RUC APPROVED AND COLLUDED IN 25 MURDERS – REPORT

 

Justice at last for the forgotten victims of sectarian murder in Dundalk

US academic has described his shock at the extent of

apparent British security force collusion in loyalist
paramilitary murders in Northern Ireland.

University of Notre Dame human rights law Professor Douglass
Cassel was commenting after an international investigation
he headed uncovered considerable and credible evidence of
British Army and police collusion in 74 sectarian murders
during the 1970s.

The probe of 25 loyalist atrocities, carried out by a panel
of human rights experts from around the world, found senior
Royal Ulster Constabulary officers were aware and approved
of collusion while officials in London had enough
information to intervene.

The panel`s report also called on the British Government to
appoint an independent inquiry to examine how high up the
chain of command collusion went.

Professor Cassel told the Press Association at the Belfast
presentation of the report: “Personally I was shocked.  The
British Government has a reputation around the world as one
of the leading democracies and one of the longest histories
of the rule of law.”

“To find this extent of collusion in murders in the 25
incidents we investigated was shocking.”

The panel was asked by the Derry-based human rights
organisation, the Pat Finucane Centre, to investigate
allegations of collusion in 25 loyalist attacks from October
1972 to February 1977 – most of which are linked to a
loyalist gang known as the Glenanne group.

Among the incidents they investigated were the May 1974
Dublin Monaghan bombings which claimed 33 lives, the Miami
Showband massacre in July 1975 during which three musicians
and two members of the Ulster Volunteer Force gang died and
the shooting of Catholic policeman Sergeant Joe Campbell in
February 1977.

In only one case, the group was unable to reach a verdict on
collusion because of conflicting accounts – the murder of
51-year-old driver James Marks and 78-year-old passenger
Joseph Toland in a gun attack in Gilford, Co Armagh, on a
minibus returning from bingo.

The panel also met members of three organisations
representing republican victims of violence – Families
Acting for Innocent Relatives, SAVER/NAVER, both in
Markethill, Co Armagh, and the WAVE Trauma Centre in Belfast
which caters for the victims of loyalist violence too.

Among the stories they heard were the murder of a woman in
an acid and petrol bomb attack on a bus in Armagh in 1972,
the shooting of a man pulled from a digger in Mullaghbawn
and shot dead as he cleaned drains on his farm, the killing
of three UDR men when a lorry carrying a 1,000lb bomb rolled
into their barracks at Glenanne in 1991 and a South Armagh
farmer`s account of the intimidation of Protestants who were
driven from their land.

They also heard allegations by at least one former RUC man
that the Irish Republic`s police, the Gardai, was not
co-operative in bringing to justice IRA fugitives who fled
across the border.

While the panel`s remit was to probe collusion in loyalist
killings, Professor Cassel confirmed today: “There are some
allegations we received of alleged failure of the Garda or
the Irish authorities to properly co-operate with law
enforcement in cases of violence against loyalists here in
Northern Ireland.”

“We will certainly be raising that with the Irish Government.”

The report called for:

:: Investigations by an independent team into allegations of
collusion in murders and attempted murders by loyalists,
capable of identifying those involved, examining how high up
the chain of command it went and focusing not just on RUC
and UDR involvement but also British Army and intelligence
agencies;

:: Investigations into murders carried out by republican groups;

:: Full co-operation by paramilitary groups on both sides
with credible official investigations into collusion;

:: The publishing of the findings of all investigations,
including those by the Historical Enquiries Team which
currently plans only to share its findings with victims`
families;

:: The state to acknowledge publicly its responsibility in
sectarian killings where collusion is established;

:: Public apologies from senior officials to the families of
victims of collusion.

________________________________________________________

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See also:

The Pat Finucane Centre, Derry, statement, 3 November 2006: INVITATION TO THE LAUNCH OF THE REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL PANEL ON ALLEGED COLLUSION IN SECTARIAN KILLINGS IN NORTHERN IRELAND . . .

See: Irish Times/ireland.com, 6 November 2006: Garda Castigated In Report On North Collusion

BBC News online, 6 November 2006: Security ‘Links’ To Murder Plots

Ulster Television News online, 6 November 2006: US academic shocked by report’s findings

Belfast Telegraph, 7 November 2006 Collusion: PSNI team ‘not capable of getting to truth’ Orde defends cold case team after international criticism

The Irish Daily Mirror, 7 November 2006: Shock report alleges high-level collusion Officials ‘had information on 25 atrocities’ RUC & Army ‘helped loyalists carry out. . 74 MURDERS

The Irish Daily Mirror, 7 November 2006: So many victims

The Irish Examiner, 7 November 2006: Evidence found of British collusion in bombings

The Guardian, 7 November 2006: RUC and army ‘backed killers’

The Irish-American Information Service, 7 November 2006: PRESSURE ON BRITISH TO INVESTIGATE COLLUSION EVIDENCE

The Irish News, 7 November 2006: Questions haunt probe into loyalist collusion.

The Dundalk Democrat, 15 November 2006:‘We just want the truth’ New investigation into 1975 bombing

Produced in association with the Ludlow Family.

Last edited: 19 November 2006 16:51:48

 Visit the Ludlow family’s website.  Visit Justice for the Forgotten  Statement by John Oliver Weir

Download the Barron Report (pdf file) on the Dundalk bombing.

Download the Barron Inquiry Report into the 17 May 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, (pdf file)

Barron Report: on the Dublin Bombings of 1972 and 1973, can also be downloaded in pdf form

Download the Barron Report into the murder of Seamus Ludlow from the Oireachtas website (pdf file)

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Miami massacre report indicates RUC collusion in Tyrone murders, claims Dungannon Councillor

Barry Monteith

Published on Friday 30 December 2011 11:02

A HUMAN rights group has revealed evidence linking the RUC Special Branch agent involved in the Miami Showband massacre with a string of murders in Tyrone including the Hillcrest Bar bomb in 1976.

The Pat Finucane Centre (PFC) has carried out extensive research into a loyalist death squad, infiltrated by the RUC and the UDR, which is alleged to have murdered Daniel Hughes in 1974 at Boyle’s Bar , Cappagh, Owen Boyle at his home in Aughnacloy in 1975, Francis and Bernadette Mullan in 1973 at Broughadoey, Tyrone, as well as the Hillcrest Bar bomb in 1976 which killed Andrew Small, James McCaughey, Joseph Kelly and Patrick Barnard.

DungannonIndependent Republican Councillor Barry Monteith said he hoped fresh evidence relating to the Miami Showband massacre would spark new interest in the atrocities which took place in the so-called ‘murder triangle’.

“The further evidence revealed recently about the attack on the Miami Showband shows clearly the high level of collusion between the British Forces and the UVF. At least 5 of those directly involved were serving British Soldiers and another worked for one of the British intelligence services.

“The attack has been linked to the ‘Glenanne gang’ which was responsible for over 100 murders and countless attacks against the nationalist community in East Tyrone, Armagh and surrounding areas in the mid-1970s. How many of these attacks had serving British Soldiers and British intelligence agents involved in them? Where did the orders come from? Who gave the orders?

“Attacking people socialising and places where people socialised was not a one-off. It was part of a campaign of terror against the nationalist population who were guilty only of being Irish in British Occupied Ireland. People were also killed in attacks on the Hillcrest Bar in Dungannon, Hayden’s Bar in Rock, Falls’ Bar in Derrytresk, Boyle’s Bar in Cappagh to name a few.

“In any other country if state forces were found to have been involved in a murder campaign then there would be outrage. Yet Britain still successfully hides its dirty war in Ireland.”

Last week, the PSNI’s Historical Enquiries Team (HET) revealed evidence which pointed to the involvement of notorious loyalist leader Robin ‘The Jackal’ Jackson — believed to have been an RUC Special Branch agent — as well as a number of UDR soldiers in the killing of the three showband members in July 1975.

Jackson’s fingerprints were found on a silencer attached to a Luger pistolthat was used in the murders.

The Pat Finucane centre is co-operating with families in the Dungannon area whose relatives were murdered by loyalist paramilitaries operating out of Portadown, Dungannon and Armagh.

They have connected a number of killings and attempted murders in the Dungannon and Moy areas to two weapons, a .455 Revolver and a 9mm SMG.

Alan Bracknell, who is leading the research, said that the Historical Enquiries Team were in the process of investigating the activities of the death squad.

He expects the official investigation will find evidence that collusion did occur and that there was a cover-up by security forces.

“The team will have access to the official documents and be able to corroborate or disprove our findings.

“I would expect them to uncover more evidence of collusion and perhaps prove that some of the connections we have made are unfounded.

“The families of the victims, who have always suspected collusion, will want to have the truth and some of them will want to have charges brought.

“Realistically, however, the chances of successful prosecutions after all this time are slight.

“The purpose of this research is to finally reveal the truth and allow our community to learn lessons from the past.”

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