Police in Northern Ireland once questioned a suspected loyalist terrorist after noticing the man – not known for his personal hygiene – had showered.
The revelation was uncovered in newly declassified documents from Ireland’s State Papers from the 1990s, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
The papers detail how paramilitaries adopted new tactics to try and evade police. These included burning vehicles used in an attack and taking a shower immediately afterwards to destroy traces of forensic evidence.
One document, the newspaper reported, noted this attention to hygiene was out of the ordinary for some suspects – to one’s misfortune.
One suspected loyalist terrorist took a shower immediately after an operation – but because he was on bail he had to report to a police station to sign on.
Detectives were suspicious when they saw him still wet from the shower.
“The person in question was not known for his regular bathing habits,” one file noted.
He was arrested and questioned about recent attacks.
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The latest batch of declassified documents also included a revelation that a top British soldier in Northern Ireland accused Tony Blair’s government of a “cynical political move” for establishing a new inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday.
General Sir Rupert Smith, the commander of British troops in Northern Ireland, was invited to dinner with Irish officials in June 1998, near the end of his term.
According to the document, he expressed his “trenchant opposition” to what he called a “cynical political move” designed to scapegoat soldiers “yet again”.
He claimed it was “immature” to try to assign absolute guilt in such complex situations.
The officials note he later reverted to a calmer tone and accepted that Bloody Sunday was “a uniquely appalling event”.
