Lawyer fined in 'roadblock' case
garvaghy
By Martin Anderson
A Portadown-based lawyer may continue practising as a solicitor despite
being convicted yesterday of involvement in Drumcree-related
disturbances.
Richard Monteith, from Oak Grange, Waringstown, was one of 10 men found
guilty of the criminal offence of obstructing traffic with a tree in
Lurgan on July 10 last year.
At around midnight on July 9, soldiers hiding in nearby undergrowth saw
10 men pulling into a lay-by in four cars and dragging a tree across the
road. The tree had been cut down two days earlier.
The soldiers emerged from hiding and challenged the men who tried to run
off but were quickly caught.
Among those convicted was Philip Black (52), a former Ulster Unionist
councillor from Glenview Drive, Lurgan.
Mr Monteith is a well-known figure on the Northern Ireland legal circuit
and represented Norman Coopey (the loyalist killer of Catholic schoolboy
James Morgan). He also represented a man charged with killing Robert
Hamill in Portadown in 1997.
After the convictions, a spokesman for the Northern Ireland Law Society
said a solicitor found guilty of criminal charges would not
automatically be referred to a disciplinary tribunal.
A tribunal has the power to reprimand or strike off a solicitor
depending on the seriousness of the charge.
At Craigavon magistrates court yesterday, Magistrate Ken Nixon fined
Monteith and Black £150 each for causing a tree to be on the roadway and
£150 for obstructing traffic.
Roy William Graham (34), a delivery man from Gilbert Road; Mark Robert
Greenaway (35), a forklift driver from Greenhill Park; David James
Hanlon (26), an assembly worker from Princetown Drive; Paul Stewart
Johnson (25), a sub postmaster from Corby Drive; Bryan John McDowell
(23), a joiner from Woodford Park; and John Saville Black (49), a farmer
and engineer from Rosewood Park (all Lurgan); and Geoffrey Morrison (24)
a clerical officer from William Street, Donacloney, were also fined £150
for each offence. Robert Neil Anthony (21), a mechanic from Wood Lane,
Lurgan, was fined £150 for obstructing traffic and given a conditional
discharge for placing a tree on the road. His solicitor claimed he had
been coerced into driving three men to the scene.
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