Tag: Ulster Defence Regiment

Take a look at this post… ‘”The flow of arms from the UDR to the UDA was just stunning” ‘.

http://seachranaidhe-irishandproud.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-flow-of-arms-from-udr-to-uda-was.html

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil – but only if you are a loyalist paramilitary

TRIBUTES TO MOTHER OF THREE SON’S MASSACRED BY LOYALISTS

‘ The one thing she insisted on was that nobody would try to take revenge for the loss of her sons – Eugene Reavey

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A SOUTH Armagh woman whose three sons were shot dead by loyalists during the Troubles has been described as an “inspiration” after she passed away eearlier this week. Sadie Reavey died peacefully in Daisy Hill hospital overnight on Monday surrounded by members of her family.

Three of Mrs Reavey’s sons, John (24),  Brian (22) and Anthony (17), died after being shot by loyalists during an ambush on their White cross home in 1976. The murders were committed by the notorious loyalist the Glenanne Gang, which included members of the UVF, UDR and RUC. No-one has ever been charged in connection with the murders. Mrs Reavey suffered more heartache when her husband Jimmy died prematurely in 1981. There was yet more tragedy for the south Armagh woman in 1994 when her daughter Una McKenna died after losing a battle with cancer aged just 31. Mrs Reavey’s son Eugene last night said his mother always carried her grief with dignity. “She was a very strong person and a lot of people got a lot of inspiration from her over the years,” he said. “The one thing she insisted on was that nobody would try to take revenge for the loss of her sons.” Mr Reavey described his mother as a “descent woman” who was “well thought of” by neighbours and friends.

“Her life was a life well lived. She had a very strong faith and she would have prayed all day and all night,” he said. “That’s what got her through all those bad times.”She went to help other people to deal with her own ccommunity.” Former deputy first minister Seamus Mall on knew Mrs Reavey for many years. “She was a remarkably fine woman who withstood the agony of the murder of her three sons,” he said. “She always showed dignity and herself and her husband Jimmy were an example to the entire community in the way in which they dealt with the murder of their three sons.” Mr MMall on said Mrs Reavey was an example to others. “She was a tolerant woman and a person in the community that people admired respected and loved.” Earlier this year Mrs Reavey was visited in her home by shadow secretary of state Vernon Croaker. Mr Croaker also meet 90-year-old Mary O’Hare, whose daughter MA Ella was shot dead by British soldiers near Whitecross as she made her way to church in 1976. After the meeting Mr Croaker said both woman had handled their “grief with great dignity and compassion”. Requiem Mass for Mrs Reavey will be celebrated at St Brigids‘s Church, Whitecross, at 11am tommorow.

With many thanks to : Connla Young, The Irish News.

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IRA Oglaigh Gervais McKerr, Eugene Toman and Sean Burns RIP

 

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Irish Republican History & Remembrance.

I R A ÓGLAIGH Gervais McKerr, Eugene Toman and Sean Burns;

On Thursday evening, 11 November 1982, IRA Volunteers Gervais McKerr, Eugene Toman and Sean Burns were ambushed and executed in Lurgan by the RUC. Both Eugene and Sean had recently insisted on returning to active service involvement in Lurgan, despite having gone ‘on the run’ and leaving the town for a short while after Sean was identified during an IRA operation.

Local members of the RUC and UDR had a long involvement in sectarian murders, including those of the Miami Showband, and of dual membership with the illegal paramilitary UVF.

The three Volunteers left McKerr’s house shortly after 9.35pm. Minutes later, less than half a mile away at Tullygally Road east, they met their deaths in a hail of RUC automatic gunfire.

Thousands turned out in Lurgan to mourn the three Volunteers as they were buried with full IRA military honours on Sunday, 14 November.

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COMMENTS ‘CONFIRM USE OF A SHOOT-TO-KILL POLICY’ !!!

A SINN Fein assembly member has claimed comments by former Ulster Unionist Ken Maginnis during a TV documentary on Margaret Thatcher confirm the British government operated a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy during the Troubles. West Tyrone MLA Declan McAleer claimed remarks made by Lord Maginnis showed the ggovernment was “responsible for targeting and executing people”.

Collusion - Shoot-to-kill

During the RTE documentary Thatcher – Ireland and the Iron Lady, Lord Maginnis said IRA members were killed in an SAS ambush shortly after he gave names to Baroness Thatcher. The former Ulster Defence Regiment major said he met Margaret Thatcher after the IRA killed eight British soldiers in August 1988. When Ms Thatcher asked him who was responsible the former UUP member gave her names of the people he suspected of being involved. “Subsequently, believe it or not, there was an SAS operation when the same team tried to kill a coal man and they were ambushed and that was the end of that particular team,” Lord Maginnis said in the programme, broadcast on Tuesday.

IRA  members Martin Harte (23), his brother Gerard (29) and brother-in-law Brian Million (26) were shot dead at Cloughfin in Drumnakilly, Co Tyrone, during an SAS ambush in August 1988. Mr McAleer claimed Lord Maginnis’s comments confirmed that there was a ‘shoot-to-kill policy sanctioned by the highest level of the British government. “It confirms what republicans have been saying for years, that those at the highest levels of the British government were involved in targeting and assassinating republicans, solicitors and anyone else who challenged their remit in Ireland,” he said. The UUP dismissed Mr McAleer’s comments. A spokesman said : “This is yet another attempt by Sinn Fein to rewrite history.”

With many thanks to : Brendan Hughes, The Irish News.

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Ó Cuív adds to calls for prisoner’s release

POLITICAL HOSTAGE !FIANNA FÁIL deputy Éamon Ó Cuív added his voice to a campaign for the release of Northern Ireland prisoner Gerry McGeough at a press conference in Dublin yesterday.

McGeough (53), from Tyrone, is serving 20 years at Maghaberry prison after being found guilty of possession of firearms, IRA membership and injuring an Ulster Defence Regiment member in 1981.

The father of four was arrested leaving a count centre in Omagh in 2007, having stood as an independent republican candidate in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections. He stood trial last year.

Supporters question the motivation behind his arrest in 2007, given that he had been living in Northern Ireland since 1996. They say he was stopped at checkpoints many times, called for jury service on two occasions and made numerous appearances on television and radio programmes in advance of his arrest.

Campaigners have also raised concerns about McGeough’s health. He has had five stents inserted after a series of heart attacks, and a prison medic has said that, due to his health, he should not be in prison, they said.

Mr Ó Cuív spoke yesterday at a press conference with the Gerry McGeough Justice Campaign, campaigner Fr Seán McManus and members of McGeough’s family. He said part of the Weston Park agreement signed in 2001 between the British and Irish governments dealt with the issue of outstanding prosecutions It accepted that prosecutions for offences that would benefit from the early-release scheme should not be pursued.

“Unfortunately this legislation was never passed in Westminster and the matter has been left in abeyance,” Mr Ó Cuív said. “However, I believe that the agreement should still be implemented.”

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He said the event involved happened 31 years ago. Mr McGeough had always supported the peace process. He had returned to Ireland, gone to Trinity College Dublin and “lived and worked peacefully”.

“All we are asking for is for the Weston Park agreement to be acted on and for Gerry to be released immediately,” Mr Ó Cuív said.

WITH MANY THANKS TO : FIONA GARTLAND, The Irish Times.

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

Barry Monteith

James Mitchell, RUC reserve officer and owner ...

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’.

English: Soldiers from 11 UDR taking a break d...

“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.

The Miami Showband lineup in early 1975 L-R: T...

“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.

German 4" Navy Luger, caliber 9 mm Luger....

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.

Sterling Mk4 submachine gun, Canada

“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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Benefit Night for Gerry McGeough’s Family

 

Benefit Night for Gerry McGeough‘s Family

 
Time
03 June at 20:30 – 04 June at 01:30
Location
The Bank House Hotel Dungannon, Co Tyrone

 
Created by:
More info
This night is organised to raise much needed funds for Maria McGeough, and her children.Featuring The Druids.Entry by Ticket only!

McGeough speaks out from jail about ‘unsafe conviction’

editorial image 

 

Published on Thursday 26 May 2011 15:35

SPEAKING from his prison cell, convicted IRA man Gerry McGeough has launched a verbal attack on Democratic Unionist politicians who he claims have ‘demonised’ him in comments published in the Tyrone Times.

In his first interview since being jailed last month for the attempted murder of a part-time UDR soldier thirty years ago, Mr McGeough also complained that he had been jailed to ensure he did not stand in the Northern Ireland Assembly and local council elections.

Sounding upbeat on the telephone, he said that he had been overwhelmed by the supportive messages that have flooded in from all over the world.

While his imprisonment has been hard on his young family, they have been surrounded by well-wishers from both sides of the community, he added.

“In particular I would like to thank my Protestant neighbours, who in their quiet and discreet way have shown their support for my family”, he said.

“My wife and children are finding it tough at the moment. I applied for leave to attend my son’s First Communion but it was refused, which I thought was petty and vindictive.

“It broke his heart to hear that I would not be attending.

“I believe that unionist politicians are projecting all their IRA demons upon me, because they are sharing power with former members of that organisation and are unable to vent their grievances.

“In addition, I took a stand against anti-Catholic advertisements that appeared in the local press and I have been punished because of this.

“Everyone knows I was railroaded into jail to prevent me from standing in the elections. It was an unsafe conviction which relies on flimsy evidence, mainly a piece of fiction I wrote many years ago.

“If the same standards were applied to other authors then Agatha Christie would have been made to serve several life sentences.

“I am confident that in time the decision will be overturned.

“I have a huge volume of support in the local community and believe I may have taken a seat in the Blackwater Ward.”

Mr McGeough said that the same unionist politicians who have been attacking his character had been happy to sit next to him at cross-community events and had in fact praised him for his cross-community work.

“There is no consistency in their attacks and I believe they are guilty of hypocrisy.

“This is all part of a sectarian campaign against me.”

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