Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
10th January
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Sunday 10 January 1971
Members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out an early form of ‘punishment attack’ by tarring and feathering four men who were accused of criminal activities in Catholic areas of Belfast.
[‘Punishment beatings’, and ‘punishment shootings’ (were people were shot in the knee or elsewhere on the body with intent to wound but not kill) were to become a continuous feature of the conflict in Northern Ireland and were used by both Republican and Loyalist paramilitary groups.]
Monday 10 January 1972
[Public Records 1972 – Released 1 January 2003:
Note from Sir Burke Trend, then Cabinet Secretary, to Edward Heath, then British Prime Minister, on matters related to political issues, inter-party talks, the security situation, and internment.]
Thursday 10 January 1974
[Public Records 1974 – Released 1 January 2005: Message from Edward Heath, then British Prime Minister, to Liam Cosgrave, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister). In this note Heath criticised the Irish government for its stance in public on the implications of the Sunningdale Agreement.]
Wednesday 10 January 1990
Stevens Inquiry Fire The room being used by the Stevens Inquiry, into allegations of collusion between Loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces, was destroyed by a fire. The room was in a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in Belfast.
[A later RUC investigation concluded that the fire was an accident. Many commentators felt it unlikely that the fire was simply a coincidence. On 17 April 2003 Stevens wrote in the summary report of his third inquiry:
“This incident, in my opinion, has never been adequately investigated and I believe it was a deliberate act of arson.” (paragraph: 3.4).]
Friday 10 January 1992
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The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded a small bomb, estimated at 5 pounds, that was concealed in a briefcase and left approximately 300 meters from Downing Street in London.
Wednesday 10 February 1993
Albert Reynolds, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), nominated Gordon Wilson to become a member of the Irish Senate (the upper house of the Irish Parliament). [Gordon Wilson had been injured, and his daughter killed, in the Enniskillen bomb on 8 November 1987.]
Monday 10 January 1994
Albert Reynolds, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), said that the Irish government would provide continuing clarification of the Downing Street Declaration.
Tuesday 10 January 1995
Gary McMichael, then leader of the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP), called for a phased release of paramilitary prisoners.
Friday 10 January 1997
There was a series of 20 bomb alerts throughout Belfast leading to major disruption. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) issued a statement in the Andersonstown News warning informers that “action” would be taken against them.
Ken Maginnis, then Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Security Spokesperson, called on the Department of the Environment to remove an IRA memorial to Sean South and Feargal O’Hanlon who had been killed by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in 1957.
Saturday 10 January 1998
Terence (Terry) Enwright (28), a Catholic civilian who was a cross-community worker, was shot dead by the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) outside a night club in Belfast. Enwright was a highly respected community worker who, it was said, had saved scores of young people from paramilitary ‘punishment’ attacks and had steered many others away from involvement in paramilitary groups. Enwright was also married to a niece of Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF).
David Ervine, then a spokesman for the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), claimed that the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) was not operating alone and was receiving political direction from “seemingly respectable” politicians.
Sunday 10 January 1999
Billy Hutchinson, then spokesman for the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), said that David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was risking the peace process by insisting on prior decommissioning of weapons by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) before Sinn Féin (SF) could take its seats in the Executive.
Monday 10 January 2000
Richard Jameson (46), a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), was shot dead outside his home near Portadown, County Armagh. The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) were responsible for the killing. The killing was part of a feud between the LVF and the UVF.
Thursday 10 January 2002
Further Violence in north Belfast
The rioting on the Ardoyne Road continued into the early hours of the night with petrol-bombs still being thrown at approximately 2.00am (0200GMT).
A Loyalist gang entered a Catholic girls’ school in north Belfast at approximately 11.00am (1100GMT) and attacked and damaged 17 cars. Six men, two of them believed to be armed with a gun and a rifle, entered the grounds of Our Lady of Mercy Girls’ Secondary School. While one man stood guard at the school’s entrance the other members of the gang attacked the cars of teachers. Some parents later took their children home early from the school. Loyalists threw fireworks at the Catholic Mercy Convent Primary School on the Crumlin Road.
A Protestant woman was assaulted as she walked past a Nationalist crowd at the Ardoyne shops. Police intervened and injured one Catholic man in the head with a baton.
Protestant pupils at the Boys’ Model and Girls’ Model Secondary schools were driven home in police Land Rovers when buses were withdrawn because of the on-going violence. Police officers decided it would be unsafe for the pupils to walk past the large crowd of Nationalists gathered at the Ardoyne shops.
There was rioting between Loyalists and Nationalists in the Ardoyne Road during the afternoon. Later in the day and into the evening there was widespread rioting in north Belfast. Nationalists petrol-bombed police in Brompton Park, Ardoyne, and also hijacked and burnt several cars. Police fired 7 plastic bullets at the crowds, and 11 arrests were made.
Two blast bombs exploded among police as they confronted the crowds in the Ardoyne area. Army bomb disposal experts made safe 3 devices which failed to explode. Loyalists attacked security forces on Twaddell Avenue, off Crumlin Road, and injured a British soldier with an acid bomb.
Loyalist and Nationalist rioters also clashed in the Whitewell area, north Belfast. Petrol bombs were thrown at homes on both sides of the peaceline between White City and Serpentine Gardens. Police said that 31 officers and 3 soldiers had been injured in the rioting during the evening.
The Holy Cross Girls’ Primary School in Ardoyne, north Belfast, was closed for the day following the disturbances the previous day. Catholic parents and Protestant residents of Glenbryn estate held separate meetings to discuss the situation. Some other schools in the area closed early following fears about the safety of pupils.
David Trimble (UUP), then First Minister, and Mark Durkan (SDLP), then Deputy First Minister, condemned the disturbances as “disgraceful” and called for restraint. Officials had been asked to arrange an urgent meeting between community activists and local Northern Ireland Assembly members to try to facilitate cross-community dialogue.
Representatives of teachers said they would consider taking strike action in protest at the sectarian attacks on schools in north Belfast. Frank Bunting, then a representative of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), said he had asked the Department of Education to sanction strike action over the ”intolerable situation”.
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Remembering all innocent victims of the Troubles
Today is the anniversary of the death of the following people killed as a results of the conflict in Northern Ireland
“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die
– Thomas Campbell
To the innocent on the list – Your memory will live forever
– To the Paramilitaries –
There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, but nothing worth killing for.
6 People lost their lives on the 10th January between 1974 – 2000
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10 January 1974
John Crawford, (53)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Found shot near his workplace, Milltown Row, Falls, Belfast.
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10 January 1975
John Green, (27)
Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),
Killed by: British Army (BA)
Found shot at friend’s farmhouse, Tullynageer, near Castleblayney, County Monaghan
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10 January 1976
Edward McQuaid, (25)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Shot from passing car while walking along Cliftonville Road, Belfast.
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10 January 1984
William Fullerton, (48)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Shot by sniper while driving his car along Warrenpoint Road, Newry, County Down.
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10 January 1998
Terry Enright, (28)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF)
Security man. Shot outside Space Nightclub, Talbot Street, Belfast.
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10 January 2000
Richard Jameson, (46)
Protestant
Status: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF),
Killed by: Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF)
Shot outside his home, Derrylettiff Road, near Portadown, County Armagh. Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) / Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) feud.
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Belfast Child 