SergeantLee Clegg is a British Army soldier who was convicted of murder for his involvement in the shooting dead of two teenage joyriders in West Belfast, Northern Ireland. His conviction was later overturned.
Shooting
The shooting took place in West Belfast on 30 September 1990. Clegg, then a private originally from Bradford, England, and his fellow soldiers manning the checkpoint on the Upper Glen Road, fired nineteen bullets into a stolen Vauxhall Astra that passed through their checkpoint travelling at high speed. Clegg fired four of the bullets, the last of which killed 18-year-old passenger Karen Reilly. The driver, 17-year-old Martin Peake, also died at the scene, and the third passenger, Markiewicz Gorman, escaped with minor injuries.
Sentencing
Clegg was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in 1993, the court having decided that lethal force had been used without a lawful purpose. The fourth bullet was said to have been fired through the back of the car as it was leaving the checkpoint and was therefore no longer a threat to the soldiers. The murder conviction was condemned by unionists and some British newspapers, including the Daily Mail, which began a campaign for Clegg’s release on the grounds that he was just doing his job in difficult circumstances.
Release and aftermath
Clegg was released under licence by then Northern Ireland SecretaryPatrick Mayhew in 1995, which in turn led to rioting in Irish nationalist areas of Belfast. Sinn Féin repeatedly called the decision a “threat to the peace process“. The release followed after a test shooting on another Astra conducted by pathologist Iain West and forensic expert Graham Renshaw on 4 June 1995.[1]
Appeals
A set of appeals to the Court of Appeal and House of Lords led to the quashing of the murder conviction in 1998 and a re-trial in March 1999, on the grounds that new evidence suggested that the fourth bullet entered the side of the car. At the retrial Clegg was cleared of murder, but a conviction for “attempting to wound” the driver of the car, Martin Peake, who also died in the incident, was upheld.
Another appeal, this time at the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, led to that lesser conviction also being overturned on 31 January 2000 due to uncertainty over the accuracy of evidence that initially suggested Clegg’s final bullet was fired after the vehicle had passed.
An inquest held in Gibraltar decided that the Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers who shot dead three Irish Republican Army (IRA) members on 6 March 1988 had acted lawfully. There was conflicting evidence on whether or not the IRA members had been given a warning before being shot.
Sunday 30 September 1990
‘Joy riders’ Shot Dead Martin Peake (17) and Karen Reilly (18), both Catholic civilians, were shot dead by British Army paratroopers in Belfast. The two teenagers were travelling (‘joy riding’) in a stolen car. At the time it was claimed that the stolen car had failed to stop at an army check point and struck a member of the army foot patrol.
[Later it was revealed that the injuries suffered by the soldier were deliberately inflicted after the incident by another soldier. In June 1993 Lee Clegg, a private in the Parachute Regiment, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Clegg’s subsequent early release and return to his regiment caused uproar in the nationalist community.]
Wednesday 30 September 1992
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) returned to the resumed political talks (later known as the Brooke / Mayhew talks) at Stormont. The DUP attended this section of the talks because the main business was Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution.
[The DUP were criticised as having an ‘a la carte’ approach to the talks.]
Saturday 30 September 1995
Sinn Féin (SF) held a special one-day conference to review the peace process in the RDS, Dublin, attended by approximately 800 members. The delegates supported the SF leadership’s position that there was “no other
Tuesday 30 September 1997
Format of Negotiations Agreed at Talks The parties involved in the talks at Stormont agreed the format for the substantive negotiations. The talks would take place in three strands. The first strand would deal with arrangements for government in Northern Ireland, the second would look at relationships between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and the third would look at the relationships between Britain and Ireland.
The substantive talks were due to begin on 7 October 1997. Marjorie (Mo) Mowlam, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, addressed the Labour Party’s annual conference and announced that internment would be removed form the statute books. William Hague, then leader of the Conservative Party, paid his first official visit to Northern Ireland but did not meet any political leaders.
Wednesday 30 September 1998
Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), announced that a number of British Army installations and check-points were to be demolished. There was a further series of releases under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Seamus Mallon, then deputy leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), addressed a meeting of the of the Labour Party conference in Blackpool, England. Mallon, while acknowledging that there was no pre-condition to Sinn Féin’s (SF) entry into an Executive, nevertheless called on the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to make a confidence building gesture.
Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), also addressed the meeting and stated that the row over decommissioning had the potential to wreck the Good Friday Agreement.
Thursday 30 September 1999
See Robert Hamill Killing
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided not to charge any Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer in connection with the killing of Robert Hamill following a beating he received on 29 April 1997. Hamill was severely beaten in a sectarian attack by a gang of up to 30 loyalists in the centre of Portadown, County Armagh, and he died from head injuries on 8 May 1997.
Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were present close to the scene of the attack and were accused by witnesses and Hamill’s family of not intervening to save him. Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), travelled to Dublin for a meeting at his request with Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister).
The meeting was called to discuss a series of attacks that had occurred on Free Presbyterian churches in the Republic of Ireland. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) launched a three year strategic plan part of which was to involve the drafting of a Bill of Rights.`
Remembering all innocent victims of the Troubles
Today is the anniversary of the follow people killed as a results of the conflict in Northern Ireland
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.
16 People lost their lives on the 30th September between 1970 – 1992
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30 September 1970 David Murray, (49)
Protestant Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY) Shot at his home, Wilton Street, Shankill, Belfast.
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30 September 1972
Patricia McKay, (20)
Catholic Status: Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA),
Killed by: British Army (BA) Shot during attempted attack on British Army (BA) foot patrol, Ross Street, Lower Falls, Belfast.
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30 September 1972
Francis Lane, (23)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY) Found shot on waste ground, Glencairn Road, Glencairn, Belfast.
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30 September 1972 John Kelly, (43)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: British Army (BA) Died three days after being shot during altercation between local people and British Army (BA) patrol, Tullagh Park, Andersonstown, Belfast.
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30 September 1972
Thomas Rudman, (20) nfNI Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Shot by sniper while on British Army (BA) foot patrol, Ladbrooke Drive, Ardoyne, Belfast.
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30 September 1972
Patrick McKee, (25)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) Killed in car bomb attack outside Conlon’s Bar, Smithfield, Belfast.
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30 September 1972
James Gillen, (21)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) Injured in car bomb attack outside Conlon’s Bar, Smithfield, Belfast. He died 17 October 1972.
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30 September 1972
Joseph Lynskey, (45)
Catholic Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Went missing from the Beechmount area, Belfast, during August/September 1972. Presumed killed. Body never found.
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30 September 1974
Ralph Laverty, (55)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) Shot at his workplace, bakery, Orby Road, Bloomfield, Belfast.
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30 September 1974 John Cameron, (57)
Protestant Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY) Shot at his home, Elimgrove Street, off Cliftonville Road, Belfast. Mistaken for a Catholic neighbour.
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30 September 1978
James Taylor, (23)
Protestant Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: British Army (BA) Shot by undercover British Army (BA) member, Ballygoney Road, near Coagh, County Tyrone.
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Shot at his workplace, ambulance depot, Royal Victoria Hospital, Falls Road, Belfast.
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30 September 1982
Gerard O’Neill, (28)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) Shot at his workplace, Rosetta petrol station, Ormeau Road, Belfast.
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30 September 1990
Martin Peake, (17) Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: British Army (BA) Shot while travelling in stolen car, Glen Road, Andersonstown, Belfast.
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30 September 1990
Karen Reilly, (18)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: British Army (BA) Shot while travelling in stolen car, Glen Road, Andersonstown, Belfast.
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30 September 1992
Harry Black, (27)
Protestant Status: Ulster Defence Association (UDA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Shot while in friend’s home, Annadale Flats, Ballynafeigh, Belfast.
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See: Robert Hamill Killing
This is simply the story of a boy trying to grow up, survive, thrive, have fun & discover himself against a backdrop of events that might best be described as ‘explosive’, captivating & shocking the world for thirty long years.
Belfast Child 