Colin Wallace

For other people named Colin Wallace, see Colin Wallace (disambiguation).

Colin Wallace
BornJune 1943 (age 80–81)[1]
Randalstown, Northern Ireland
AllegianceBritish Army
Years of service1961–1975
RankCaptain
UnitPsychological operations
Battles / warsThe Troubles
Other workManagement consultant - retired

John Colin Wallace (born June 1943) is a British former member of Army Intelligence in Northern Ireland and a psychological warfare specialist. He refused to become involved in the Intelligence-led 'Clockwork Orange' project, which was an attempt to smear various individuals including a number of senior British politicians in the early 1970s. Wallace also attempted to draw public attention to the Kincora Boys' Home sexual abuse scandal several years before the Royal Ulster Constabulary intervened.

He was wrongly convicted of manslaughter in 1981, for which he spent six years in prison, until 1987.[2] The conviction was later quashed in the light of new forensic and other evidence that raised serious questions about the dubious nature of the evidence used to convict Wallace initially. The Court of Appeal heard that scientific evidence used to convict Wallace was false and that the Home Office pathologist involved in the case admitted that he had received it from an anonymous American security source. The journalist Paul Foot, in his book Who Framed Colin Wallace?,[3] suggested that Wallace may have been framed for the killing, possibly to discredit the allegations he was making. This view was similarly expressed by Alex Carlile QC (now Lord Carlile),[4] who later speculated that this may have been the motive not just for the alleged frameup, but also for murder.[5]

  1. ^ Foot, Paul (10 June 1989). Who Framed Colin Wallace?. Macmillan. ISBN 9780333470084 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Guardian-Foot01a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Who framed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Carlile01a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Carlile02a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).