ANNIE MAGUIRE, who waswrongly jailed in 1976 for run-ning an IRA bomb factory inEngland, has said the Catholicchurch deserted her when sheneeded it most.Writing in a recently pub-lished book, Why I am Still aCatholic, Maguire says shewas rejected by the clergy andcongregation in her parishwhile she served nine years in

prison, and had a series of bat-tles with prison chaplains whowanted her to admit her guilt.She, her husband and two oftheir four children, then teenag-ers, were part of a familygroup, known as the MaguireSeven, jailed for supposedlyrunning a bomb factory at their

London home. Maguire was anaunt of Gerry Conlon, one ofthe Guildford Four wronglyimprisoned for an IRA bombattack that killed five people.Maguire reveals she had ablazing row with a priest whoheard her confession in prison,because she would not ask forforgiveness for the offences forwhich she was convicted. The69-year-old great-grandmother

is scathing about how she wastreated by a church she hadbeen faithful to all her life.“There were things that hurtme about the church when Iwas inside. Nobody from theparish I had lived in all thoseyears made any effort to con-tact me,” she said. “I had nohelp whatsoever from thechurch in London. And theIrish church didn’t hurry to sup-

port me. Bishop Edward Dalyof Derry came to Durham tovisit Ann and Eileen Gillespie[two IRA prisoners from Done-gal] but he didn’t see me.“That hurt because althoughI lived in London I was North-ern Irish. He must have knownI was there.” Daly said yester-day that he had not intended tocauseMaguire any hurt. “If shehad asked I would have seen

her. I am very sorry she’s hurt;there was no hurt intended.”Maguire says prison chap-lains angrily refused to acceptthat she was innocent. Sherecalls a stormy confrontationduring confession with onechaplain, who had previouslyserved in the British Army.The priest rejected her claimthat she had nothing to confess,saying “that’s nonsense, you

are in prison”. When Maguireprotested her innocence thepriest warned her “not to godown that road”. She repliedthat if she was not allowed totell the truth there was no pointin a confession. He asked her:“Who do you think you are, theVirginMary herself?” Maguirewalked out of the confession.Maguire says her Catholi-cism did help her forgive those

behind the miscarriage of jus-tice. “I didn’t struggle with theforgiveness. I couldn’t hateeverybody who did this to me ”She praised Cardinal BasilHume, who eventually cam-paigned to clear the seven. “Iremember looking up at Godand asking, ‘Is this the oneyou’ve sent’? I didn’t see BasilHume so much as sent by thechurch as by God.”

GARDAI investigating theactivities of two doctors whotreated cancer patients with acontroversial light therapy areto send a file to the Director ofPublic Prosecutions (DPP)within a month, write RichardOakley and Enda Leahy.Police sources said theinquiry involving Paschal Car-mody and William Porter, hisformer business partner, is near-ing completion and they arehopeful charges will follow.Gardai launched an investiga-tion into Carmody and Porterlast year following a request bythe Irish Medical Council(IMC), the country’s regulatorybody for doctors.The two were using a treat-ment known as PDT or photody-namic therapy to treat cancerpatients, some of whom wereterminally ill. They charged upto ¤20,000 and claimed theycould cure the disease.The treatment is known tohave some beneficial effect onsuperficial versions of the ill-ness, such as skin cancer, butthe IMC was concerned thatCarmody and Porter were treat-ing deep-seated tumours inef-fectively. A review of 48patients cared for by the doctorsin late 2002 and early 2003found 17 of them had diedwithin six months of treatment.Both Carmody and Porter saidthe review, carried out by anAmerican cancer expert, wasunfair, but the IMC and fami-lies of patients raised concerns.Premises owned by the twodoctors in Killaloe, Co Clare,were raided last year by gardaiaccompanied by the Irish Medi-cines Board, which is carryingout a separate investigation intothe drugs used. The two doctorsdenied any wrongdoing.Carmody was struck off theIrish medical register for profes-sional misconduct in early2004. He was convicted of sup-plying prescription-only medi-cines by mail order.Porter, an eye surgeon, wasstruck off for gross negligencein America before coming toIreland. As an unregistered doc-tor, he was not able to practisemedicine in Ireland and soworked with GPs.

TONY QUINN, Ireland’s self-proclaimed lifestyle guru, isattempting to expand his cult-like organisation to Britain.Quinn, a former mind-coachto the boxer Steve Collins who,he claims, he helped to winfights, is trying to convince peo-ple in London to spend £12,000(¤17,700) on two-week “life-changing” seminars. Up to 30British residents have attendedintroductory meetings, and hisorganisation is building a fol-lowing with weekly “top-up”sessions where new membershave been recruited.A Sunday Times reporter

who infiltrated a meeting lastweek found Quinn’s organisa-tion was not only promoting thesame material that has causedcontroversy in Ireland but isnow advising parents to includethe “scientifically proven suc-cess system” in their children’seducation.Complaints about Quinn’stechniques surfaced in Irelandin 2001 and his teachings havebeen dismissed by experts.Claims about his research andqualifications have been shownto be exaggerated, and relativesof course participants havecomplained that family mem-

bers have been brainwashed.Quinn, a qualified hypno-therapist, promises people “thelife of their dreams” with greatmaterial riches. Each week inthe Jurys Great Russell hotel inLondon, Quinn’s most recentpromotional film is shown fornew members — who arebrought in by invitation only.The film shows a teenagerwho is at first unable to recallmaterial for a history exam, andwho suddenly remembers allabout the Spanish civil warafter a few minutes’ hypnosisby Quinn. The narrator says theQuinn system can “offer you

the chance to create the life youwant for your child”.One of the organisers saidabout 2,000 people around theworld have now attendedQuinn’s seminars, and shedefended their cost.Members pay into a sort ofpyramid-selling system thatinvolves commission paymentsfor recruiting others. To getcommission, they must pay forone seminar a year, which tiesthem into a circle of paying out

large sums and having to findmore people to recruit.Quinn’s seminars, attendedby up to 70 people a time, havebeen running since the early1990s in resorts in the Bahamasand Egypt. Participants areintroduced to Quinn’s Educolife-system and are believed toundergo hypnosis.At last week’s meeting inLondon, our reporter wasencouraged to borrow the costof a seminar when he said hecouldn’t afford it. “It costs¤18,000 — about the price of asmall Japanese car,” said one ofQuinn’s disciples. “Which

would you prefer, a new life ora small Japanese car?”Quinn tells people they useonly a small percentage of theirmental capacity and he can helpthem discover how to use moreof their mind. He calls this“unconscious attention” andclaims it “enables the mind tofunction at its ultimate potentialeffortlessly”.Families of those who haveattended seminars have com-plained that their relativesdeveloped a strange devotion tohis organisation that they say is“cult-like”. They listened to atape of Quinn each day and

devote large amounts of time toconvincing others to attend hisseminars. Quinn’s tapes tellsthem that the best way for histeachings to work is if a personsells his seminars to others.Quinn’s theories have beencriticised by leading psycholo-gists. Ciaran Benson, a profes-sor of psychology at UniversityCollege Dublin, said some ofhis claims were “simplistic inthe extreme and without anyacceptable research”. ProfessorIan Robertson of Trinity Col-lege said the idea that humansonly use a small amount of theirminds was a modern myth.

VENDING machines sellingfizzy drinks, chocolates andcrisps are to be banned fromBritain’s state schools undernew laws to improve children’sdiets.Ruth Kelly, the educationsecretary, has decided that notonly meals but also themachines will be covered bynutritional standards for schoolfood. Junk food and sweetscurrently sold in the machineswill have to be replaced byfruit, milk and bottled water.Snack and drink manufactur-ers had hoped that vendingmachines would escape thecrackdown, but the schoolmeals review panel, set up byKelly to examine nutritionalstandards, has decided that“healthy eating” rules mustapply to all food and drink avail-able at school.The panel says the move willrequire legislation. “Unless youstop selling the highly brandedsugary snacks and drinks,” onepanel member said, “they willalways be chosen by children.You have to remove them ifyou’re going to be seriousabout reforming the schoolmeals service.“The way companies haveprofited from these machinesat the expense of children’shealth — and in the light ofrising obesity — has beendisgraceful.”The proposal is likely to beopposed by manufacturers,with critics arguing that chil-dren unable to buy fizzy drinksand sweet snacks at school willbuy them from local shops.Supporters of the policy sayschools will not lose out too

heavily. A study published bythe Food Standards Agency in2004 found that schools offer-ing vending machines sellingnutritious drinks were popularwith children and could makea profit.France has already intro-duced a similar ban. All vend-ing machines selling fizzydrinks and sweet snacks havebeen removed from the coun-try’s schools and replaced withwater fountains.Kelly’s shake-up of thenutritional standards of schoolmeals — to be announced at theLabour party conference thisweek — will also propose thathighly processed foods, includ-ing fatty reformed meats suchas turkey shapes, should bebanned. Chips and ice creamwill be rationed to one or twoservings a week.From September 2006 headteachers will be required tomonitor the amount of carbo-hydrates, fat, protein and nutri-ents in school dinners.The poor quality of chil-dren’s school meals wasrecently put under the spotlightby Jamie Oliver, the celebritychef, in a Channel 4 series,Jamie’s School Dinners. Herevealed that as little as 37p(54c) was being spent on ingre-dients for school meals.Under pressure from healthgroups and parents, Kelly an-nounced £220m extra to raisestandards and gave the reviewpanel the task of setting nutri-tional requirements.It has ruled that cafeteria-style food should be phasedout because it lets childrenchoose unhealthy options.

Salad with sulks on the sideNews Review, page 3

Anne McIlhenny

Maguire says she was abandoned by church in prison

DPP toget fileson cancer‘doctors’

Richard Oakleyand Enda Leahy

Quinn has boasted of having helped Collins win fights including a WBO title fight against Chris Eubank in 1995, left, and has for several years conducted his ‘life-improving’ seminars in sunny locations

Lifestyle ‘guru’ who claims to helpyoungsters pass exams, for ¤18,000

Jon Ungoed-Thomas

UK bans junkfood in school

1 .10 NEWS SEPTEMBER 25, 2005 . THE SUNDAY TIMES