giving way to soap powder boxes stuffed with cash. The bickering of politicians against the silence of the man said to be the robbery’s mastermind. There are even rumours that proceeds from the robbery are to be used as a pension fund for IRA members as it prepares to disarm and disband. Glenn Patterson has unfinished business with the Northern Bank Job. In fact, he thinks all of Northern Ireland does. Episode Ten: This Country So where did all the money go? And what went with it? Written and presented by Glenn Patterson Music: Phil Kieran Executive Editor: Andy Martin Producer: Conor Garrett A BBC Northern Ireland production

Eighteen-year-old Caoimhin Cassidy Crossan from Creggan in Derry died when the stolen car he was travelling in crashed into a lamppost and went on fire in June 2019. Police say he wasn’t dead when the car started burning, and they think he wasn’t alone. How did Caoimhin end up here and why was he left inside? Una Kelly attempts to find out. To understand the path leading up to his tragic death, we hear from those closest to Caoimhin, revealing the story of a much loved yet troubled young man. The events of that terrible night have left his family struggling with many unanswered questions, and murder opens as a line of inquiry as police attempt to uncover the truth.

Eighteen-year-old Caoimhin Cassidy Crossan from Creggan in Derry died when the stolen car he was travelling in crashed into a lamppost and went on fire in June 2019. Police say he wasn’t dead when the car started burning, and they think he wasn’t alone. How did Caoimhin end up here and why was he left inside? Una Kelly attempts to find out. To understand the path leading up to his tragic death, we hear from those closest to Caoimhin, revealing the story of a much loved yet troubled young man. The events of that terrible night have left his family struggling with many unanswered questions, and murder opens as a line of inquiry as police attempt to uncover the truth.

18 year old Caoimhin Cassidy Crossan from Creggan in Derry died when the stolen car he was travelling in crashed into a lamppost and went on fire in June 2019. Police say he wasn’t dead when the car started burning, and they think he wasn’t alone. How did Caoimhin end up here and why was he left inside? Una Kelly attempts to find out. To understand the path leading up to his tragic death, we hear from those closest to Caoimhin, revealing the story of a much loved yet troubled young man. The events of that terrible night have left his family struggling with many unanswered questions, and murder opens as a line of inquiry as police attempt to uncover the truth.

April 1933. Belfast Gaol. Prisoner 1192, Harold Courtney, is executed for the brutal murder of Minnie Reid. Or was he? Did the right man hang?Digging deep, journalist Gordon Adair attempts to find out*, because locally, he’s heard a strange tale. Of plots, threats, deceit and cover-up. It’s a trail that takes the investigation across the globe – and of people who, 90 years on, still believe this is a case that shouldn’t be talked about.Was there a miscarriage of justice? Was justice not done for the young Minnie Reid? And how much of this tale is true? To unravel it takes Gordon back almost a century, and from rural Northern Ireland to urban melting-pot Australia. Tracking down witnesses like the children who found Minnie’s body in a lonely Armagh lane, and uncovering secret records, maps and letters not seen since 1933, Gordon also consults police, pathology, and capital punishment experts.The results surprise him. Shining a light on a ‘lost decade’ in Northern Ireland, they uncover a shadowy taboo history that’s rarely explored. Assume Nothing, BBC Northern Ireland’s new podcast strand goes to air before this increasingly unpredictable investigation is concluded.PRONI documents in the series featured by kind permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. (PRONI)

2/6 April 1933. Belfast Gaol. Prisoner 1192, Harold Courtney, is executed for the brutal murder of Minnie Reid. Or was he? Did the right man hang? Digging deep, journalist Gordon Adair attempts to find out*, because locally, he’s heard a strange tale. Of plots, threats, deceit and cover-up. It’s a trail that takes the investigation across the globe – and of people who, 90 years on, still believe this is a case that shouldn’t be talked about. Was there a miscarriage of justice? Was justice not done for the young Minnie Reid? And how much of this tale is true? To unravel it takes Gordon back almost a century, and from rural Northern Ireland to urban melting-pot Australia. Tracking down witnesses like the children who found Minnie’s body in a lonely Armagh lane, and uncovering secret records, maps and letters not seen since 1933, Gordon also consults police, pathology, and capital punishment experts. The results surprise him. Shining a light on a ‘lost decade’ in Northern Ireland, they uncover a shadowy taboo history that’s rarely explored. Assume Nothing, BBC Northern Ireland’s new podcast strand goes to air before this increasingly unpredictable investigation is concluded.PRONI documents in the series featured by kind permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. (PRONI)

3/6 April 1933. Belfast Gaol. Prisoner 1192, Harold Courtney, is executed for the brutal murder of Minnie Reid. Or was he? Did the right man hang? Digging deep, journalist Gordon Adair attempts to find out*, because locally, he’s heard a strange tale. Of plots, threats, deceit and cover-up. It’s a trail that takes the investigation across the globe – and of people who, 90 years on, still believe this is a case that shouldn’t be talked about. Was there a miscarriage of justice? Was justice not done for the young Minnie Reid? And how much of this tale is true? To unravel it takes Gordon back almost a century, and from rural Northern Ireland to urban melting-pot Australia. Tracking down witnesses like the children who found Minnie’s body in a lonely Armagh lane, and uncovering secret records, maps and letters not seen since 1933, Gordon also consults police, pathology, and capital punishment experts. The results surprise him. Shining a light on a ‘lost decade’ in Northern Ireland, they uncover a shadowy taboo history that’s rarely explored. Assume Nothing, BBC Northern Ireland’s new podcast strand goes to air before this increasingly unpredictable investigation is concluded.PRONI documents in the series featured by kind permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. (PRONI)

April 1933. Belfast Gaol. Prisoner 1192, Harold Courtney, is executed for the brutal murder of Minnie Reid. Or was he? Did the right man hang? Digging deep, journalist Gordon Adair attempts to find out*, because locally, he’s heard a strange tale. Of plots, threats, deceit and cover-up. It’s a trail that takes the investigation across the globe – and of people who, 90 years on, still believe this is a case that shouldn’t be talked about. Was there a miscarriage of justice? Was justice not done for the young Minnie Reid? And how much of this tale is true? To unravel it takes Gordon back almost a century, and from rural Northern Ireland to urban melting-pot Australia. Tracking down witnesses like the children who found Minnie’s body in a lonely Armagh lane, and uncovering secret records, maps and letters not seen since 1933, Gordon also consults police, pathology, and capital punishment experts. The results surprise him. Shining a light on a ‘lost decade’ in Northern Ireland, they uncover a shadowy taboo history that’s rarely explored. Assume Nothing, BBC Northern Ireland’s new podcast strand goes to air before this increasingly unpredictable investigation is concluded. PRONI documents in the series featured by kind permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. (PRONI)

April 1933. Belfast Gaol. Prisoner 1192, Harold Courtney, is executed for the brutal murder of Minnie Reid. Or was he? Did the right man hang? Digging deep, journalist Gordon Adair attempts to find out*, because locally, he’s heard a strange tale. Of plots, threats, deceit and cover-up. It’s a trail that takes the investigation across the globe – and of people who, 90 years on, still believe this is a case that shouldn’t be talked about. Was there a miscarriage of justice? Was justice not done for the young Minnie Reid? And how much of this tale is true? To unravel it takes Gordon back almost a century, and from rural Northern Ireland to urban melting-pot Australia. Tracking down witnesses like the children who found Minnie’s body in a lonely Armagh lane, and uncovering secret records, maps and letters not seen since 1933, Gordon also consults police, pathology, and capital punishment experts. The results surprise him. Shining a light on a ‘lost decade’ in Northern Ireland, they uncover a shadowy taboo history that’s rarely explored. Assume Nothing, BBC Northern Ireland’s new podcast strand goes to air before this increasingly unpredictable investigation is concluded. PRONI documents in the series featured by kind permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. (PRONI)

April 1933. Belfast Gaol. Prisoner 1192, Harold Courtney, is executed for the brutal murder of Minnie Reid. Or was he? Did the right man hang? Digging deep, journalist Gordon Adair attempts to find out*, because locally, he’s heard a strange tale. Of plots, threats, deceit and cover-up. It’s a trail that takes the investigation across the globe – and of people who, 90 years on, still believe this is a case that shouldn’t be talked about. Was there a miscarriage of justice? Was justice not done for the young Minnie Reid? And how much of this tale is true? To unravel it takes Gordon back almost a century, and from rural Northern Ireland to urban melting-pot Australia. Tracking down witnesses like the children who found Minnie’s body in a lonely Armagh lane, and uncovering secret records, maps and letters not seen since 1933, Gordon also consults police, pathology, and capital punishment experts. The results surprise him. Shining a light on a ‘lost decade’ in Northern Ireland, they uncover a shadowy taboo history that’s rarely explored. Assume Nothing, BBC Northern Ireland’s new podcast strand goes to air before this increasingly unpredictable investigation is concluded. PRONI documents in the series featured by kind permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. (PRONI)

April 1933. Belfast Gaol. Prisoner 1192, Harold Courtney, is executed for the brutal murder of Minnie Reid. Or was he? Did the right man hang? Digging deep, journalist Gordon Adair attempts to find out*, because locally, he’s heard a strange tale. Of plots, threats, deceit and cover-up. It’s a trail that takes the investigation across the globe – and of people who, 90 years on, still believe this is a case that shouldn’t be talked about. Was there a miscarriage of justice? Was justice not done for the young Minnie Reid? And how much of this tale is true? To unravel it takes Gordon back almost a century, and from rural Northern Ireland to urban melting-pot Australia. Tracking down witnesses like the children who found Minnie’s body in a lonely Armagh lane, and uncovering secret records, maps and letters not seen since 1933, Gordon also consults police, pathology, and capital punishment experts. The results surprise him. Shining a light on a ‘lost decade’ in Northern Ireland, they uncover a shadowy taboo history that’s rarely explored. Assume Nothing, BBC Northern Ireland’s new podcast strand goes to air before this increasingly unpredictable investigation is concluded. PRONI documents in the series featured by kind permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. (PRONI)

1933: Harold Courtney is convicted of murdering a young woman, assumed to be pregnant with his child. He is hanged and buried in the grounds of Belfast’s Crumlin Road Gaol. Nearly 90 years later, journalist Gordon Adair investigates a story he was told as a young reporter, about a conspiracy. Turning up files that have been closed for decades he asks, did the right man hang?