Rosemary Nelson (née Magee; 4 September 1958 – 15 March 1999) was a prominent Irish human rights solicitor who was assassinated by an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in 1999. A bomb exploded under her car at her home in Lurgan, Northern Ireland; the Red Hand Defenders claimed responsibility. Allegations that the British state security forces were involved in her killing led to a public inquiry.
It found no evidence that state forces directly facilitated her murder, but could not exclude the possibility that individual members had helped the perpetrators. It said that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) failed to protect her and that she had been publicly threatened and assaulted by officers, which helped legitimize her as a target.
— Disclaimer –
The views and opinions expressed in this post/documentaries are soley intended to educate and provide background information to those interested in the Troubles of Northern Ireland. They in no way reflect my own opinions and I take no responsibility for any inaccuracies or factual errors.
Career
Rosemary Nelson, née Magee, obtained her law degree at Queens University, Belfast (QUB). She worked with other solicitors for a number of years before opening her own practice. Nelson represented clients in a number of high-profile cases (including Michael Caraher, one of the South Armagh Snipers, as well as a republican paramilitary accused of killing two RUC officers.
Nelson claimed she had received death threats from members of the RUC as a result of her legal work. Some RUC officers made abusive and threatening remarks about Nelson to her clients, which became publicly known.
In 1998, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Solicitors, Param Cumaraswamy, noted these threats in his annual report, and stated in a television interview that he believed her life could be in danger. He made recommendations to the British government concerning threats from police against Solicitors, which were not acted upon.
Later that year, Nelson testified before a committee of the United States Congress investigating human rights in Northern Ireland, confirming that death threats had been made against her and her three children.
Nelson was assassinated, at the age of 40, by a car bomb outside her home in Lurgan, County Armagh, in 1999. A loyalist paramilitary group calling itself the Red Hand Defenders claimed responsibility for the killing.
She was survived by her husband and their three children.
Posthumous
In 2004, the Cory Collusion Inquiry recommended that the UK Government hold an inquiry into the circumstances of Nelson’s death. Nelson was posthumously awarded the Train Foundation‘s Civil Courage Prize, which recognises “extraordinary heroes of conscience”.[15]
Inquiry
The resulting inquiry into her assassination opened at the Craigavon Civic Centre, Craigavon, County Armagh, in April 2005. In September 2006 the British Security Service MI5 announced it would be represented at the inquiry. This move provoked criticism from Nelson’s family, who reportedly expressed concerns that MI5 would remove sensitive or classified information.
The results of the inquiry were published on 23 May 2011. The inquiry found no evidence that state agencies (the RUC, British Army and MI5) had “directly facilitated” her murder, but “could not exclude the possibility” that individual members had helped the perpetrators.
It found that state agencies had failed to protect her and that some RUC intelligence about her had ‘leaked’. Both of these, it said, increased the danger to her life.
The report also stated that RUC officers had publicly abused and assaulted her in 1997, and made threatening remarks about her to her clients, which became publicly known.
It concluded that this helped “legitimise her as a target in the eyes of loyalist terrorists”.
My autobiography: A Belfast Child is now available to pre-order on Amazon , launch date is 30th April.
— John Chambers – A Belfast Child (@ABelfastChild1) January 19, 2020
Two Dublin Families at war as underworld godfathers fight for supremacy
All-out gang war has broken out in Dublin, with two high-profile murders within a few days
On Monday 8th February Eddie Hutch, 59, brother of former gangland boss Gerry “The Monk” Hutch, was shot dead by four masked men at his home in Poplar Row in Dublin’s north inner city.
Eddie Hutch
Detectives have no doubt it was a revenge killing for the murder three days earlier of leading Dublin criminal David Byrne, 33, in a prohibition era, Chicago-style attack at the Regency Hotel, also on Dublin’s North Side.
David Byrne’s body
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Fatal Dublin Shooting at boxing weigh-in Linked To Gangland Feud
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Byrne’s murder at a boxing weigh-in before 200 people, including children, was believed to have been in retaliation for last September’s assassination of 34-year-old Gary Hutch, a nephew of both Eddie and The Monk, near Marbella in southern Spain.
Gary Hutch
Gary Hutch is believed to have been shot dead by members of a gang run by Spain-based Dublin criminal Christy “Dapper Don” Kinahan, 59, with whom Byrne worked in massive ongoing operations to smuggle drugs into Britain and Ireland. Gary Hutch was believed by the Kinahan gang to have been a police informer.
Christy ‘Dapper Don ‘ Kinahan
Kinahan, who has served terms in prison, lives in a $7 million mansion near Marbella. Kinihan is thought to have stashed away hundreds of millions of euros from his criminal activities.
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Inside the Irish Mafia
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His son, Daniel, a boxing promoter, was believed to have been a target in the Friday Regency Hotel shooting by a gang of six, including three men disguised as an elite Swat unit from the gardai (Irish police), a man dressed as a woman, and two others.
Daniel Kinahan, who travelled from Spain for the boxing tournament – abandoned after the shootout – was reported to have escaped by diving with his bodyguard through a window.
Two of murder victim David Byrne’s criminal associates were also injured in the shooting and received hospital treatment. The hotel attack gang used IRA-style AK47 rifles and pistols in the attack.
Although the Continuity IRA on Monday claimed responsibility for the attack in a coded phone call to the BBC – claiming it was in revenge for the 2012 murder of Real IRA Dublin boss Alan Ryan – Gardai were skeptical the call was genuine. They are convinced it is a gangland war not involving paramilitaries.
Within hours of the call, and despite a huge Garda presence at checkpoints throughout Dublin, four men drove a silver BMW to Eddie Hutch’s home where they killed him immediately with several shots.
They abandoned their car a short distance away and made efforts to set fire to it, but it was seized in time by Gardai who also found balaclavas and a can of petrol inside the vehicle.
In the Friday shooting at the Regency Hotel – a familiar sight to tourists on the way to Dublin Airport – one child was heard on a video phone-recording scream, “Daddy, help me! What was that?”
Kevin McAnena, a sports reporter for BBC Radio Foyle in Northern Ireland who was at the weigh-in, said he dived behind a desk and a gunman peered over and aimed a rifle at him but didn’t fire.
McAnena added, “I was looking down the barrel of the gun and thought I was going to die. It was utterly terrifying.”
Detectives believe some of the gang may have been imported from abroad, but eyewitnesses also said at least one of the masked gunmen disguised as a Garda spoke with a Dublin accent.
Gardai collected video footage and photographs from the scene and they believe they are close to identifying some of the gunmen. They also say evidence in the car seized after the Eddie Hutch murder will help them trace the gunmen who killed him.
Eddie Hutch was known to the Gardai, but for mostly minor crimes. Although relatives were linked to gangland, he was not regarded as violent and was not believed to be criminally active.
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Gerry Hutch
Profile
Gerry Hutch (born 1963) is an Irish former criminal. He was regarded as the prime suspect for two of the biggest armed robberies in Irish history. Known for leading a “disciplined, ascetic lifestyle” since leaving prison in 1985, he was christened “The Monk” by Veronica Guerin, an investigative journalist who applied nicknames to Ireland’s crime bosses before being assassinated in 1996
Born in central Dublin, his career began at the age of 10 when Hutch joined the Bugsy Malone Gang of inner city youngsters (named after the feature film), which he later led, whose crimes in the 1970s included “jump-overs” – jumping over bank counters, grabbing cash and running.
He was later part of a gang involved in major robberies and received many convictions between 1970 and 1983 intermittently spending time in prison. His gang was said to have amassed an estimated IR£40 million from a series of bank robberies, jewellery heists, and fraud scams spanning almost eight years. Hutch has also been awarded money from legal actions in Irish courts. These included £8,500 won from Securicor Ireland in June 1991, £2,000 from the Sunday Tribune newspaper in a libel action and around £26,000 won in legal actions against the Irish state.
Hutch admitted to being a “convicted criminal” in a 2008 interview with The Independent, but insisted that he made his money through property deals, not crime.
Corinthians Boxing Club
In 1998 he was a founder member of the Corinthians Boxing Club in Dublin and has served as treasurer for the club. The club has a full gym and a boxing ring. The latter was donated by film director Jim Sheridan after making the film The Boxer.
Criminal Assets Bureau
In 1999, in the course of court proceedings brought against Hutch by the Irish state’s anti money laundering agency, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), Detective Chief Superintendent Felix McKenna stated that Hutch had been involved in the IR£1.7 million robbery of an armoured van at Marino Mart in January 1987 and the IR£3 million armed robbery of a Brinks Allied Security Depot in Clonshaugh, County Dublin, in 1995, which had been the largest cash robbery in the State at the time.
Hutch eventually reached an IR£1.2m settlement with the CAB to “cover back taxes and interest for a nine-year period”.
Carry Any Body
After the CAB settlement, Hutch applied for and was granted a taxi licence, and set up the limousine service Carry Any Body. The name is a humorous reference to the Criminal Assets Bureau.
He has featured in the Irish media as he has driven celebrities including Mike Tyson on their visits to Ireland.
Hutch appeared on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme in March 2008 where he was interviewed about his life and criminal career. Hutch denied any criminal activity, since his last prison sentence, other than tax evasion.
Hutch was the subject of investigation in the Irish TV3 channel’s television series, Dirty Money. Episode 5, which aired March 2008 was solely devoted to the assets seized by the CAB from Hutch and the threat to seize assets from his family
Evening all , Im heading home to Belfast tomorrow for the Easter period and hopefully a trip down south to visit my bro and his family in County Meath , depending on a few factors which are out of my control 😜 Belfast will always be my home and although I look forward to visiting…
Hi folks, Just a shortish blog post to wish you all a wonderful evening and a fantastic Xmas day. Some of you guys have followed me and my story for years now and during recent tragic soul destroying lows to a few joy filled epic highs you have been there to support , comfort and…
Note by Merlyn Rees, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The note deals with plans for the Constitutional Convention; the election to which was held on 1 May 1975.]
Monday 14 March 1977
James Nicholson (44), an English businessman, was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) as he left the Strathearn Audio factory, Stockman’s Lane, Belfast.
Sunday 14 March 1982
John Hume, then leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), said that the plans for ‘rolling devolution’ were “unworkable”.
Wednesday 14 March 1984
Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), was shot and wounded by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a covername used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), as he travelled by car through Belfast.
Three other SF members were also wounded in the attack. The men were returning to west Belfast from a court appearance in the center of Belfast.
[In March 1985 three men were sentenced for attempted murder as a result of the attack.]
Eighteen members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were reprimanded and one cautioned over their part in incidents surrounding the shootings which led to the ‘shoot to kill’ allegations.
Wednesday 14 March 1990
There were disturbances in the Crumlin Road Prison over the issue of the segregation of Republican and Loyalist prisoners.
[The issue was to lead to further disturbances during the year.]
Thursday 14 March 1991
‘Birmingham Six’ Freed
Six men, known as the ‘Birmingham Six’, who had spent 16 years in jail were freed by the Court of Appeal in London. The six were: Hugh Callaghan, Paddy Hill, Gerry Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, Billy Power, and Johnny Walker. The men had been convicted for the bombings that occurred in two public houses in Birmingham on 21 November 1974.
The six had been found guilty on the basis of forensic evidence and confessions that the men claimed were beaten out of them.
The forensic evidence was shown to be unreliable and there was evidence that the police had forged notes of interviews and had given false evidence at the original trial. Kenneth Baker, then Home Secretary, accepted that this was the third case of a miscarriage of justice involving Irish people in the previous 18 months.
Peter Brooke, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced to the House of Commons that an agreement had been reached with the Irish government whereby he would decide when they would enter the political negotiations. In addition he also set Easter as the deadline for all the parties deciding on the arrangements for new political talks.
[The talks were to involve the four main political parties and were the first in a series that lasted from April 1991 to November 1992 and later became known as the Brooke / Mayhew Talks. Patrick Mayhew took over from Brooke as Secretary of State before the talks were concluded.]
Monday 14 March 1994
Louis Blom-Cooper, then independent commissioner for Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) holding stations, called for the introduction of video and audio recording of interrogations.
Tuesday 14 March 1995
Prison officers at the Maze Prison carry out searches for “illicit material” which spark rioting by 150 Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) prisoners.
[In the following week there are a number of attacks on the homes of prison officers.]
Friday 14 March 1997
John Slane (44), a Catholic man, was shot dead in his home in west Belfast.
[It was believed that a Loyalist paramilitary group was responsible although none of the various groups claimed responsibility.]
Sloan left a wife and nine children.
4
A number of shots were fired by a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) patrol outside the Derryhirk Bar in Aghagallon, County Antrim. An investigation into the incident was announced by the Independent Commission for Police Complaints.
The Court of Appeal cleared Damien Sullivan of the murder in May 1994 of Nigel Smyth who was a security guard at the time. Thomas Fox, a co-accused, had his appeal rejected.
David McClean, then a junior minister in the Home Office, wrote a letter in the Guardian (a British newspaper) in which he compared Roisín McAliskey, then being held in prison awaiting a decision about extradition, to “IRA scum” and to Myra Hindley (a notorious child killer).
George Mitchell, then Chairman of the multi-party talks at Stormont, spoke at the American Ireland Fund dinner in Washington and condemned the “twin demons of Northern Ireland, violence and intransigence” which were feeding off each other “in a deadly ritual in which most of the victims were innocent”.
[Many people took the reference to “intransigence” to have been particularly directed at certain Unionist politicians, especially Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The DUP subsequently issued a statement which called for Mitchell’s resignation as Chairman of the talks.]
Edward Kennedy, then an American Senator, called for an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Kennedy also called on John Major, then British Prime Minister, to state that Sinn Féin (SF) would be allowed to enter the Stormont talks when they resumed on 3 June 1997.
Sunday 14 March 1999
The Parades Commission banned a Loyalist parade from passing through the mainly Catholic Garvaghy Road in Portadown, County Armagh.
Wednesday 14 March 2001
Adrian Porter (34), a member of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), died several hours after being shot at his home in Conlig, near Bangor, County Down. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) were responsible for the killing which was part of a feud between the LVF and the UVF.
Thursday 14 March 2002
There was further speculation in some of the media that there would be an imminent move on arms by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Senior security sources were reported as saying that they expected there would be another act of IRA decommissioning “sooner rather than later”.
John Taylor, then Ulster Unionist peer (Lord Kilclooney), told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry that he believed in 1972, and still believed, that 13 gunmen were killed by the British army on Bloody Sunday.
Later during questioning he partially qualified his assertion and said:
“There are those who now say that innocent people were shot. If that is so it is a tragedy, but at that time I believed that all of those who were shot were shot because they were endangering the lives of the security forces, and that they were armed.”
Lisburn, in County Antrim, and Newry, in County Down, were granted city status in a competition to mark Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee. The towns were judged on their notable characteristics, historical and royal connections and progressive attitudes.
The two new cities join the existing three cities of Armagh, Belfast, and Derry.
There was continued criticism of the remarks made by David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), about the Republic of Ireland on 9 March 2002. Richard Haass, then a special advisor to the US President, said the comments were “regrettable”. He said he thought leaders should not talk “in ways that sharpen sectarian conflict”. John Reid, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, also joined the criticism.
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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.
9 People lost their lives on the 14th March between 1972 – 2001
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14 March 1972
Colm Keenan, (19)
Catholic Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),
Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot while in entry off Dove Gardens, Bogside, Derry.
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14 March 1972
Eugene McGillan, (18)
Catholic Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),
Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot while in entry off Dove Gardens, Bogside, Derry.
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14 March 1974
George Robinson, (46)
Protestant Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Republican group (REP)
Shot at his home, Bankmore Street, off Ormeau Road, Belfast
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14 March 1977
James Nicholson, (44)
nfNI Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
English businessman. Shot while in chauffeur-driven car, just after leaving Strathearn Audio factory, Stockman’s Lane, Belfast.
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14 March 1987 Fergus Conlon, (31)
Catholic Status: Civilian Political Activist (CivPA),
Killed by: Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
Irish Republican Socialist Party member. Found shot, Clontigora, near Forkhill, County Armagh. Irish National Liberation Army / Irish People’s Liberation Organisation feud
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14 March 1988
Kevin McCracken, (31)
Catholic Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),
Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot during attempted Irish Republican Army (IRA) sniper attack on British Army (BA) foot patrol, Norglen Crescent, Turf Lodge, Belfast.
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14 March 1989
Thomas Hardy, (48)
Protestant Status: Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Shot at his workplace, Granville Meats, Aughnacloy Road, Dungannon, County Tyrone.
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14 March 1997
John Slane, (44)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY)
Shot, at his home, Thames Court, off Broadway, Falls, Belfast.
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14 March 2001
Adrian Porter, (34)
Protestant Status: Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Died several hours after being shot at his home, Breezemount Park, Conlig, near Bangor, County Down. Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) / Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) feud.
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My autobiography: A Belfast Child is now available to pre-order on Amazon , launch date is 30th April.
John Gregg (1957 – 1 February 2003) was a senior member of the UDA/UFFloyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. In 1984, Gregg seriously wounded Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in an assassination attempt. From the 1990s until his shooting death in 2003 by rival associates, Gregg served as brigadier of the UDA’s South East Antrim Brigade. Widely known as a man with a fearsome reputation, Gregg was considered a “hawk” in loyalist circles
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The views and opinions expressed in this documentary/ies and page are soley intended to educate and provide background information to those interested in the Troubles of Northern Ireland.
They in no way reflect my own opinions and I take no responsibility for any inaccuracies or factual errors
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John Gregg
John “Grugg” Gregg in 1990
Birth name
John Gregg
Nickname(s)
“Grugg”, “The Reaper”
Born
1957
Died
1 February 2003 (aged 45–46) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Gregg was born in 1957 and raised in a Protestant family from the Tigers Bay area of North Belfast. Gregg when explaining his family background, revealed that his father, regarded as a quiet man, had trust in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army but joined the loyalist vigilante groups set up around the start of the Troubles ostensibly to protect the Protestant community from attacks by republicans. His own earliest memory of the Troubles was the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association marches in Derry, a movement to which Gregg and his family were strongly opposed.
Ulster Defence Association
Gregg joined the Ulster Young Militants (UYM), the youth wing of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA) at the age of 14. He spent six months in jail for rioting in 1977. He later became part of the UDA South East Antrim Brigade. Members of this brigade were believed to be behind the killings of Catholic postman Danny McColgan, Protestant teenager Gavin Brett and Trevor Lowry (the latter kicked to death in the mistaken belief he was a Catholic), and a spate of pipe bomb attacks on the homes of Catholics.
Gregg, at the time the head of the UDA commando in Rathcoole, was in charge of a three-man hit team that pulled up alongside Adams’ car near Belfast City Hall and opened fire injuring Adams and his three fellow passengers, who nonetheless escaped to seek treatment at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.
Police guard outside hospital were Adams is treated
Gregg and his team were apprehended almost immediately by a British Army patrol that opened fire on them before ramming their car.[4] The attack had been known in advance by security forces due to a tip-off from informants within Rathcoole; Adams and his co-passengers had survived in part because Royal Ulster Constabulary officers, acting on the informants’ information, had replaced much of the ammunition in the UDA’s Rathcoole weapons dump with low-velocity bullets.
Gregg was jailed for 18 years; however, he only served half his sentence and was released in 1993.
When asked by the BBC in prison if he regretted anything about the shooting, his reply was:
“Only that I didn’t succeed.”
Brigadier
UDA mural in Gregg’s Rathcoole stronghold
Following his release from prison, Gregg returned to Rathcoole where he again became an important figure, taking a central role in the illegal drug trade, with his Rathcoole stronghold a centre of narcotics.Sometime after the Combined Loyalist Military Command of 1994 he succeeded Joe English, who had emerged as a leading figure in the Ulster Democratic Party, as brigadier of the South-East Antrim UDA.
Under Gregg the South-East Antrim Brigade were prepared to ignore the terms of the loyalist ceasefire, such as on 25 April 1997 when he dispatched a five-man team to Carrickfergus to set fire to a Catholic church in retaliation for a similar attack on a Protestant church in East Belfast (this earlier attack had actually been organised by dissident loyalists seeking to provoke the UDA into returning to violence).[9] Gregg’s fearsome reputation earned him the nickname “the Reaper” and he bore a tattoo of the Grim Reaper on his back as a tribute.
Gregg played the bass drum in the UDA-affiliated flute band Cloughfern Young Conquerors, a loyalist flute band which police claimed regularly caused trouble at Orange Order parades. In late August 1997 this band was one of a number of similar flute bands to travel to Derry for the annual Apprentice Boys of Derry march through the city centre.
As the band prepared to take the train home that evening they met members of the Shankill Protestant Boys, another band in town for the parade that was affiliated to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Brawls between the two had been frequent and tensions had been growing between the UDA and UVF leading to a drink-fuelled pitched battle between the two groups at the train station.
During the course of the melee a Shankill Protestant Boys member managed to gouge out Gregg’s eye, although it is also claimed that Gregg lost his eye due to a fight with republicans at the same parade.
Anti-Catholic campaigns
Along with Jackie McDonald and Billy McFarland, fellow brigadiers on the UDA’s Inner Council, Gregg was lacking in enthusiasm for the Belfast Agreement when it appeared in 1998. Throughout 1999 his brigade continued to be active, undertaking a pipe bomb campaign against Catholic homes whilst on 12 May members of his brigade shot and wounded a Catholic builder in Carrickfergus under the cover name “Protestant Liberation Force”. Much of this activity was inspired by Gregg’s personal hatred of Catholics.
A senior police source once described him as a man driven by “pure and absolute bigotry”. Gregg was also characterised as “a bully, a racketeer, and a sectarian bigot who took particular delight in carrying out vicious punishment attacks and randomly targeting Roman Catholics.”
In 2000 he helped to ensure that a proposal before the Inner Council to initiate the decommissioning of weapons was rejected.
Having witnessed demographic shifts in Glengormley and Crumlin, traditionally loyalist majority towns that had come to have nationalist majorities on account of loyalists moving out of Belfast, he determined that the same thing would not happen in Carrickfergus and Larne and so launched a campaign of pipe bomb and arson attacks on Catholic homes there (despite these towns having very small Catholic populations).
The main target proved to be Danny O’Connor, a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) representative on initially Larne Borough Council and then the Northern Ireland Assembly, whose home and office were attacked at least twelve times by Gregg’s men between 2000 and 2002. Protestant Trevor Lowry (aged 49) was beaten to death in Glengormley by UDA members under Gregg’s command on 11 April 2001 after he was mistaken for a Catholic. Catholic workman Gary Moore was killed in Monkstown in 2000 in another killing attributed to Gregg’s unit.
He called on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to establish an auxiliary police “clinic” on the estate, which had no permanent police building, so as locals concerned about crime could have somewhere to go. This followed in summer 2002 when a community centre was taken over for this purpose although Gregg’s UDA objected and daubed the building with the word “tout”.
On 4 September Langhammer’s car was blown up outside his Whiteabbey home by Gregg’s men, although Langhammer himself was asleep at the time and no one was injured.
Johnny Adair
Despite the continuing activity of his brigade, and his own earlier maiming, Gregg shared the reluctance of other brigadiers about what he saw as a coming war between the UVF and West Belfast brigadier Johnny Adair. Nonetheless he was not keen to antagonise Adair and so, along with McFarland, McDonald and Jimbo Simpson, accepted his invitation to attended a “Loyalist Day of Culture” organised by Adair on the Lower Shankill on 19 August 2000. Old tensions resurfaced however, and after Adair’s men fought with UVF supporters at the Shankill’s Rex Bar, Adair launched a pogrom of the lower Shankill, forcing out all UVF members and their families and initiating a loyalist feud.[22]
Gregg initially remained aloof from the struggle and instead concentrated on his anti-Catholic campaign. However in the second half of 2002 he was dragged into the conflict after Adair made him a target in his own attempts to take full control of the UDA. A UDA member originally from the Woodvale Road had moved to Rathcoole where he had been beaten up after it emerged that he was a friend of Joe English, the former brigadier who had been exiled from the estate by Gregg for his anti-drugs stance.
As a result of the attack, three Woodvale UDA members went to Gregg and complained about the attack. Gregg took this as a threat and, after complaining to senior figures in the West Belfast UDA, ordered the three men to be kneecapped. The shootings raised some anger on the Shankill, where the three were well-liked figures, and Adair sought to exploit this as a method of getting rid of Gregg. He sought to portray Gregg as unstable and thuggish and spread a rumour that he was about to be replaced as brigadier.
By September 2002, Adair had even circulated stories to contacts in the media that Gregg was under death threat from the UDA. In late August, Adair had even managed to have Gregg stood down as Brigadier for “not being militant enough” and replaced by one of Adair’s own associates.
However, this proved short-lived. In October 2002, Gregg was one of the brigadiers who passed the resolution expelling Adair from the UDA for his involvement in the non-fatal shooting of Jim Gray.
Adair ignored the expulsion, erecting “West Belfast UDA – Business as Usual” banners on the Shankill Road, whilst continuing his struggles with the remaining brigadiers, Gregg in particular. On 8 December a bomb was found under Gregg’s car, apparently placed there by one of Adair’s allies from the Loyalist Volunteer Force.
Soon after two pipe bombs were thrown at Gregg’s house, and his friend Tommy Kirkham‘s house was shot at. In response, graffiti appeared around the walls of Rathcoole in December, stating:
“Daft Dog and White beware. The Reaper is coming for you”
as a threat to “Mad Dog” Adair and his ally John White. A bomb attack on Adair’s house on 8 January 2003 was blamed on Gregg by White, although Adair himself was returned to prison two days later after a dossier detailing his drug-dealing and racketeering activities was shown to Secretary of State for Northern IrelandPaul Murphy.
Shooting death and aftermath
A mural commemorating Gregg and Carson in Cloughfern
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John Gregg – Funeral
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1 February 2003, along with another UDA member, Robert “Rab” Carson, Gregg was shot dead on Nelson Street, in the old Sailortown district near the Belfast docks, while travelling in a red Toyota taxi after returning from Glasgow where he regularly went to watch Rangers F.C. games. Gregg had been a regular visitor to Ibrox Park for a number of years,
often in the company of Michael Stone, and had even picked up a conviction for violence at an Old Firm match. Gregg’s movements were known to C Company member Alan McCullough who, receiving instruction from Adair (then in HMP Maghaberry), arranged for a hit team to kill Gregg and his associate as the taxi took them from the port of Belfast.
When the taxi stopped at traffic lights close to the motorway, it was rammed by another taxi which had been hijacked earlier on the Shankill Road. Masked gunmen immediately opened fire on the occupants with automatic weapons. Gregg, seated in the backseat, was hit at close range and died instantly.
A mortally-wounded Carson died later in hospital, and taxi driver William McKnight was seriously hurt. Gregg’s 18-year-old son Stuart and another man were also in the vehicle but neither sustained injuries in the shooting attack. Carson was described by UDA sources as a “dear friend” of Gregg’s and a junior member of the South-East Antrim Brigade.
South East Antrim Brigade mural in Ballymena honouring Gregg
Gregg’s killing proved to be the undoing of Adair. Gregg was the most senior UDA member killed since South Belfast brigadier John McMichael was blown up by the IRA in 1987. Despite his reputation for gangsterism, Gregg’s failed attack on Gerry Adams had afforded him legendary status and, under the direction of Jackie McDonald, the remaining UDA brigadiers concluded that Adair had to be removed.
Gregg was given a paramilitary funeral which was attended by thousands of mourners, including senior UDA members Jackie McDonald, Jim Gray, Sammy Duddy and Michael Stone. Senior members of the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando also attended. A volley of shots was fired over his coffin by UDA gunmen outside his Rathcoole home. The coffin was draped in the Ulster flag and the flag of the UFF. Members of the Cloughfern Young Conquerors dressed in uniform accompanied the coffin.
Afterwards a lone piper led the cortege to Carnmoney Cemetery where he was buried. At the service on 6 February, UVF/RHC representatives joined the UDA leadership in a show of anti-Adair solidarity. That same night Jackie McDonald’s forces invaded the lower Shankill and ran those members of C Company that had remained loyal to Adair, who was still in prison, out of the city. In May of that same year, Alan McCullough was himself killed by the UDA.
Following the conclusion of the feud with Adair the UDA reconstituted its ceasefire in what they christened the “Gregg initiative”. The juxtaposition of this initiative with the name of Gregg was condemned by the mother of a Catholic who had been killed by members of the South-East Antrim Brigade in 2000 as she argued:
“it’s sickening to call it the Gregg initiative when he was a ruthless terrorist….Everyone goes on about Johnny Adair but they’re all as bad as each other”.
In November 2011, Stuart Gregg received £400,000 compensation for psychological trauma due to having witnessed his father’s murder.
Personal life
Gregg was married with one son and two stepdaughters
Twenty-seven years ago, Shin Dong-hyuk was born inside Camp 14, one of five sprawling political prisons in the mountains of North Korea. Located about 55 miles north of Pyongyang, the labor camp is a ‘complete control district,’ a no-exit prison where the only sentence is life.
No one born in Camp 14 or in any North Korean political prison camp has escaped. No one except Shin. This is his story.
A gripping, terrifying memoir with a searing sense of place, ESCAPE FROM CAMP 14 will unlock, through Shin, a dark and secret nation, taking readers to a place they have never before been allowed to go.
‘This is a story unlike any other’ Barbara Demick, author of Nothing toEnvy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
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This extraordinary story lifts the lid on the secretive and brutal totalitarian regime of North Korean ‘s labour camps and the forgotten political prisoners and their families whom are destined too suffer unbelievable inhumanity and are subject to summary execution at the whims of their “guards”.
Shin Dong-hyuk ‘s story appalled and horrified me and I’m still trying to work out how such a place and regime could still exist in the 21st century and why the world is not doing more to eradicate the brutal and oppressive abuse of over 23 million North Korean people.
North Korea is a problem that the world will have to face up to at some stage and whilst the supreme leader Kim Jong-un is obviously mad as a march hare and insane , his quest for nuclear weapons is not just a threat to his neighbour – but to the world in general and the stability to the entire region.
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Shin Dong-hyuk
Shin Dong-hyuk (born 19 November 1982 or 1980 as Shin In Geun) is reputed to be the only known prisoner to have successfully escaped from a “total-control zone” grade internment camp in North Korea.
He was the subject of a biography, Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey From North Korea to Freedom in the West, by former Washington Post journalist Blaine Harden. Shin has given talks to audiences around the world about his life in Camp 14 and about the totalitarian North Korean regime to raise awareness of the situation in North Korean internment and concentration camps and North Korea.
Shin has been described as the world’s “single strongest voice” on the atrocities inside North Korean camps by a member of the United Nations’ first commission of inquiry into human rights abuses of North Korea. In January 2015, he recanted aspects of his story but a majority of experts continued to support his credibility as a victim of North Korean human rights abuses.
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Camp 14: Total Control Zone
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Biography
The following is Shin’s biography as told by him prior to 2015 which he later partially recanted.
Early life
Shin Dong-hyuk was born Shin In Geun at the Kaechon internment camp, commonly known as Camp 14. He was born to two prisoners who were allowed to marry as a reward for good work, although:
“neither bride nor groom had much say in deciding whom they would marry.”
Shin’s father, Shin Gyung Sub, told Shin that the guards gave him his mother, Jang Hye-gyung, as payment for his skill in operating a metal lathe in the camp’s machine shop. Shin lived with his mother until he was 12. He rarely saw his father who lived elsewhere in the camp and was allowed to visit a few times a year. According to Shin, he saw his mother as a competitor for their insufficient food rations, and consequently had no bonds of affection with his parents or his brother, Shin He Geun.
The North Korean government officials and camp guards told him he was imprisoned because his parents had committed crimes against the state, and that he had to work hard and always obey the guards; otherwise he would be punished or executed.
Shin went to primary and secondary school while in the camp. The secondary school was “little more than slave quarters from which he was sent out as a rock picker, weed puller and dam labourer.” At one point, a young girl was beaten to death by the teacher for hoarding a few kernels of corn. His education did not include propaganda or even basic information about North Korea. The personality cult around Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il was also absent; for example there were no portraits of the Kim leaders on display.
The camp was near a hydroelectric dam and mines in which the prisoners were forced to labour. In one of Shin’s prison cells, where he was held during an interrogation, he said he had electricity and running water. Shin’s mother lived in a house with multiple rooms in a “model village” in the camp, given to women who had children.
Shin experienced considerable violence in the camp, and witnessed dozens of executions every year.Part of Shin’s right middle finger was cut off by his supervisor as punishment for accidentally breaking a sewing machine. He witnessed adult prisoners and children beaten every day, and many prisoners dying of starvation, illness, torture and work accidents. He learned to survive by any means, including eating rats, frogs, and insects, and reporting fellow inmates for rewards.
Scars and deformed arms due to torture
Mother and brother plan to escape
When Shin was 13 years old, he overheard his mother and brother planning an escape attempt. Shin had just finished eating watery corn porridge, and was trying to sleep until he overheard that He Geun, his brother had run from the cement factory. Shin’s mother, Jang was preparing rice, a symbol of wealth in North Korea for the escape from Camp 14. Shin was jealous his brother was getting rice. Shin’s teacher was already in the gated Bowiwon village, so Shin told the night guard of his school with another boy, as informing was something he was taught to do from an early age, and he hoped to be rewarded. However, the school night guard took full credit for discovering the plan, and rather than being rewarded, Shin was arrested and guards tortured him for four days to extract more information, believing him to be part of the plan to escape.
According to Shin, the guards lit a charcoal fire under his back and forced a hook into his skin so that he could not struggle which caused many large scars still visible on his body.
On 29 November 1996, after approximately seven months spent in a tiny concrete prison cell, he was released and joined by his father, who had also been imprisoned. They were driven back to the main camp wearing blindfolds and their hands tied behind their backs. Camp officials then forced Shin and his father to watch the public executions of Shin’s mother and brother; he then understood he had been responsible for the executions.
Shin stated that at the time of the executions of his brother and mother, in his teenaged mind he felt they “deserved” their fates for both breaking prison rules and, conversely, not including him in the escape plan. Shin has since expressed remorse over his actions, saying in an interview with Anderson Cooper for the CBS television show 60 Minutes
, “My mother and brother, if I could meet them through a time machine, I would like to go back and apologize”.
In interviews to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service and others, and in his Korean language memoir, Shin had said that he had no prior knowledge of the escape. It was only when talking to Harden that he revised his story and said that he had informed on his mother and brother.
Escape with Park
While working at a textile factory, Shin became friends with a 40-year-old political prisoner from Pyongyang (surnamed Park), who was educated and had traveled outside North Korea. Park had been to East Germany, and China. Park said that he shook Kim Jong Il’s hand. Park told him about the outside world, such as stories about food that Shin had not experienced before. According to Shin, nearly every meal he had eaten up to that point had been a soupy gruel of cabbage, corn, and salt, with occasional wild-caught rats and insects. He was excited by the idea of being able to eat as much food as he wanted to, which Shin considered to be the essence of freedom. “I still think of freedom as roasted chicken,” he later acknowledged.
Shin decided to attempt to escape with Park. They formed a plan in which Shin would provide local information about the camp, while Park would use his knowledge once outside the camp to escape the country. On 2 January 2005, the pair was assigned to a work detail near the camp’s electric fence on the top of a 1,200-foot (370 m) mountain ridge to collect firewood. Noting the long interval between the guards’ patrols, the two waited until the guards were out of sight, then made their attempt to escape.
Park attempted to go through first, but was fatally electrocuted climbing the high voltage fence. Shin managed to pass over the wire using Park’s body as a shield to ground the current, but still suffered severe burns and permanent scars when his legs slipped onto the lowermost wire as he crawled over Park’s body.
After escaping, Shin broke into a nearby farmer’s barn and found an old military uniform. Wearing the uniform, he was able to masquerade as a North Korean soldier at times. He survived by scrounging and stealing food.Shin was unfamiliar with money, but within two days of his escape, he had sold a 10 lb (4.5 kg) bag of rice stolen from a house and used the money to buy cookies and cigarettes. Eventually, he reached the northern border with China along the Tumen River and bribed destitute North Korean border guards with food and cigarettes.
Revision in 2015
In January 2015, Shin contacted Blaine Harden and recanted parts of his story.Harden outlined the changes to Shin’s account in a new foreword to his book, Escape from Camp 14, but did not revise every detail. He said a complete revision of the book would have taken months and he wanted to publish the new version as soon as possible.
With Blain Harden
Shin told Harden that he had changed some dates and locations and incorporated some “fictive elements” into the story. Shin said that he did not spend his entire North Korean life at Camp 14. He said that he was born there, but when he was young, his family was transferred to the less severe Camp 18, and spent several years there. He said that not only did he inform on the escape plan of his mother and brother, but also falsely implicated them in murder. He said that he twice escaped from Camp 18. The first time, in 1999, he was caught within days. The second time, in 2001, he said he crossed into China, but was caught after four months by Chinese police and sent back to North Korea. He said that he was tortured in Camp 14 in 2002, when he was 20 years old (not 13, as previously stated), as punishment for his escape. He said he was repeatedly burned and tortured in an underground prison for six months. As a result of education in Camp 18, and his previous escapes, he said he wasn’t as naive about the outside world when he made his final escape from Camp 14 as he had previously described.
In Escape from Camp 14 Blaine Harden commented that, “Shin was the only available source of information about his early life.” In his new foreword for the book in 2015, he described Shin as an “unreliable narrator” and commented that, “It seems prudent to expect new revisions”, but also clarifying “I don’t know if that’s true (that the story will change)”. Harden theorized that “Shin appears to have been exposed to prolonged and repeated torture. We can expect that this would have a major impact on every aspect of who he is, on his memory, his emotional regulation, his ability to relate to others, his willingness to trust, his sense of place in the world, and the way he gives his testimony.”
A Russian-born Korean specialist Andrei Lankov commented that “some suspicions had been confirmed when Shin suddenly admitted what many had hitherto suspected”, described Harden’s book as unreliable, and noted that defectors faced considerable psychological pressure to embroider their stories.
Shin explained he did not tell the full story because he wished to hide “that my mother and brother were executed because of my report,” saying “the most important reason why I could not reveal all of the truth was because of my family.” He went on to say:
“All I did until last September was discuss the camps as they were, but once the video was released [of his father], the nastiness of North Korea infuriated me. Then I realized I should not hold anything back.”
Post-North Korea life
After spending some time working as a laborer in different parts of China, Shin was accidentally discovered by a journalist in a restaurant in Shanghai, and the reporter recognized the importance of his story. The journalist brought Shin to the South Korean embassy for asylum, and from there he traveled to South Korea, where he underwent extensive questioning from authorities to determine if he was a North Korean assassin or spy. Afterwards, his story was broadcast by the press and he published a Korean language memoir.
Shin later moved to southern California, changing his name from Shin In Geun to Shin Dong-hyuk in “an attempt to reinvent himself as a free man,” and worked for Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), a non-profit organization that raises awareness of human rights issues in North Korea and provides aid to North Korean refugees. Shin moved back to South Korea to campaign for the eradication of the North Korean prison camps.
In August 2013, Shin gave several hours of testimony to the United Nations‘ first commission of inquiry into human rights abuses of North Korea. A member of the UN commission described Shin as the world’s “single strongest voice” on the atrocities inside North Korean camps.
Shin described some aspects of his personal life in South Korea in a Financial Times interview, on popular culture saying that “I don’t really know anything about music. I can’t sing and I don’t feel any emotion from it. But I do watch lots of films and the one that moves me the most is Schindler’s List“. On food he says “I know everything is delicious. I look at the colours and the way the food is presented on the plate but it’s very difficult to choose. When I first came to South Korea, I was so greedy that I used to order too much food. Nowadays I try to order only as much as I can handle.” Although Shin lives in South Korea, he was informally adopted by an American couple in Ohio during his time in the United States. He says he maintains the relationship, “I have a good relationship with my US foster parents. I contact them often. Whenever I have a holiday, I visit them. I think of them as good parents and I try to be a good son.”
In December 2013, Shin wrote an open letter in the Washington Post to American basketball star Dennis Rodman who visited North Korea a number of times as a self-avowed “friend for life”[43] of Kim Jong-un.
North Korean response
In 2012, when the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention asked the North Korean government about the status of Shin Dong-hyuk’s father, they responded that there was no such person. Then in 2014, after identifying Shin Dong-hyuk as Shin In Geun, the North Korean government produced a video which attempted to discredit Shin through interviews with his father and other supposed witnesses. His father denied Shin had grown up in a prison camp. According to the video, Shin had worked in a mine and fled North Korea after being accused of raping a 13-year-old girl. It also said that Shin’s mother and brother were guilty of murder. The video claimed he was now spreading “preposterous false information” about human rights. Shin confirmed the man was his father. He said that the rape allegation was a fabrication that he had heard before. He later confirmed that his mother and brother were convicted of murder, but stated they were innocent.
Shin said that he believed the North Korean government was sending him a message to be quiet about human rights abuses or his father would be killed, in effect holding his father hostage. The video prompted Shin to recant parts of his story.
Books and films
In 2012, journalist Blaine Harden published Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey From North Korea to Freedom in the West, based on his interviews with Shin. Harden gave a one-hour interview about the book on the C-SPAN television program Q&A.
Executive Director of the US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, Greg Scarlatoiu, said the book played “an important role” in raising wider public awareness of the North Korean camps. Dalhousie University issued a statement averring that Shin’s story, as told through the book, “has shifted the global discourse about North Korea, shining a light on the human rights abuses so prevalent within the regime.”
A German documentary, Camp 14: Total Control Zone, directed by Marc Wiese, was released in 2012. It includes interviews with Shin Dong-hyuk and two former North Korean officers: the first, Kwon Hyuk, was a guard in Camp 22 and brought out amateur film footage (the only known footage of Camp 22), and the second, Oh Yang-nam, was a secret policeman who arrested people who were sent to camps. Supplementing the film are animated sequences of the camp created by Ali Soozandeh.
On 2 December 2012, Shin was featured on 60 Minutes during which he recounted to Anderson Cooper his story of his life in Camp 14 and escape. Shin said “when I see videos of the Holocaust it moves me to tears. I think I am still evolving—from an animal to a human.”
Awards and honours
In June 2013, Shin received the Moral Courage Award given by UN Watch, a Geneva-based NGO (non-governmental organization).
In May 2014, Shin was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University (Nova Scotia, Canada). Students at the university “held a peace march and launched a social media campaign to raise awareness of human rights violations in North Korea. They then fundraised to bring Mr. Shin to Halifax, where his speech to an over-capacity crowd drew international attention
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Camp 14
Kaechon internment camp
Kaechon internment camp (Hangeul: 개천 제14호 관리소, also spelled Kae’chŏn or Gaecheon) is a forced labor camp in North Korea for political prisoners. The official name is Kwan-li-so (Penal-labor colony) No. 14. It is not to be confused with Kaechon concentration camp (Kyo-hwa-so No. 1), which is located 20 km (12 mi) to the northwest. This place is commonly known as Camp 14.
Description
Pyongyang
Kaechon
Location of Kaechon camp in North Korea
The camp was established around 1959 in central North Korea near Kae’chŏn county, South Pyongan Province. It is situated along the middle reaches of Taedong river, which forms the southern boundary of the camp, and includes the mountains north of the river, including Purok-san. Bukchang, a concentration camp (Kwan-li-so No. 18) adjoins the southern banks of the Taedong River. The camp is about 155 km2 (60 sq mi) in area, with farms, mines and factories threaded through steep mountain valleys.
The camp includes overcrowded barracks that house males, females, and older children separately, and a headquarters with administration and guards housing.
Altogether around 15,000 prisoners live in Kaechon internment camp.
Purpose
The main purpose of Kaechon internment camp is to keep politically unreliable persons classed “unredeemable”[1] isolated from society, and exploit their labor. Those sent to the camp include officials perceived to have performed poorly in their job, people who criticize the regime and anyone suspected of engaging in “anti-government” activities. Prisoners have to work in one of the coal mines, in one of the factories that produce textiles, paper, food, rubber, shoes, ceramics and cement or in agriculture.
Human rights situation
Many prisoners of the camp were born there under North Korea’s “three generations of punishment”. This means anyone found guilty of committing a crime, which could be as simple as trying to escape North Korea, would be sent to the camp along with that person’s entire family. The subsequent two generations of family members would be born in the camp and must also live their entire lives and die there.
As reported by witnesses, the prisoners have to do very hard and dangerous work in mines and other workplaces from 5:30 in the morning until midnight. Even 11-year-old children have to work after school and may see their parents rarely. People are forced to work like slaves and are tortured in case of minor offences.
Food rations are very small, consisting of salted cabbage and corn, so that the prisoners are very skinny and weak. Many die of undernourishment, illness, work accidents, and the aftereffects of torture. Many prisoners resort to eating frogs, insects, rats, snakes, and even convert to cannibalism in order to try to survive. Eating rat flesh helps to prevent pellagra, a common disease in the camp which results from the absence of protein and niacin in the diet. In order to eat anything outside of the prison-sanctioned meal, including these animals, prisoners must first get permission from the guards.
Imprisoned witnesses
Shin Dong-hyuk
In his official biography Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden, Shin Dong-hyuk claimed that he was born in the camp and lived there until escaping in his early twenties. In 2015, Shin recanted some of this story. Shin told Harden that he had changed some dates and locations and incorporated some “fictive elements” into his account. Harden outlined these revisions in a new foreword, but did not revise the entire book. Shin said that he did not spend his entire North Korean life at Camp 14. Though maintaining that he was born there, he stated that, when he was young, his family was transferred to the less severe Camp 18, and spent several years there. He said that he was tortured in Camp 14 in 2002, as punishment for escaping from Camp 18.
Kim Yong
Kim Yong (1995–1996 in Kaechon, then in Bukchang) was imprisoned after it was revealed that two men executed as alleged US spies were his father and brother. He witnessed approximately 25 executions in his section of the camp within less than two years
A Letter from Sir Alec Douglas-Home, then Foreign Secretary, to Edward Heath, then Prime Minister. The letter sets out Douglas-Home’s opposition to Direct Rule and a preference for a United Ireland.]
Wednesday 13 March 1974
Liam Cosgrave, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), made a statement in the Dáil in which he said that the position of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom could not be changed except with the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland.
Thursday 13 March 1975
Two people died as a result of a Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gun and bomb attack on Conway’s Bar, Greencastle, Belfast.
One of those killed was a Catholic civilian, and the other was a member of the UVF who died when the bomb he was planting in the pub exploded prematurely. A Catholic civilian died three weeks after been shot by Loyalists in Belfast.
Thursday 13 March 1986
It was announced that additional British Army soldiers would be sent to Northern Ireland to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
The move was the result of Unionist protests against the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA).
In the High Court in Glasgow, Scotland, two men were sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for attempting to acquire arms for the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
Tuesday 13 March 1990
The Irish Supreme Court upheld the appeal of Dermot Finucane and James Clarke against extradition to Northern Ireland. The two men had escaped from the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland, on 25 September 1983. The decision caused uproar among Unionist politicians and the British Government
Wednesday 13 March 1991
An opinion poll carried out for The Guardian (a British newspaper) by International Communications and Marketing showed that 43 per cent of people were in support of the withdrawal of the British Army from Northern Ireland.
Of those questioned, 43 per cent were in favour of the reunification of Ireland, while 30 per cent wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom (UK).
Friday 13 March 1992
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) uncovered a number of weapons at County Donegal, Republic of Ireland.
Sunday 13 March 1994
Third IRA Mortar Attack on Heathrow
Heathrow Airport was closed for two hours following a third Irish Republican Army (IRA) mortar attack. None of the mortars exploded.
[The mortars had been concealed underground and were fired from a wooded area close to the perimeter fence. There had been two previous attacks on 9 March 1994 and 11 March 1994.]
The leadership of the IRA issued a statement which said that their “positive and flexible” attitude to the peace process was “abiding and enduring”.
Thursday 13 March 1997
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out a bomb attack in the Short Strand area of east Belfast and injured a British soldier and a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer.
Twenty Republicans were warned by the RUC that their names were on a list found in the possession of a man suspected of being a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
The man was arrested during an attempted post office robbery in the Village area of Belfast.
The British Home Office announced that Roisín McAliskey, then being held in prison awaiting a decision about extradition, would be allowed to keep her baby in the mother and baby unit of Holloway Prison.
Wednesday 13 March 2002
There was a series of events in the White House, Washington, USA, to mark the celebrations leading to St Patrick’s Day.
The leaders of the three main political parties in Northern Ireland attended, however Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), stayed away from the event because he did not wish to be photographed alongside Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF).
Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), presented George Bush, then President of the USA, with a bowl of shamrock. Ahern dismissed comments earlier in the day by David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).
At a morning debate Trimble had renewed his criticism of the Republic of Ireland. He described the recent abortion referendum as “a sectarian exercise” and a “sectarian vote”.
In Northern Ireland the prospect of an agricultural show being held on a Sunday was averted. The Orange Order had threatened “to take every action necessary, regardless of the consequences”, to prevent the 102 year old Ballymena Show being extended into the Sabbath for the first time.
In the face of such opposition the County Antrim Agricultural Association withdrew the proposal. Ken Good (49), the Church of Ireland Archdeacon of Dromore, was appointed as Bishop of Derry and Raphoe. He succeeded James Mehaffey, who retired in January.
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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.
13 People lost their lives on the 13th March between 1972 – 1991
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13 March 1972 Patrick McCrory, (19)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Shot at his home, Ravenhill Avenue, Belfast.
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13 March 1973 John King, (22)
nfNI Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed by booby trap bomb while on British Army (BA) foot patrol, Coolderry, near Crossmaglen, County Armagh.
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13 March 1974
David Farrington, (23)
nfNI Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot while at British Army (BA) pedestrian check point, Chapel Lane, Belfast
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13 March 1975 Marie Doyle, (38)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Shot, during gun and bomb attack on Conways Bar, Greencastle, Belfast.
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13 March 1975 George Brown, (22)
Protestant Status: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Injured in premature explosion during Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) bomb and gun attack on Conways Bar, Greencastle, Belfast. He died 28 April
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13 March 1975 Robert Skillen, (19)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
Died three weeks after being shot in Parke’s grocery shop, North Queen Street, New Lodge, Belfast.
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13 March 1976 Alexander Frame, (26)
Protestant Status: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF),
Killed by: Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
Found beaten to death, Aberdeen Street, Shankill, Belfast. Ulster Defence Association / Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) feud
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13 March 1976
Nicholas White, (34)
nfNI Status: ex-British Army (xBA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Youth worker. Shot at youth club, Alliance Avenue, Ardoyne, Belfast.
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13 March 1977 William Brown, (18)
Protestant Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot by sniper while on Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) mobile patrol, Ballagh Cross Roads, Donagh, near Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh.
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13 March 1979 Robert McNally, (20)
Protestant Status: Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR),
Killed by: Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
Off duty. Died seven days after being injured by booby trap bomb attached to his car, which exploded while leaving car park, West Street, Portadown, County Armagh.
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot at his farm, Lowery, near Pettigoe, County Fermanagh.
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13 March 1987 John Chambers, (56)
Protestant Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot while driving lorry, Killowen, near Rostrevor, County Down. Off duty Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) member intended target.
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13 March 1991 Lord Kaberry, (83)
nfNIB Status: Civilian Political Activist (CivPA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Former Conservative Member of Parliament. Died 8 months after being injured, in bomb attack on Carlton Club, St James Street, London. Attack occurred on 25 June 1990
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My autobiography: A Belfast Child is now available to pre-order on Amazon , launch date is 30th April.
Veronica Guerin (5 July 1958 – 26 June 1996) was an Irish crime reporter who was murdered on 26 June 1996 by drug lords, an event which helped establish the Criminal Assets Bureau.
The daughter of accountant Christopher and his wife Bernadette, Veronica was nicknamed “Ronnie.” She and her four siblings were born and brought up in Artane, Dublin, and attended Catholic school where she excelled in athletics. Besides basketball and camogie, aged 15 she played in the all-Ireland football finals with a slipped disc. Guerin studied accountancy at Trinity College, Dublin.
Guerin married Graham Turley, and the couple had a son Cathal. A big fan of Manchester United football team, her prized possession was a photo of her and Eric Cantona taken on a visit to Old Trafford.
PR career: 1983–1990
After she graduated, her father employed her at his company; but following his death three years later, she changed professions and started a public relations firm in 1983, which she ran for seven years.
In 1983–84, she served as secretary to the Fianna Fáil group at the New Ireland Forum.[5] She served as Charles Haughey‘s personal assistant, and became a family friend, taking holidays with his children. In 1987 she served as election agent and party treasurer in Dublin North for Seán Haughey.
Journalism career: 1990–1996
In 1990, she changed careers again, switching to journalism as a reporter with the Sunday Business Post and Sunday Tribune, working under editor Damien Kiberd. Craving first-hand information, she pursued a story directly to the source with little regard for her personal safety, to engage those she deemed central to a story. This allowed her to build close relationships with both the legitimate authorities, such as the Garda Síochána (police), and the criminals, with both sides respecting her diligence by providing highly detailed information. She also reported on Irish Republican Army activities in the Republic of Ireland.
From 1994 onwards, she began to write about criminals for the Sunday Independent. Using her accountancy knowledge to trace the proceeds of illegal activity, she used street names or pseudonyms for underworld figures to avoid Irish libel laws.
When she began to cover drug dealers, and gained information from convicted drugs criminal John Traynor, she received numerous death threats. The first violence against her occurred in October 1994, when two shots were fired into her home after her story on murdered crime kingpin Martin Cahill was published. Guerin dismissed the “warning”. The day after writing an article on Gerry “The Monk” Hutch, on 30 January 1995, she answered her doorbell to a man pointing a revolver at her head. The gunman missed and shot her in the leg. Regardless, she vowed to continue her investigations. Independent Newspapers installed a security system to protect her, and the police gave her a 24-hour escort; however, she did not approve of this, saying that it hampered her work.[citation needed]
On 13 September 1995, convicted criminal John Gilligan, Traynor’s boss, attacked her when she confronted him about his lavish lifestyle with no source of income. He later called her at home and threatened to kidnap and rape her son, and kill her if she wrote anything about him.
On the evening of 25 June 1996, Gilligan drug gang members Charles Bowden, Brian Meehan, Peter Mitchell and Seamus Ward had met at their distribution premises on the Greenmount Industrial Estate. Bowden, the gang’s distributor and ammunition quartermaster, had supplied the three with a Colt Python revolver loaded with .357 MagnumSemiwadcutter bullets.
On 26 June 1996, while driving her red Opel Calibra, Guerin stopped at a red traffic light on the Naas Dual Carriageway near Newlands Cross, on the outskirts of Dublin, unaware she was being followed. She was shot six times, fatally, by one of two men sitting on a motorcycle.
About an hour after Guerin was murdered, a meeting took place in Moore Street, Dublin, between Bowden, Meehan, and Mitchell. Bowden later denied under oath in court that the purpose of the meeting was the disposal of the weapon but rather that it was an excuse to appear in a public setting to place them away from the incident.
At the time of her murder, Traynor was seeking a High Court order against Guerin, to prevent her from publishing a book about his involvement in organised crime.[
Guerin was killed two days before she was due to speak at a Freedom Forum conference in London. The topic of her segment was “Dying to Tell the Story: Journalists at Risk.
Her funeral was attended by Ireland’s TaoiseachJohn Bruton, and the head of the armed forces. It was covered live by Raidió Teilifís Éireann. On 4 July, labour unions across Ireland called for a moment of silence in her memory, which was duly observed by people around the country. Guerin is buried in Dardistown Cemetery, County Dublin.
Aftermath
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Ward charged with murder
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Guerin’s murder caused outrage, and Taoiseach John Bruton called it “an attack on democracy”. The Oireachtas, the Irish parliament, realised the potential of using tax enforcement laws as a means of deterring and punishing criminals. Within a week of her murder, it enacted the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 and the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996, so that assets purchased with money obtained through crime could be seized by the government. This led to the formation of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).
After the murder of Guerin, Bowden was arrested as were the other members of Gilligan’s gang who were still in Ireland. In an agreement with the Attorney General of Ireland, Bowden agreed to turn state’s witness, and become the first person to enter the Republic of Ireland’s Witness Security Programme. Granted immunity from prosecution for the murder of Guerin, he was the only witness to give evidence against all four drug gang members at their trials in the Special Criminal Court: Patrick Holland, Paul “Hippo” Ward, Brian Meehan and John Gilligan. The investigation into Guerin’s death resulted in over 150 other arrests and convictions, as well as seizures of drugs and arms. Drug crime in Ireland dropped 15 percent in the following 12 months.
Patrick “Dutchy” Holland
In 1997 while acting as a Garda witness, Bowden named Patrick “Dutchy” Holland in court as the man he supplied the gun to, and hence suspected of shooting Guerin. Holland was never convicted of the murder, and he denied the accusation up until his death in June 2009 while in prison in the UK.
In November 1998, after evidence from Bowden and others, Paul “Hippo” Ward was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison as an accomplice, because he had disposed of the murder weapon and the motorbike. This conviction was later overturned on appeal.
Brian Meehan fled to Amsterdam with Traynor (who later escaped to Portugal). After the court dismissed additional evidence from Bowden, Meehan was convicted on the testimony of gang member turned state’s witness Russell Warren, who had followed Guerin’s movements in the hours before the murder, and then called Meehan on a mobile phone with the details. Meehan was convicted of murdering Guerin, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
John Gilligan left Ireland the day before Guerin was murdered, on a flight to Amsterdam. He was arrested 12 months later in the United Kingdom trying to board a flight for Amsterdam, after a routine search of his baggage revealed $500,000 in cash. Claiming it was the proceeds of gambling, he was charged with money laundering. After a three-year legal battle, he was extradited to Ireland on 3 February 2000. Tried and acquitted of Guerin’s murder, he was later convicted of importing 20 tonnes of cannabis and sentenced to 28 years in prison, reduced to 20 years on appeal.
Pursued by CAB, in January 2008, Gilligan made a court appearance in an attempt to stop the Irish State from selling off his assets. He accused Traynor of having ordered Guerin’s murder without his permission. Despite the presiding judge’s attempt to silence Gilligan, he continued to blame a botched Gardaí investigation and planted evidence as the reason for his current imprisonment. Traynor had fled to Portugal after Guerin’s murder, and having been on the run from British authorities since 1992, resided mainly in Spain and the Netherlands from 1996 onwards. After a failed extradition from the Netherlands in 1997, which brought Meehan back to Ireland, in 2010 Traynor was arrested after a joint UK SOCA/Regiokorpsen operation in Amsterdam. Traynor, as of 2013, is living in Kent, England after serving time in an English gaol. It is reported that he is still wanted for tax evasion in Ireland.
Turley remarried in 2011
Memorial
Monument to Veronica Guerin, located in Dublin Castle gardens
A memorial statue to Guerin is located in Dubh Linn Gardens, in the grounds of Dublin Castle.
On 2 May 1997, at a ceremony in Arlington, Virginia, her name and those of 38 other international journalists who died in the line of duty in 1996 were added to the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial. Her husband addressed the audience:
“Veronica stood for freedom to write. She stood as light, and wrote of life in Ireland today, and told the truth. Veronica was not a judge, nor was she a juror, but she paid the ultimate price with the sacrifice of her life.”
In 2007, the Veronica Guerin Memorial Scholarship was set up at Dublin City University, offering a bursary intended to meet the cost of fees and part of the general expenses of an MA in Journalism student who wishes to specialise in investigative journalism
Rest in Peace – Roz, I still can’t believe your gone.
I said goodbye to a friend today for the final time and now I feel sad and depressed and a dark cloud of melancholy is threatening to envelope my entire being.
Normally I like to embrace the good in life and am a happy chappy by nature – but certain things like the death of a loved one or someone close to me can send me off on a journey down the dark corridors of depression and I can spend days/weeks in varying states of gloom.
But I’m making an effort not to give in to the depression – because Roz was always happy and faced her illness with her usual attitude towards life and just got on with it.
But this was one battle she could never beat and in the end Cancer claimed another beautiful, young life that was cut way too short and left friends and family without a mother, wife, daughter,sister, aunty ,cousin, a friend ………….and so very much more..
Death comes to us all and yet the reality of seeing someone you loved or cared for for the final time can never be easy and we are left with a lifetime of sorrow and never ending grief .
But life must go on and it always does, but always in the background there is something missing and our hearts are scarred forever by the pain of missing someone we can never again see in this lifetime.
So rest in peace Roz, until me will again!!
xx
My autobiography: A Belfast Child is now available to pre-order on Amazon , launch date is 30th April.
Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
12th March
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Friday 12 March 1971
Thousands of Belfast shipyard workers took part in a march demanding the introduction of Internment for members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Saturday 12 March 1977
Roy Mason, then Secretary of State, denied that his officials were engaged in ‘black propaganda’.
Wednesday 12 March 1986
Evelyn Glenhomes, then wanted by British police on suspicion of involvement in the Brighton bombing on 12 October 1984, was arrested in Ireland.
[The British authorities began a process to extradite Glenhomes. However, on 24 March 1986 Glenhomes was released from custody due to administrative errors in the extradition warrant.]
Wednesday 12 March 1997
The Irish News carried a report which claimed that the group ‘Loyalist Solidarity on the Right to March’ was planning to hold a series of rallies in areas where Orange Order parades were being contested.
There was a meeting in Dublin of the Anglo-Irish Conference attended by Patrick Mayhew, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Dick Spring, then Tánaiste (deputy Irish Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs).
In their joint communiqué there was a call for compromise over the issue of contentious parades. Mary Robinson, then President of the Republic of Ireland, announced that she would not be seeking a second term of office.
Thursday 12 March 1998
Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), travelled to London for talks with Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister.
In the Republic of Ireland the Irish Labour Party has won by-elections in Limerick East and Dublin North, which reduced the government’s overall majority to one.
The punt hit its lowest level against sterling for nine years, closing at 81.95p. Albert Reynolds, formerly Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) announced his retirement when he said that he would not stand for the Daíl at the next general election.
[Reynolds had played a vital role in the Peace Process.]
Friday 12 March 1999
A man was shot in the leg during a paramilitary ‘punishment’ attack in Newry, County Armagh. Republican paramilitaries were believed to have been responsible
Tuesday 12 March 2002
David Trimble (UUP), then First Minister, and Mark Durkan (SDLP), then Deputy First Minister, arrived in Washington, USA, to carry out a series of engagements during a three-day visit. These included meetings with a number of senior representatives of the US administration, among them Colin Powell (Gen.), then Secretary of State.
Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), was also in Washington where he attended the annual dinner of the US Ireland Fund, and was presented with an award for his contribution to the peace process.
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) launched their first formal exchange training programme aimed at forging closer ties between the two services.
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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.
7 People lost their lives on the 12th March between 1972 – 1992
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12 March 1972
Bernadette Hyndman, (24)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA)
Shot outside her home during sniper attack on British Army (BA) foot patrol, Abyssinia Street, Lower Falls, Belfast.
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12 March 1973
Edward Sharpe, (28)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot by British Army (BA) sniper, at the front door of his home, Cranbrook Gardens, Ardoyne, Belfast.
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12 March 1973 Alan Welsh, (16)
Protestant Status: Ulster Defence Association (UDA),
Killed by: Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
Died one week after being injured in premature explosion at derelict shop, Woodstock Road, Belfast.
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12 March 1974
Billy Fox, (36)
nfNIRI Status: Civilian Political Activist (CivPA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Fine Gael member of Seanad Eireann. Found shot near to his girlfriend’s home, Tircooney, near Clones, County Monaghan.
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12 March 1975
Joseph Clarke, (18)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY)
Died eight days after being shot at his home, Rushfield Avenue, Ballynafeigh, Belfast
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12 March 1975
Raymond Carrothers, (51)
Protestant Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Republican group (REP)
Shot at his home, Orient Gardens, off Cliftonville Road, Belfast.
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12 March 1992
Liam McCartan, (32)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Shot at his home, Alliance Avenue, Ardoyne, Belfast.
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My autobiography: A Belfast Child is now available to pre-order on Amazon , launch date is 30th April.
Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
11th March
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Tuesday 11 March 1969
The Parliamentary Commissioner Bill was introduced which would allow for the appointment of an Ombudsman to investigate complaints against Stormont government departments.
Friday 11 March 1977
Twenty-six members of the UVF were sentenced in a Belfast court to a total of 700 years in prison.
[The imprisonment of so many members of the UVF is believed to have helped curtailed paramilitary activities by this group.]
Tuesday 11 March 1980
The body of Thomas Niedermayer, a West German industrialist who had disappeared in December 1973, was found at Colinglen Road, West Belfast.
Friday 11 March 1983
The Irish government announced that it was establishing a forum which became known as the New Ireland Forum. The Forum was proposed by the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
[Many commentators considered the Forum to be a response to the perceived threat that was presented by Sinn Féin (SF) to the electoral position of the SDLP as the main Nationalist party in Northern Ireland. All the constitutional Nationalist parties in Ireland, with the exception of SF, were invited to attend the Forum. The first meeting of the Forum took place on 30 May 1983 and the final report was published on 2 May 1984.]
James Prior, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said that the British government would not co-operate with the inquiry on the conflict that had been set up by the Political Committee of the European Parliament. The Rapporteur was Mr N.J. Haagerup.
[The report was drawn up and passed by the European Parliament on 29 March 1984.]
Tuesday 11 March 1986
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) arrested three Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Assembly Members when they tried to enter Stormont Castle where the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference was in session.
[The DUP members were attempting to cut through a wire fence when they were arrested.]
The House of Representatives in the United States of America (USA) unanimously voted to approve a $250 million aid package, over a five year period, to Northern Ireland to support the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA).
Wednesday 11 March 1987
Garret FitzGerald resigned as leader of Fine Gael (FG). He was replaced on 21 March 1987 by Alan Dukes.
Friday 11 March 1988
Andy Tyrie, then chairman of the Ulster Defense Association (UDA), resigned his post after losing a vote of confidence. A bomb had been planted under his car several days earlier and it was widely assumed to have been planted by Loyalists.
Wednesday 11 March 1992
John Major, then British Prime Minister, announced that there would be a general election on 9 April 1992.
Friday 11 March 1994
Second IRA Mortar Attack on Heathrow
Francis Brown (38), a Catholic civilian, was killed by a bomb planted by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in Portadown, County Armagh.
In a second attack on Heathrow Airport the Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched four mortars over the perimeter fence. None of the mortars exploded. A Royal Air Force plane with the Queen on board landed at the airport while the security forces were conducting a search of the terminal.
[There had been a previous attack on 9 March 1994. The mortars were fired from a wooded area close to the perimeter fence. The police carried out a further search of wooded areas but discovered no further mortars. However, there was another attack on the airport on 13 March 1994.]
Monday 11 March 1996
David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), met with the leaders of the Irish Coalition Government in Dublin
Lee Clegg, then a soldier in the Parachute Regiment, was cleared in a Belfast court of murdering teenager Karen Reilly during an incident involving a stolen car in west Belfast on 30 September 1990. Justice Kerr ruled that it was not certain that Clegg had fired the fatal shot. The judge upheld Clegg’s conviction for attempting to wound Martin Peake with intent. The judge described Clegg’s version of events as “untruthful and incapable of belief”.
[Clegg had been released from prison in 1995.]
Monday 11 March 2002
There was further reaction to a speech made by David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), on Saturday 9 March 2002.
Trimble said that he stood by his description of the Republic of Ireland as “pathetic, sectarian State”, and he accused nationalists of over-reacting.
Martin McGuinness, then Vice-President of Sinn Féin (SF), described Trimble as “a twit” and said it was not the behaviour expected of a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Walton Empey (Dr), then Archbishop of Dublin, said Trimble’s comments were totally uncalled for.
Ruairí Quinn, then Labour leader, said the comments were ill-considered and ill-informed.
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested Martin Ferris, then Sinn Féin (SF) candidate for Kerry North, Republic of Ireland, and questioned him about an alleged vigilante abduction in early December 2001.
A total of six SF members had been questioned about the incident. George Bush, then President of the United States of America (USA), decreed March as Irish-American Heritage Month with a proclamation that paid tribute to the role of the Irish in the history of the US.
—————————————————————————
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 11th March between 1974 – 1994
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11 March 1974
George Keating, (47)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Shot during gun attack on Bunch of Grapes Bar, Garmoyle Street, Belfast.
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11 March 1976 Harry Scott, (64)
Protestant Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot at the entrance to Farmer’s Inn, Collin Glen Road, Collin, Belfast
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot outside his workplace, Department of the Environment office, Rathfriland Road, Newry, County Down
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11 March 1983
Eamon Kerr, (33)
Catholic Status: Civilian Political Activist (CivPA),
Killed by: not known (nk)
Workers’ Party (WP) member. Shot at his home, Cape Street, Lower Falls, Belfast.
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11 March 1990 Eamon Quinn, (32)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Shot while working on his car outside his home, Kashmir Road, Falls, Belfast.
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11 March 1994
Francis Brown, (38)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Killed by booby trap bomb, hidden in concrete block under his parked lorry, Obins Street, Portadown, County Armagh.
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My autobiography: A Belfast Child is now available to pre-order on Amazon , launch date is 30th April.
belfastchildis.com 