Tag: West Belfast

Irish language rappers ‘Kneecap’ unveil mural of burning PSNI/RUC Land Rover in West Belfast.

http://seachranaidhe-irishandproud.blogspot.com/2022/08/irish-language-rappers-kneecap-unveil.html

Teen under threat after getting better of UDA in fight

A schoolboy who got the better of a UDA during a fight has been threatened with a punishment beating

A schoolboy who got the better of a UDA man during a fight has been threatened with a punishment beating.

The 16-year-old from west Belfast said he was warned to leave an estate immediately after an altercation in Finaghy on Friday evening.

The PSNI called to the youth’s house in Twinbrook on Sunday to say he was under threat from loyalist paramilitaries.

The schoolboy was punched in the face during the incident on Benmore Drive, but he fought back and knocked his attacker to the ground.

“Straight away I started hitting him back,” he said.


“The man that hit me then fell to the floor, got up, stumbled out of the garden and got a cloth for his face. Then he said, ‘You better get out of this estate. You don’t know who you’re messing with’.”

During the police visit on Sunday the teenager was told that “paramilitaries want to carry out some form of punishment attack” following the altercation off Finaghy Road South.

In a further incident on the same street that police believe was connected to the fight, a woman was assaulted in her home by a gang claiming to be from the UDA.

The threat was delivered hours after that attack.

The youth said it all began when one of his friends picked up a scooter that was lying in the street and “started driving it”.


“They drove it about 10 yards down the street when this wee lad, who was about a first year, said, ‘That’s my scooter’, so we gave it him back and thought nothing of it,” he told the Andersonstown News.

“We got into my friend’s garden and this white Seat Leon pulled up. Two men jumped out and started shouting and screaming. They started threatening us, saying, ‘We’re going to break your legs’.

“I told him to f*** off and then he walked into the garden and hit me a dig. Straight away I started hitting him back.

“His friend tried to hit me when I had my back turned, but my friend restrained him.”

The teenagers were subjected to sectarian abuse during the incident. The second assailant also hit the youth in question.


A gang claiming to be from the UDA later visited the property where the fight took place and attacked the woman occupier after she refused to hand over the teenagers who had been attacked two days earlier.

A PSNI spokesman said inquiries were ongoing. “A 40-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault and released, pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service,” they added.

With many thanks to the: Belfast Telegraph and Claire McNeilly for the original story

Follow these links to find out more: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3390996374313446&id=100002093504519 

(2)-: 

Daughter of IRA woman murdered with her sister in 1971 to launch legal action against attorney general

Margaret Kennedy holds photographs of her mother Maura Meehan and aunt Dorothy Maguire who were shot dead in West Belfast in 1971. Picture by Mal McCann

THE daughter of an IRA woman killed along with her sister almost 50 years ago is set to launch legal action against the attorney general after a new inquest was refused.

Mother-of-four Maura Meehan (31) died along with her sister Dorothy Maguire when British soldiers opened fire on a car in which they were passengers in West Belfast in October 1971. Both women were members of Cumann na mBan, the female wing of the IRA. The army claimed a gun had been pointed from the back of the car although this was disputed by the women’s families and eye witnesses. 

Legal action has already been launched against the British army in relation to the death and relatives asked former attorney general John Larkin to order a new inquest. That request was refused earlier this year. Ms Meehan’s daughter Margaret Kennedy, who was nine when her mother was murdered, has now launched legal action against the attorney general, a role now held by Brenda King. 

Maura Meehan, one of two women who died in a shooting incident involving a British Army patrol in the Lower Falls area of Belfast, N Ireland. She was aged 31 years and married with 3 children. The woman who died with her was her sister, Dorothy Maguire, 19 years, single. Both were Roman Catholic and from West Belfast. It later emerged that they were members of Cumann na mBan, the Women’s IRA, and were the first members of that organisation to die in the Troubles. The soldiers claimed that a gun was pointed at them from the car. It later transpired the women were sounding the car horn to warn of the presence of soldiers. 197110230424MM1
Copyright Image from Victor Patterson, 54 Dorchester Park, Belfast, UK, BT9 6RJ
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Forensic reports from the time claimed Ms Meehan had lead on both hands “consistent with discharge residues due to firing a weapon”. However, reports carried out by Ms Kennedy’s legal team, KRW Law, cast doubt on the original findings, saying it did not “provide any salient evidence to conclude that Mrs Meehan had fired a gun”. The review added that the original report failed to consider other sources “as an explanation for the presence of lead on swabs taken from her hands”.

Dorothy Maguire, 19 years, single, one of two women who died in shooting incident involving a British Army patrol in the Lower Falls area of Belfast, N Ireland. The other woman was her married sister, Maura Meehan, of Brantry Street, Belfast. They were both members of Cumann na mBan, the Women’s IRA, and were the first members of that organisation to die in the Troubles. The soldiers claimed that a gun was pointed at them from the car. It later transpired the women were sounding the car horn to warn local people of the presence of soldiers. 197110230424DM1
Copyright Image from Victor Patterson, 54 Dorchester Park, Belfast, UK, BT9 6RJ
Tel: +44 28 9066 1296
Mob: +44 7802 353836
Voicemail +44 20 8816 7153
Skype: victorpattersonbelfast
Email: victorpatterson@me.com
Email: victorpatterson@ireland.com (back-up)
IMPORTANT: If you wish to use this image or any other of my images please go to http://www.victorpatterson.com and click on the Terms & Conditions. Then contact me by email or phone with the reference number(s) of the image(s) concerned.

Solicitor Kevin Winters said: “Expectations and hopes were raised on the part of the family when new forensic evidence came to light but unfortunately the new attorney general didn’t feel it was sufficient to warrant a new inquest.” Mr Winters said it was a “particularly heinous case” and that the legal action has been launched to “try and gain some measure of accountability to what happened”. “Its a case where that is long overdue and yet again another family are left with no option but to take legal action to try and get some semblance of justice,” he said.

With many thanks to: The Irish News and Connla Young for the original story –c.young@irishnews.com

Mass murderer Michael Stone unfairly punished, Court of Appeal hears!

MILLTOWN Cemetery bomber Michael Stone is being unfairly punished by having to remain in prison until 2024, the Court of Appeal heard yesterday, Monday June 1st 2020.

Michael Stone UFF/UDA and DUP mass murderer of Catholics in a sectarian murder spree in 1988. Where he was sentenced to 30 years

Lawyers for the former loyalist paramilitary argued that six years he spent out on licence should count towards the 30-year tariff he received for waging a sectarian murder campaign. Stone (64), pictured above, is seeking to overturn a ruling which means he still has serve another four years behind bars. He was freed early under the Good Friday Agreement in 2000, but was returned to prison in 2006 for attempting to murder Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness at Stormont. In January 2019 the High Court held that the Department of Justice had wrongly determined Stone is eligible for potential release on parole. According to that ruling he must remain behind bars until July 2024 at the earliest. The finding came in a legal challenge mounted by the sister of one of Stone’s victims.

Michael Stone pictured here on his release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 2000

Deborah McGuinness’s brother, Thomas McErlean, was murdered with fellow mourners John Murray and Kevin Brady in the hand grenade attack on an IRA funeral at Milltown Cemetery in West Belfast in March 1988. In 2013 Stone was told that must serve the rest of the 30-year tariff of his life sentence. His case was then referred to Parole Commissioners on the basis that he had completed that minimum term. However, Ms McGuinness claimed the Department unlawfully included the six years he spent out on licence before the Belfast attack on Stormont. The High Court backed her case. Appealing that ruling, counsel for Stone argued that those six years should count. David Scoffield QC said: “When someone is released on licence their sentence continues to tick by.” But according to Roman Lavery QC, for Ms McGuinness, public confidence in sentencing arrangements would be undermined if Stone spent less than 30 years in jail. Judgment was reserved.

With many thanks to the Irish News for the original story 

Submission to the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižniks, concerning the shooting dead of sisters Dorothy Maguire & Maura Meehan by British Soldiers, October 23rd 1971, West Belfast.

A follow-up to a previous story concerning the murder of Maura Meehan and her sister who were murdered by the British Army: 

With many thanks to: Geard Meehan, Meehan and Maguire family’s, https://www.facebook.com/groups/174928556038780/.

Daughter of woman murdered (Cumann na mBan) the female wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) shot dead with her sister to sue Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Maura Meehan (31) and her sister Dorothy Maguire murdered by the British Army in 1971 to sue MoD.

Daughter of shot IRA woman to sue British Army
Margaret Kennedy (Maura’s daughter) holds photographs of her mother Maura Meehan and aunt Dorothy Maguire who were shot dead at a British soldiers in west Belfast in 1971. Picture by Mal McCann
 THE daughter of an IRA woman killed along with her sister more than 45 years ago by the British Army is set to sue the Ministry of Defence. Mother-of-four Maura Meehan (31) was killed along with her sister Dorothy Maguire when soldiers open fire on a car ( pictured below) in which they were passengers in West Belfast in 1971. Both women were members of Cumann na mBan, the female wing of the IRA.

Picture’s of the car Maura and Dorothy were traveling in showing the extent of damage done in the double murder committed by the British Army.

Original examinations also found that swabs taken from Ms Maguire showed the presence of lead on one hand. However a recent ballistic forensic report commissioned by solicitors acting for the family has cast doubt on the origional findings saying they did not “provide any salient evidence to conclude that Mrs Meehan had fired a gun”.

The review added that the origional report failed to consider other sources of lead “an explanation for the presence of lead on the swabs taken from her hands”. Mr Meehan’s daughter, Margaret Kennedy (pictured above), last night welcomed the new findings.”It’s what we have said all along basically,” she said. Mrs Kennedy, who was aged nine when her mother was mudered by British Army, accused authorities of “stalling” on the case but said they would continue with their campaign until they get answers.

“All we are looking for is the truth to be told,” she said. The Ministy of Defence (MoD) did not respond to requests for a comment.

With many thanks to: The Irish News, Mal McCann (for the picture) and for the origional story.

Óglach Micky Kearney – Belfast Brigade, Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).

Micky Kearney, aged 33, and a father of five, was from West Belfast and was highly respected among his comrades in the Republican Socialist Movement.

Micky had been an active Volunteer within the INLA and a committed Activist with the IRSP since joining the Movement. After a spell in Prison, he was released just before Christmas 1986.

https://johnfcaba.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/inla20kearneycampbell20-20new20barsnsley20parade2020061.jpg

Upon his release from Gaol, Micky immediately reported back to duty with his local INLA Unit. The loss of Micky was hugely felt by all who knew him.

http://irishistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/oglach-kearney-assassinated-by-iplo-on.html?m=1

With many thanks to: Cara O’Shay.

Police probe online paramilitary images

POLICE are investigating after an image was posted online showing a masked man apparently firing shots in tribute to a Socialist Republican in west Belfast.

“The final salute to comrade Harry O’Hara” – IRSP.

Photographs posted on Facebook by the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) – the politicial wing of the Irish National Liberation Party (INLA) – show masked men posing on a street with a picture of Harry O’Hara. Mr O’Hara, from Norglen Drive in the Turf Lodge area, died on February 28th and was buried in the City Cemetery earlier this month following Requiem Mass at Holy Trinity Church. Among death notices expressing sympathy at Mr O’Hara’s passing was one from “Connor Hughes, Cogús Republican Prisoners” in Maghaberry Jail.

West Belfast – INLA

The IRSP’s Belfast branch posted photos on Facebook of a “final salute to comrade Harry O’Hara”. It said “Harry was a loyal republican socialist and he will always be remembered with honour and pride by the Republican Socialist Movement” (RSM). The images show masked men dressed in paramilitay-style uniform posing beside candles and a photo of Mr O’Hara (copy of picture above). In one, a member of the group raises a gun above his head in a firing motion.

The images have been condemned by SDLP councillor Tim Attwood, who represents the area on Belfast City Council. “These are scenes which belong in the past. There is no excuse for masked gunmen on the streets of our city, no matter what the context,” he said. “This was a reckless act and should be roundly condemned.” A RUC/PSNI spokeswoman said: “Police are aware of footage on social media showing shots apparently being fired by a masked man in west Belfast. An investigation is under way.”

With many thanks to: John Monaghan, The Irish News, for the origional story.

INLA men’s murders reconstruction

THE murder of two INLA men in Co Louth more than 30 years ago has featured in an RTÉ reconstruction broadcast.

SHOT: Thomas ‘Ta’ Power (left) FEUD: Hugh Torney (right)

Thomas ‘Ta’ Power (33) and then INLA ‘chief of staff’ John GerardO’Reilly (26) were gunned down as they sat in the Rossnaree Hotel, near Drogheda, in January 1987 by members of the Irish People’s Liberation Organisation (IPLO). The INLA men had been in the hotel to try and settle an internal dispute about the direction of the group and were due to meet other members. However, the potential peace summit ended up in bloodshed when gunmen wearing false beards burst into the hotel and opened fire as their victims drank tea.

Two other men were injured during the ambush including Peter Stewart and Hugh ‘cueball’ Torney, who was himself killed in another feud in 1996. Leading IPLO man Gerard Steenson has been linked to the double killing, although others claim he was not involved.

He and another man were shot dead weeks later in March 1987 by the INLA faction in west Belfast. It is understood that the renewed appeal for information comes after relatives of Power, who was from the Markets area of south Belfast, met gardaí recently.

Campaign group Relatives for Justice recently wrote to the Republic’s Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and Garda commisioner Nóirín O’Sullivan on behalf of the Power family asking for a review of the case. It is beleived that at that meeting family members learned for the first time that three men were questioned after the ambush but later released. No-one has ever been convicted. Gardaí failed to respond to a series of questions put to them by The Irish News about the case.

A reconstruction of the attack was featured on RTÉ’s Crime Call programme on Monday. The broadcaster declined to release any details of the programme in advance. Mike Ritchie from Relatives for Justice said: “Families who have lost loved ones below the border face a difficult situation because they were not able to benefit from the Historical Enquires Team information and review,” he said. “It’s important that the Garda reviews these cases themselves.”

With many thanks to: The Irish News.

http://www.rte.ie/tv/crimecall/this_month.html

http://www.rte.ie/amp/860691/

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