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State Murder
The Ballymurphy Massacre On Monday August 9th 1971 internment without trial was introduced in the six counties by the British government and was implemented by the British army at 4.00am on that particular summer morning. The internment campaign was directed against the predominately Catholic community with the stated aim to “shock and stun the civilian population”. Between 9th and 11th of August 1971, over 1000 British soldiers entered the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast, raiding homes and rounding up men. Many, both young and old were shot and beaten as they were dragged from their homes. During this three day period eleven unarmed civilians were murdered by the British army’s Parachute Regiment. One of the victims was a well known parish priest and another was a 45-year-old mother of eight children. No investigations were carried out and not one member of the British army was held to account. It is believed that some of the soldiers involved in the Ballymurphy Massacre went on to Derry some months later and committed another massacre that became known as Bloody Sunday. Had those who committed mass murder in Ballymurphy been held to account, the events of Bloody Sunday may never have happened.
Chronology 9th August 1971 At around 8:30pm in the Springfield Park area of west Belfast a local man was trying to lift children to safety when he was shot and wounded by the British army’s Parachute Regiment. Local people tried to help the wounded man but were pinned back by the regiment’s gunfire. Local parish priest, Father Hugh Mullan, telephoned the Henry Taggart British army post to tell them he was going into the field to help the injured man. Father Mullan entered the field waving a white ‘baby grow’. He anointed the injured man, named locally as Bobby Clarke. Having identified that Bobby had received a flesh wound and was not fatally wounded, Father Mullan began to leave the field. As he did, he was shot in the back - fatally. On witnessing the event a young man of nineteen years, Frank Quinn, came out of his place of safety to help Father Mullan. Frank was shot in the back of the head as he tried to reach the parish priest. The bodies of Father Hugh Mullan and Frank Quinn lay where they were shot until local people could safely reach them. Their bodies remained in neighbouring homes until they could be safely removed the next morning. Tension was rising in the community as local youths fought back against the British army’s horrendous campaign. Families were fleeing their homes in Springfield Park as they came under attack from loyalist mobs approaching from the direction of Springmartin. Parents frantically searched for their children. Local men were still being removed from their homes, beaten and interned without having committed a crime or having been tried. Local people had started gathering at the bottom of Springfield Park, an area known locally as the Manse. Some of those gathering included Joseph Murphy who was returning from the wake of a local boy who drowned in a swimming accident. Joan Connolly and her neighbour Anna Breen stopped as they searched for their daughters. Daniel Teggart also stopped as he returned from his brother’s house which was close to Springfield Park. He had gone to check on his brother’s safety because the house had been attacked as local youths targeted the Henry Taggart British army base located near by. Noel Phillips, a young man of
nineteen years, had just finished work and walked to Springfield Park
to check on the situation there. In the panic people ran in all directions. Many took refuge in a field directly opposite the base. The Paras continued to fire and intensified their attack on the field. Noel Phillips was shot in the backside, an injury that was later described in his autopsy as a flesh wound. As he lay crying for help, mother-of-eight Joan Connolly went to his aid. Eye witnesses heard Joan call out to Noel “It’s alright son, I’m coming to you”. In her attempt to help Noel, Joan was shot in the face. When the gun fire stopped Noel Phillips, Joan Connolly, Joseph Murphy and many others lay wounded. Father-of-fourteen, Daniel Teggart, lay dead having been shot fourteen times. A short time later a British army vehicle left the Henry Taggart base and entered the field. A solider exited the vehicle, and to the horror of the local eye witnesses, executed the already wounded Noel Phillips by shooting him once behind each ear with a hand gun. The soldiers then began lifting the wounded and dead and throwing them in to the back of the vehicle. Joseph Murphy, who had been shot once in the leg, was also lifted along with the other victims and taken to the Henry Taggart army base, where they were brutally punched and kicked. Some soldiers jumped off bunks on top of their victims and aggravated their wounds by forcing objects in to them. They shot Joseph Murphy at close range with a rubber bullet into the wound he first received in the field. He died three weeks later from his injuries. Joan Connolly, who had not been lifted by the soldiers when they first entered the field, lay wounded where she had been shot. Eye witnesses said she cried out for help for many hours. Joan was eventually removed from the field around 2:30am on 10th August. Autopsy reports state that having been repeatedly shot, she bled to death. 10th August 1971 Eddie Doherty, a father-of-two from the St James’ area of west Belfast, had visited his elderly parents in the Turf Lodge area that evening to check on their safety during the ongoing unrest. As he was making his way home along the Whiterock Road he approached the West Rock area and noticed a barricade which had been erected by local people in an attempt to restrict access to the British army. A local man named Billy Whelan, known to Eddie, stopped him and the pair spoke of the ongoing trouble. At the same time a British army ‘digger’ and Saracen moved in to dismantle the barricade. A soldier from the Parachute Regiment opened fire from the digger. Eddie was fatally shot in the back. Local people carried him to neighbouring homes in an attempt to provide medical attention but Eddie died a short time later from a single gunshot wound. 11th August 1971 At approximately 4.00am, John Laverty, a local man of twenty years, was shot and killed by soldiers from the Parachute Regiment. Joseph Corr, a local father-of-six, was also shot and wounded by the same regiment. He died of his injuries sixteen days later. The British army’s account of the events stated that both men were firing at the Paras and were killed as the soldiers returned fire. Neither man was armed and ballistic and forensic evidence at the time disproved the army’s testimony. Pat McCarthy, a community worker who came from England to work in Ballymurphy, was shot in the hand on the same day as he was attempting to leave the local community centre to distribute milk and bread to neighbouring families. A few hours later, and nursing his wounded hand, Pat decided to continue with the deliveries. He was stopped, harassed and then beaten by the Paras. Eye witnesses watched in horror as the Paras then carried out a mock execution on Pat by placing a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger, only for the gun to be unloaded. He suffered a massive heart attack and the Paras stopped local people from trying to help him. Pat died. John McKerr, a father-of-six and a carpenter from the Andersonstown Road area, was carrying out repair work in Corpus Christi Chapel. He took a short break as the funeral of a local boy who had drowned in a swimming accident took place. As he waited outside the chapel for the funeral mass to end, John was shot once in the head by a British solider from the Parachute Regiment. Despite the harassment from the Paras, local people went to John’s aid and remained at his side until an ambulance arrived. One local woman, named locally as Maureen Heath, argued with the soldiers as they refused to allow him to be taken in the ambulance. John was eventually taken to hospital
but died of his injuries nine days later having never regained consciousness.
1971 massacre families
speak out Briege Voyle - whose mother Joan Connolly was one of 11 unarmed civilians shot dead by the British army's Parachute Regiment in Ballymurphy during internment 1971 - speaks exclusively to the Belfast Media Group this week about the families’ fight for justice. A spokesperson for the families, Briege has asked eye-witnesses to the massacre to be “mindful not to undermine their efforts for an independent investigation”. We are indebted to the people of Belfast and beyond for the huge amount of public support and goodwill concerning our campaign for an independent international investigation into the murders of our loved ones by the Paras during internment. The private and public support that we have received from political representatives from all backgrounds is a direct result of the compelling case for an independent international investigation into the deliberate murders of 11 unarmed civilians - a case that absolutely no one can argue with. We have met representatives from every single political party on the island, members of the US Congress, MEP's, members of the British Labour and Conservative parties and both governments. Enabling all of this has been Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and Relatives for Justice (RFJ). In February of this year, accompanied by Gerry Adams MP and RFJ, we met with British Secretary for the North Shaun Woodward MP in what can only be described as a marathon session recounting the chronology of the 11 killings, our immediate and subsequent experiences, and of our demands for an independent international investigation. This was a very emotional meeting for all involved including Shaun Woodward who was genuinely shocked at the oral evidence presented to him and the nature and barbarity of the murders. The evidence was based upon several years of research, official documents and public records, pathology and autopsy reports, and first hand eye-witness statements that completely contradicted the 'official' governmental version of the killings at the time. During this meeting we outlined our total and collective opposition to the PSNI's HET, underlining that it did not meet the necessary requirements regarding independence - one of our key demands. In the past two years our campaign message has been communicated across Ireland, Britain, Europe and North America by us, the surviving relatives of the Ballymurphy Massacre dead. As international and domestic pressure mounts regarding our call for an independent international investigation, the British response is to again seek to appoint the PSNI's HET despite our adamant position that we will not accept such a process as it flies in the face of the natural rules of justice and of the British government's domestic and international legal obligations concerning independence, given that those responsible for the murders were acting under direct orders of the British government at the time. There is a concerted drive on the part of the British government to prevent an independent investigation and examination of these killings. Why and what do they have to hide? Information concerning the killings evidentially merits that any investigative process must equally examine links between the killings of our loved ones and those killed during Bloody Sunday. The chain of evidence indicates that some of the same Paras were involved in both massacres - all involving unarmed civilians. By using the flawed HET process the British government seeks to neutralise and stall our campaign demands whilst also controlling what does and does not emerge about official governmental policy at the time of these killings. It is our considered view that the government has been engaged in what can only be described as an elaborate exercise of serpentine weaving aimed at managing and suppressing the truth concerning the Ballymurphy Massacre. The HET is seeking legitimate means to justify their involvement despite the families of those killed directly and repeatedly informing them that we do not want them to be involved. No doubt those who have been proactively contacted and lobbied by the HET have engaged in good faith believing that they are making a worthwhile contribution to our campaign obviously unaware of how we view the HET. We want to state publicly that this is not about those who have had contact with the HET. This article is about informing the wider community and creating an awareness about what is actually happening on a number of levels, both on the ground with the HET and more importantly politically in terms of the British government's drive to keep the lid on the truth about the killings in Ballymurphy. It is in this context that we have now decided to go public to request that if anyone is approached by the HET that they speak with us and with Relatives for Justice. In addition, people who have information about the deaths of our loved ones – no matter how small that information may seem please come forward and tell us your information – you may hold a small piece of information which may be vital to the larger jigsaw. We are asking people to be mindful of what we are trying to achieve and of the current approach of the British government in seeking to prevent us in fulfilling our aims concerning the murders of our loved ones. Currently we have commissioned a key legal document for the purposes of establishing an independent international investigation and anyone with evidence should, if they want to assist, contact us via Relatives for Justice on 90 220100 and we can arrange to chat privately and possibly for legal statements to be taken. This will be carried out in the strictest of confidence and in a meaningful and professional way observing all the normal and associated protocols with statement taking. Professional support can also be provided if the process is found to be traumatic and/or re-traumatizing. Once again we want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us, attended events, wrote letters, lobbied, organized meetings across the country and abroad, handed out leaflets, shown solidarity and expressed interest in what we are trying to achieve. Everyone can play a part and we want the community to remain involved. Anyone wishing to find out more or to make a positive contribution can do so by contacting us via RFJ. Is mise le meas, Briege Voyle
Ballymurphy
and Springhill Families Deserve Truth Sinn Féin west Belfast MP Gerry Adams this morning hosted a press conference to highlight the demand for truth and justice by the families of those killed in Ballymurphy and Springhill almost 40 years ago. Mr Adams said: “On Tuesday the Bloody Sunday families finally achieved truth for themselves and their loved ones. The British Prime Minister in
apologising for the actions of the Paras stated that “Bloody
Sunday is not the defining story of the service the British army gave
in northern Ireland from 1969-2007”. The British army, British Military Intelligence, and a variety of British intelligence agencies like the Military Reaction Force and the Force Reconnaissance Unit, along with the UDR and RUC, were directly responsible for 400 deaths in disputed circumstances. Through collusion and sectarian murders they were responsible for hundreds more. The Ballymurphy and the Springhill Massacres are examples of this and in these cases, as in so many others, the families still do not have truth. In Ballymurphy six months before Bloody Sunday, we have another striking example of the brutality with which the Paras acted and how the British system then connived in a cover-up. In the 36 hours after the introduction of internment in August 1971 eleven people - ten men, including a local priest and a mother of eight children - were killed by the British army’s Parachute Regiment in the Ballymurphy area. The accounts of how their loved ones died bear a striking similarity to the stories told by the Derry families and now vindicated by the Saville Report. Paratroopers also killed others in Belfast in the same period, including a 14-year-old boy in Lenadoon, a 17-year-old in the Clonard area, a student teacher from Downpatrick outside St Comgalls in Divis Street and Robert McKinnie and Robert Johnstone from the Shankill. Six months after Bloody Sunday, on 9 July 1972, they shot dead five people in Springhill. Among the dead was the second Catholic priest to be killed in greater Ballymurphy. He was administering the Last Rites to victims when he himself was cut down. Of the four others killed, three were teenagers and the last was a father of six children who was with the local priest. On 9 March 1973 the Parachute Regiment arrived for duty in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast. Within weeks they had shot and killed five people, one a 12-year-old boy. In South Armagh a 12-year-old schoolgirl was shot dead on 14 August 1976. None of those killed had any connection to any armed group. They were all innocent civilians. All of these families deserve the full support and encouragement of the community, and of the Irish government, in their efforts to secure an independent international investigation in these deaths. We will be meeting the British secretary of state about these matters. The British government, in acknowledging the wrong done in Derry, must acknowledge the wrong done in Ballymurphy and elsewhere and to these families. It must make a public apology
for what it and its armed forces did.”
Were
Bloody Sunday soldiers involved in 'Ballymurphy massacre'? In the wake of the Saville report, relatives of 11 people killed in Belfast by the army in 1971 are now calling for an inquiry into their deaths It has been called west Belfast's Bloody Sunday. Over 36 hours between 9 and 11 August 1971 – six months before British paratroopers were deployed to Derry with tragic consequences – the Parachute Regiment shot dead 11 civilians in the west Belfast housing estate of Ballymurphy. Those who were fatally wounded included the local priest and a 45-year-old mother. Now, in the wake of the publication last week of the Saville report on Bloody Sunday, the relatives of those killed 39 years ago in Belfast have called for an international investigation to determine whether the same soldiers were involved in the "Ballymurphy massacre". John Teggart's father, Daniel, was shot 14 times while fleeing an area close to a joint army-police station on the Springfield Road during the violence. Teggart said his father had been visiting his sister's house when the shooting started. An inquest later found that most of the bullets entered Daniel Teggart's back while he was lying on the ground after being wounded, his son said. "This was a massacre on the same scale as Bloody Sunday, although it was forgotten," said John Teggart. The shootings occurred during a mass arrest operation in the period of internment, when security forces detained hundreds of nationalists across Northern Ireland without trial. Teggart, however, stressed that there has been no evidence that any of the 11 who fell were armed or carrying explosives. "The paras just went berserk," he contended. Teggart said the families of those killed now want an independent international inquiry to establish if any of the same soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday fired fatal shots in Ballymurphy. "We have been able to establish that among the 500 paratroopers deployed from 8 August, 1 Para – the same unit sent into the Bogside in Derry – was on our streets. It was the same type of operation as the one in Derry on Bloody Sunday. The paras went in hard, they fired incoherently, they shot people lying on the ground. We need an inquiry to establish if those doing the shooting in Ballymurphy were the same ones who opened fire six months later in Derry." The parallels between what happened in Ballymurphy and in Derry are uncanny, Teggart said. The death of the local parish priest, Fr Hugh Mullan, recalls the way another priest, the future Catholic Bishop of Derry, Fr Edward Daly, tried to help the wounded on Bloody Sunday. "The world saw the television pictures of Fr Daly waving a white handkerchief towards the paras in Derry as he tried to save a wounded man being carried through the streets," said Teggart. "Fr Mullan had telephoned the army base to tell them he was going out to help those wounded in Ballymurphy. He came out waving a piece of cloth, walking towards a field where one of the men shot by the paras lay dying. Fr Mullan was shot as he tried to help a local man and he fell down as he prayed over that man's body." Teggart said the evidence the campaign group have gathered undermines one of Lord Saville's key conclusions regarding top military officers. The Bloody Sunday report said it could "not criticise General Ford for deciding to deploy soldiers to arrest rioters..." Saville also concluded that General Ford "neither knew nor had reason to know at any stage that his decision would or was likely to result in soldiers firing unjustifiably on that day." But the Ballymurphy massacre campaign group said that what happened six months earlier was a clear warning that the paratroopers should not have been deployed against unarmed civilians. Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, who is the local MP, has called for an "international, reputable, neutral and dependable agency" to be brought in to investigate the massacre. SDLP leader and South Down MP Margaret Ritchie last week asked David Cameron to launch an inquiry. The families are expected to meet Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson over the next few weeks. For John Teggart, watching the Derry families celebrate the declarations that their loved ones were innocent stirred mixed emotions. "We were all delighted for
the people of Derry. But it made me think that if the authorities
had carried out a proper inquiry of what happened in Ballymurphy six
months earlier, instead of calling in the military police to investigate,
the paras would never have been deployed in Derry and all those people
up there would not have lost their lives."
Saville
inquiry: Over 150 killings by soldiers during Troubles in Northern
Ireland never fully investigated By Owen Bowcott More than 150 killings committed by soldiers during Northern Ireland's Troubles were never fully investigated because of an informal understanding between the police and the army. The inadequacy of official examinations into fatal military shootings emerged in the wake of last week's Saville inquiry report on the "unjustifiable" deaths of 13 civilians on Bloody Sunday and in findings by the Police Service of Northern Ireland's historical enquiries team (HET). The effect of the practice – under which soldiers who shot civilians were questioned by the army's Royal Military Police (RMP) rather than police detectives – has been highlighted by a Derry-based human rights organisation, the Pat Finucane Centre, which works closely with HET investigators. It meant, according to the centre's Paul O'Connor, that between 1970 and 1973 soldiers were unlikely to be held responsible for the consequences of their actions. During that period they shot dead more than 150 people in the province. The agreement made in 1970 between the chief constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the army in Northern Ireland was revoked in September 1973 because it was "unsatisfactory". "RMP investigations into killings then were known as tea and sandwich inquiries," O'Connor said. He claimed the RMT often did not obtain statements so soldiers who killed civilians were not cross-examined. "This was therefore a deeply flawed procedure," he added. "In effect, there was no investigation. The RMP did not take weapons and examine them. Sometimes the paperwork would not even be handed over to the RUC. There were 150 people killed by the army in this period and they were never fully investigated." This failure encouraged a culture of impunity to develop among troops who felt they were above the law, according to O'Connor. Flaws in the agreement are acknowledged in an HET report, released this month, into the killing of William McGreanery by Grenadier Guards in Derry in September 1971 – five months before Bloody Sunday. It said the policy meant that "RUC investigators were to have gathered all relevant civilian witness and forensic evidence, and furnish it to the RMP prior to an interview being conducted with a soldier. It clearly envisaged that soldiers would face a thorough investigation, and was designed to enable the RMP to provide effective support in the difficult times that existed." But the result, the HET said, was that "this policy was not followed; in any event it negated any possibility of independence and it is questionable whether the chief constable had the legal authority to devolve his responsibilities in this manner, notwithstanding the immensely difficult security situation that existed at the time. These arrangements meant that in practice, soldiers were not interviewed by civilian police officers at all". The MoD has defended the practice in recent correspondence, claiming that it was "acting as the civil power bearing the lion's share of law enforcement" in Northern Ireland until police primacy was restored in 1976. The Saville report draws attention to the same problem and the way in which RMP questioning was conducted for "managerial" purposes rather than in pursuit of independent "criminal" investigations. The report quotes a lecture given in 1973 by an unidentified RMP major to a provost marshal's study session. "Back in 1970 a decision was reached between the GOC [general officer commanding Northern Ireland] and the chief constable whereby RMP would tend to military witnesses and the RUC to civilian witnesses in the investigation of offences and incidents," it noted. "With both RMP and RUC sympathetic towards the soldier, who after all was doing an incredibly difficult job, he was highly unlikely to make a statement incriminating himself, for the RMP investigator was out for information for managerial, not criminal purposes, and, using their powers of discretion, it was equally unlikely that the RUC would prefer charges against soldiers except in the most extreme of circumstances." Lord Saville's critical conclusions
about soldiers' behaviour on Bloody Sunday will encourage relatives
of those shot dead by the army on other occasions to press for the
revival of police investigations.
Catholic
Church to release Ballymurphy Massacre documents The Catholic Church today backed calls for an independent inquiry into the British Army killings of 11 people in west Belfast almost 40 years ago. The Bishop of Down and Connor, Noel Treanor, will urge the British Government to apologise and declare innocent those shot dead in the so-called Ballymurphy massacre when he meets bereaved families tomorrow. He will also hand the relatives previously undisclosed church archive documents relating to the deaths in August 1971. Catholic priest Hugh Mullan was among the 11 civilians shot dead by British soldiers over a three-day period in the republican neighbourhood. The military entered the area to round up suspected paramilitaries after the Northern Ireland government introduced the controversial policy of internment without trial. The relatives’ calls for an internationally chaired independent inquiry have intensified since the publication in June of the Saville report into the British army killings of 14 people on Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972. Some of the soldiers who were involved in that notorious incident in Derry had been in Ballymurphy six months earlier. A spokesman for the Catholic Church said Bishop Treanor would take a tour of the area where the shootings took place before handing over the archive files to the relatives. “The bishop will be voicing his support for the families’ request to have an inquiry,” he added. The documents include the church’s report into what happened, based on eyewitness accounts. A number of British military personnel are among those interviewed. The authors of the report said the killings were not justified. “We are convinced that the British army units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness, unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing ... certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire,” it stated. The church is to conduct further
searches of its archives in an attempt to find other material related
to the Ballymurphy killings.
Ballymurphy
massacre families reveal new evidence Campaigners for 11 civilians shot dead in 1971 demanding independent international inquiry The families of 11 people shot dead by paratroopers in West Belfast are to present the British secretary of state for the North, Owen Patterson, and Stormont justice minister, David Ford, with a new dossier of evidence on the killings. Campaigners for the Ballymurphy massacre victims are demanding an independent international inquiry, a statement from the British government declaring the innocence of the dead, and a public apology. Their call for an independent inquiry is backed by the Catholic Church, Sinn Féin, and the SDLP. Next week marks the 39th anniversary of the massacre. Eleven unarmed civilians, including a 45-year-old mother of eight and a Catholic priest, were killed as paratroopers went on the rampage. Relatives told the Sunday Tribune that the Irish government had donated £20,000 towards a report into the killings which took place over three days following the introduction of internment on 9 August 1971. The money has funded a report by Kevin Winters' solicitors. Briege Voyle, whose mother Joan Connolly was killed, said more than 100 eyewitnesses had been interviewed. The dossier will include information from autopsies and analysis of forensic and ballistics reports. Documents have also been obtained under the Freedom of Information act. "The report will be the most definitive account yet of those three awful days in Ballymurphy," Voyle said. "It will establish the sequence of events as they unfolded as accurately as possible, though it will contain more questions than answers." The dossier will be completed within six weeks and sent to Owen Patterson and David Ford. The families hope to meet both politicians. The Ballymurphy massacre was carried out by 1 Para, the same regiment which six months later murdered 13 civilians on Bloody Sunday. Voyle said the Saville inquiry should have examined the Ballymurphy killings. "We're delighted the Bloody Sunday families have at last got some form of justice with the Saville report," she said. "But we're also worried that it means we face an even more uphill battle. It's highly unlikely that having admitted to one atrocity, the British Army will quickly admit to another one." The Ballymurphy massacre proved Bloody Sunday wasn't an aberration, she said: "It shows the paras didn't go on a one-off bender in Derry with their superiors losing control. They were a killing machine, sent to give Ballymurphy a bloody nose, then sent six months later to do the same in the Bogside." The soldiers' shooting spree in Ballymurphy left 54 children without parents. The British Ministry of Defence claimed those killed were armed. "Not only did they physically murder our parents," said Alice Harper whose father Danny Teggart was shot dead. "They also murdered their good names." The families said the British army harassed them for years afterwards. Briege Voyle said their home was regularly raided and once the British army mockingly played The Last Post outside the house. But it was the lies about the victims which most angered relatives. "One soldier said my mother had opened fire on him with a Browning machine gun. She was killed going to help a young lad who had been shot. My mother wouldn't have known what a Browning was. Her only vice was going to bingo," Voyle said.
Parallels
between Bloody Sunday and the murders in Ballymurphy The aftermath of the publication of the Saville Enquiry was like “a collective wedding in Derry”, according to relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims. John Kelly, who lost his 17-year-old brother Michael in the atrocity, and Tony Doherty, who lost his father Patrick, spoke at St Mary’s University College on Thursday during Féile an Phobail’s ‘Bloody Sunday After Saville’ discussion. The pair shared their thoughts and experiences of June 15, when their loved ones were finally exonerated, on what’s next for the Bloody Sunday families now that the dust has settled, and what advice they have for the Ballymurphy Massacre families in their quest for justice. “It [publication of Saville] was an important day for us, the best day of my life,” said Tony. “None of us knew what was going to be in the report or what Cameron [British Prime Minister David] was going to say when we made our way to the Guildhall. At 3 o’clock just before he [Cameron] spoke, two of us were given a strong hint that we were going to like what he was going to say. And when he did make his speech it brought the entire floor of the Guildhall to tears – politicians, families, lawyers, everyone. “When he apologised, the words, the profound manner in which they were delivered, came as a complete shock. No one expects that from a Tory Prime Minister, especially when it comes to Ireland.” John Kelly spoke of how the night before Saville’s publication none of the families could get any sleep. “You just did not know what to expect,” said John. “But within minutes of arriving at the Guildhall and seeing the solicitors reading the report I knew Michael had been declared innocent. Stepping out onto the platform afterwards in front of the crowd was one of the greatest moments of my life. What we achieved, it wasn’t just for me and the families, but for Ireland and the world, as a major injustice had been put right.” Both men talked about the hostility the families encountered when they first began their campaign for justice on the 20th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in 1992. “People had to get to know us in those days. For a lot of people, Bloody Sunday was identified as a republican issue and part of the republican propaganda war, so they took their cue from that,” said Tony. “We were escorted by Garda out of Phoenix Park and as far as the border when we protested against Mary Robinson for not meeting with us. “However, we were fortunate that we had a core group of people within the campaign that were determined to see this thing through no matter what.” There was agreement between the Ballymurphy families in the audience and John and Tony that David Cameron was wrong to describe the Parachute Regiment’s actions in the Bogside that day as “a few soldiers who lost control”. “I was angry at that, I found it insulting,” said one Ballymurphy relative. “I know for a fact that what happened [Ballymurphy] was as a result of orders from the top.” “I agree that he was wrong,” said John. “The Paras were bussed in from Belfast to Derry for a reason. They’re not a police force, they’re a killing machine. “We know for a fact that they were told in their barracks the night before ‘we want some kills tomorrow’. “The Paras are too well disciplined to lose control. They knew what they were doing that day and that’s the same with Ballymurphy, they were sent in to kill.” When asked if they both felt the Bloody Sunday families now had a responsibility to take their campaign as far as it could go on behalf of groups like the Ballymurphy families, both men had differing viewpoints. “We certainly feel an allegiance to the Ballymurphy families and will provide support, but in my opinion people need to work out for themselves how to approach this matter and be realistic about what you get,” said Tony. “But I’m not interested in hunting people down for the rest of my days.” “I do believe that the soldiers should be prosecuted,” said John. “They have got away with it and through Saville there’s a great chance to prosecute them. “But I’m happy to hit the streets again and campaign as I believe that these people need to be brought to justice.”
How my
dad was murdered by the British state By Dan Glazebrook Internment - indefinite imprisonment without trial - was reintroduced into the North of Ireland on August 9 1971 at 4am. Three hundred and forty people were dragged out of their houses across the Greater Ballymurphy area of west Belfast, many of whom would not be released for years. Hundreds of homes were wrecked in the process and the entire community was effectively terrorised by the British army. Later that day, as the full horror of what had just taken place began to sink in, loyalists from the neighbouring Springmartin estate began to form into a crowd to taunt their nationalist neighbours across the road in Springfield Park, shouting slogans such as "Where's your daddy?" John Teggart, the son of Belfast local Danny Teggart, picks up the story. "The crowd in Springmartin, as the night went on, grew to maybe 400. They had been stoning the houses that back onto Springfield Park and a lot of anxiety was building up," he explains. "At the top end, most of the houses were getting wrecked and stoned, so people had moved out down to the lower end of the park. A man named Bobby Clarke suggested moving out of the area altogether and started to evacuate the youngest first. He went out on his own across the field with an 18-month-old baby and brought her over to Moyard Park. As he was returning a soldier from the Parachute Regiment shot him in the back. "Friar Hugh Mullen then phoned the army and told them there was a wounded man on the field and asked their soldiers to stop shooting. He then left the house and, waving a white cloth, went out onto the field to issue the last rites to Bobby. Bobby said he wasn't dying, so Friar Mullen went back towards his house to phone the ambulance, still waving the white cloth. That was when he was shot. "A young man named Frank Quinn then ran onto the field to help and met a barrage of bullets. He did a heroic act helping his neighbours and he was shot in the back of the head. "At the same time as this was going on, my daddy and several other people were down the road near the army barracks. "All of a sudden the paratroopers came out of the main gates of the barracks and started firing at anybody, anybody at all. A young man called Noel Philips was wounded, fell and screamed out. A woman named Mrs Connolly went to help but when she got to him she was shot in the face. The whole left-hand side of her face was taken off with the force of the bullet. "My daddy was wounded in the leg initially according to eyewitness accounts. He was then shot 14 times whilst he lay out in the open, from a distance of less than 50 yards. They also shot an 11-year-old boy in the groin. "The soldiers then came out of the barracks in a Saracen (armoured truck) and two soldiers got out, one with an SLR, one with a handgun. The one with the handgun walked up to Noel Philips, who was lying on the field wounded, and executed him with a bullet behind each ear. "I can say these things with confidence because we have seen the autopsy and there was a 9mm bullet in him from a Browning pistol. This is from experts. And our eyewitness accounts back this up. "Then there was Joan Connolly. One of the soldiers went round the side of the house and claimed later that he found a woman who was obviously dead. It was later found out that she hadn't been shot once, but four times - in the belly, in the shoulder and the thigh, as well as in the face. "The other soldier grabbed a man called Gerald Russell from where he was injured behind a pillar and just started shooting him at point-blank range with the rifle. He was shot four times. Then they started piling the bodies into the Saracen, both dead and wounded. "Joseph Murphy, who had been shot in the leg, was taken in and repeatedly beaten. He died a week later. Because the injuries he received during the beating were so bad, he couldn't be operated on. He died from gangrene. "The whole of his body was completely black from where he was bruised and he told his wife on his death bed that they shot rubber bullets into his wound as well. "Davy Callaghan, an ex-navy man, was also taken out of the Saracen. There was a gauntlet of paratroopers waiting for him. He was taken out and held on the ground whilst they took it in turns to kick him severely between his legs. He ended up in hospital with a cage round his lower body. "Gerald Russell was taken into a room, where he was beaten repeatedly and hit with rifle butts. They actually put the rifle muzzle into one of his wounds and picked him up with it. They then jumped off the bed repeatedly onto him. This was a man wounded four times. He said while he was there, there was a naked man, thrown onto the floor beside him. He says this man was obviously dead or dying. We believe it was Danny Teggart, my daddy. He said what they did to him, bouncing off the beds, they did to my daddy as well. The dead and the wounded were both beaten. "Six people in the space of around half an hour or an hour were murdered by the paratroopers." In the two days that followed, another five were killed or were later to die from their wounds - four after being shot and one from a massive heart attack after being subjected to a mock execution. None of the deaths was ever properly investigated. Military police interviewed their colleagues in the days that followed and those statements were taken at face value by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Those killed were all said to be gunmen. "From their interviews there are total discrepancies," says Teggart. "They said that Mrs Connolly" - a 45-year-old mother of eight - "was a superwoman, that after dropping her gun she jumped over their heads with a submachine gun and starting firing again. They said she used at least two firearms to shoot them." In a pattern starting to become depressingly familiar, those reports were then reported as fact in the media. Nor has the official story of events been changed to this day. "The only way it's going to change is through the likes of what we're doing with the campaign. "Our goal is an independent international investigation, independent of the state. The evidence is there that this was murder, this was a war crime. There were 14 people killed less than six months later in Bloody Sunday by the same soldiers, the same regiment - 1 Para. If Ballymurphy had been dealt with, Bloody Sunday could never have happened." The campaign has made progress in recent months and now has the full support of both nationalist parties as well as the foreign minister of the Dail. They are also due to meet the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland next month. But perhaps most importantly, the campaign has received important new evidence from the Catholic church. "They came up with some archives that hadn't been seen before - including a report and witness statements," says Teggart. "One of those reports says that you could indict the paratroopers in Springmartin for shooting dead Frank Quinn." The Saville inquiry has also boosted the families' confidence and actually recommended that the Ballymurphy killings be investigated. "You have to remember that Bloody Sunday wasn't an isolated incident. They had already killed 11 people in Ballymurphy before going on to kill 14 in Derry. They then went on to kill five people - three teenagers, the father of the boy shot in the field the previous year and another Catholic priest. This was in May, less than a year later, in the same area just yards from where John McKerr was murdered near the church. "You would think that every murder should be investigated. But if your loved ones are murdered by the state it's an uphill struggle. You have to almost prove what happened before you even get any investigation, and that's the struggle we're involved in at the moment." Join the Ballymurphy families' campaign for justice at www.ballymurphymassacre.com
No more
lies about massacre in ’Murph Letters August 9, 1971 saw the launch of Operation Demetrius. The imprisonment without charge or trial of hundreds of innocent people from mainly nationalist areas – internment. The most brutal and enthusiastic display of Operation Demetrius was to be enacted in the Ballymurphy area of West Belfast. On that day the world was to see, and indeed largely ignore, the British government and their unionist/ loyalist puppets let loose the death squads of the Parachute Regiment on the people of Ballymurphy. 19-year-old Francis Quinn was shot dead on August 9 while going to the aid of an injured man, as was Father Hugh Mullan. Joan Connolly, aged 50, was also shot dead as she went to assist the injured. Daniel Teggart, 44, Noel Phillips, 20, Joseph Murphy, 41, were all murdered by the Parachute Regiment on August 9. During the next two days, August 10/11, another five people would be killed or fatally wounded, to die later of their injuries. Edward Doherty, aged 28, shot dead while walking along the Whiterock Road. John Laverty, aged 20, and Joseph Corr, aged 43, were shot at different points along the top of the Whiterock Road. John was shot in the back, while Joseph was shot multiple times and died later from his wounds on August 27. John Kerr, aged 49, who was shot while standing outside church, died of his wounds on August 20. Paddy McCarthy, aged 44, was assaulted
by Paratroopers, one of whom placed a gun in Paddy’s mouth and
pulled the trigger, resulting in Paddy having a heart attack from
which he died shortly thereafter. This was an operation carried out – and indeed literally executed by – professional soldiers of the Parachute Regiment. They were unleashed to inflict maximum terror and fear among the community and they succeeded in their task. What they didn’t succeed in doing was to break the spirit of the community. The people of Ballymurphy came through this atrocity and the spirit of the people is as strong as ever. That is why today the people of Ballymurphy are seeking justice for the slaughter of their loved ones and as a community it is important that justice be seen to be done. The recent phone call from someone pertaining to be a member of the Parachute Regiment who took part in the operation which saw so many people murdered and injured is unbelievable insofar as this person tries to deny that a massacre took place at all. He states that they were professional soldiers and that their real target was Gerry Adams. The fact that they don’t have the right to target anyone in Ireland seems to escape the caller. Well, excuse me if I say that I might not be the shiniest penny in the collection, but I’m pretty sure that Gerry Adams bears no resemblance to any of the people murdered on those dates, August 9-11, 1971. I’m pretty sure I could pick Gerry Adams out if I were put to the test. It is to be hoped that the person who made the phone call to the Frank Cahill Resource Centre claiming to be a member of the notorious 2nd Battalion B Company will make contact again so that this case can be brought to a conclusion. The facts are there and they need to be told and listened to by everyone who is interested in justice. The British government must accept responsibility for the murders of 11 innocent people in Ballymurphy in 1971. This was a criminal act. Internment was a criminal act, even if no-one had been killed, but the fact is that innocent people were killed and it won’t go away. Danny Kelly
Bloody
Sunday Families Back Ballymurphy Families Sinn Féin President and west Belfast MP Gerry Adams this morning hosted a press conference at which John Kelly of the Bloody Sunday families formally launched a new leaflet for the Ballymurphy Massacre families. Gerry Adams said: “I want to welcome the Ballymurphy families here this morning. “I also want to welcome
four of the Bloody Sunday relatives who are here in solidarity with
the Ballymurphy families and to launch this new Ballymurphy Massacre
leaflet – ‘Time for Our Truth’. “All of those killed were shot by the British Army’s Parachute Regiment. “Six months later the Parachute Regiment killed 14 people in Derry and six months after Bloody Sunday 5 people were killed in Springhill, including a second Catholic priest. “The accounts of how the 11 died in Ballymurphy bears a striking similarity to the stories told by the Bloody Sunday families. “The families have carried out substantial inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of their loved ones. “They believe that not all of the facts pertaining to the shootings were made known or that the killings properly investigated the killings. “They also have concerns about the inquests that were carried out. “In July the Catholic Church released archive documents surrounding the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971. “This included new eyewitness accounts which lend support to the families opinion that vital evidence was withheld. “The demand of the families is very clear. They want truth. “The families are campaigning for an independent international investigation into the circumstances of the 11 deaths and a statement of innocence and apology from the British government.” Briege Voyle spoke for the Ballymurphy families. She outlined some of the detail that is contained in the new leaflet. John Kelly spoke for the Bloody Sunday families. He said: “I can still clearly remember the first time I met this group. I was asked to speak at an event in St. Mary’s Hall, but after listening to the heartbreaking stories I was completely overcome by what I heard. “What I heard were stories of blatant murder and terrible brutality conducted by the Parachute Regiment, the same regiment who were responsible for the same murderous brutality carried out in Derry on Bloody Sunday. “The Ballymurphy massacre happened six months before Bloody Sunday. It and many other murders by the British Army around that time, helped set the precedent that British soldiers were immune from prosecution and knew that they could, would and did get away with murder. We know that the agencies of the British state, from the government down through the prosecution services, helped to promote and encourage this culture of immunity. “Ballymurphy and Bloody Sunday stand side by side in history as massacres carried out by the British Army. I can tell you that after the Saville report they will not get away with murdering our loved ones and they hopefully be brought to justice at long last. “We have achieved some justice with the publication of the Saville Report, and we hope that the families here can get the same. The Bloody Sunday families will always be there to support the Ballymurphy families, and all the other victims that cry out for truth and justice. “With that, I am pleased to launch the Ballymurphy leaflet. Hopefully it will travel the world, educating and making people aware of the type of atrocities and war crimes carried out by the British Army against innocent Irish people. Hopefully it will be part of these families getting the truth and justice they deserve.”
Ballymurphy
relatives of 11 killed by Paras in new inquests call Attorney General John Larkin has been asked to establish new inquests into the deaths of 11 people in west Belfast in August 1971. The bereaved families are calling for the fresh inquests into the deaths of those shot by Parachute Regiment soldiers in west Belfast's Ballymurphy area in light of new evidence and an independent international investigation. Original inquests recorded open verdicts. The deaths, which have become known as the Ballymurphy Massacre, occurred during a three-day security operation. West Belfast MP Gerry Adams said there were “grave concerns” about the original inquests. He said the “substantive submission” to Mr Larkin would include Catholic Church archive documents, inquest verdicts, autopsy reports, inquest depositions and statements by Royal Military Police personnel, contemporary RUC reports and a preliminary report into the deaths. Mr Adams said: “Families have been campaigning for an independent international investigation. They have now prepared this submission to the Attorney General, probably one of the first cases of such a kind and clearly could not have happened until there was a local Attorney General.” The material will be presented to Mr Larkin with a request under Section 14 of the Coroners Act 1959, which allows the Attorney General to order a fresh inquest. Briege Boyd, daughter of victim Joan Connolly, said some of the information available at the time was “not considered or investigated” and that the dossier was a step to “acquiring an independent international investigation into the murder of our loved ones”. Patsy Mullan, brother of Fr Hugh Mullan, said though time had passed since his brother’s death, the hurt hadn’t left and the truth must be made public. “What I am interested in the truth,” he said. “We want the truth to be told to all the world, that these people were innocent.” Campaigners said new eyewitness statements have been taken and will also be presented to Mr Larkin in the next few weeks. The families’ solicitor, Paddy Murray, said: “The families believe that the original inquest was flawed. We believe there was information made available at the time which was never brought before the original inquest.” Mr Adams added this matter would now be left to the, “good office of the Attorney General to come up with the right decision”. “We don’t presume anything,” he said. “We simply give him the submission and request that he do what he is authorised to do, if he thinks there is new evidence.”
Ballymurphy
leaders campaign in U.S. The families of the 11 people killed in the Ballymurphy area of West Belfast in 1971 have brought their campaign for justice to the U.S. This week the group’s representatives have scheduled meetings with prominent Irish community leaders, and they will lobby politicians on Capitol Hill. Over 36 hours between August 9 and 11, 1971, the Parachute Regiment shot dead 11 unarmed civilians in the West Belfast housing estate of Ballymurphy, in a mass killing that has been called Belfast’s Bloody Sunday. Those who were killed included a local priest and a 45-year-old mother. The Ballymurphy massacre unfolded a full six months before the Paras were deployed to Derry with tragic consequences on Bloody Sunday, but the event has never received the same level of official scrutiny as the Derry killings. Reasons cited for the apparent disinterest include a lack of political will and the fact that there was the lack of on the ground press reporters over the weekend it occurred. “We know we’re fighting a hard battle,” Briege Voyle, whose 45-year-old mother Joan Connolly was shot dead, told the Irish Voice. “We didn’t have the world’s press there when it happened the way Derry did. If you look at the inquest papers the British filed, they say there were no witnesses to the event. Not one. “Twenty years later we were able to produce 150 witnesses. The government never sent anyone to knock on our doors. It’s time for a proper investigation.” Voyle says the campaign’s mission is simple -- they want the history books changed. “They say that my mother died shooting pistols and machine guns. This wasn’t a gun woman. This was an innocent woman with eight children and a grandchild. I want that acknowledged,” Voyle said. The Ballymurphy group wants the independent international investigation they believe they were entitled to on the day. They also want the British government to publicly acknowledge that the victims were all innocent people. “We don’t want one of those 11 o’clock at night apologies where people are watching a different channel and they miss it,” says Voyle. “We want an apology that admits it should never have happened and that it won’t happen again.” Any Irish American group or organization who can send statements of support for the campaign are welcome, said John Teggart, another campaign spokesperson. “Send letters in support of an inquiry to the British Prime Minister David Cameron, send them to the British secretary of state, send them to the Irish government and the taoiseach (prime minister) and the Irish foreign affairs minister. Make them public,” Teggart added. “We have a website were people can go to read about the story, and make donations if they want to,” added Voyle. Visit www.ballymurphymassacre.com for more information.
TOM comment: What can people in England, Scotland and Wales do to support the Ballymurphy families?
Contact details: David Cameron, 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA e-mail: camerond@parliament.uk or fill in form at https://email.number10.gov.uk/Contact.aspx Owen Paterson, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Office, 11 Millbank, London SW1P 4PN e-mail: patersono@parliament.uk or fill in form at http://www.nio.gov.uk/index/contact-us/enquiry-form.htm Your own MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA www.writetothem.com
Ballymurphy
shootings: Minister rules out inquiry Northern Ireland Minister Hugo Swire last night indicated the Government would not open an investigation into the killing of 11 people by the Army in 1971. He told MPs the Government believed the Historical Enquiries Team (HET), which is examining the Ballymurphy shootings, was capable of dealing with any investigation. After the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, the Government said it was against more costly public inquiries. However, a group representing the families of the people killed in the west Belfast shootings has campaigned for a full international independent inquiry to be held. It has furiously criticised the investigation by the HET, saying it did not want the state investigating the state. But Mr Swire insisted the case had to be considered in the context of one of the “bloodiest years” of the Troubles. He said: “We listened carefully to the families' calls for an international independent investigation, a recognition of the innocence of the loved ones and an apology. “We did, of course, note the ongoing investigation into the case being carried out by the HET. The Government strongly supports the work of the HET.” He added that the Government would accept responsibility for the wrongdoings of the state, but focusing solely on the actions of the state was not appropriate. The SDLP'S Mark Durkan appeared close to tears as he recounted the details of the Ballymurphy Massacre. During a debate he secured on the deaths, he became visibly upset when telling MPs how Catholic priest Father Hugh Mullan was shot down when he went to the aid of another victim. The 11 men and women, including a mother-of-eight Joan Connolly, were killed by Paratroopers who claimed that they had opened fire only after being shot at by republicans.
The Massacres
at Ballymurphy and Springhill – The Truth Must Out Almost 40 years ago, during the early hours of August 9 1971, British soldiers, under orders from both London and Stormont, launched Operation Demetrius, the introduction of internment without trial, in the occupied Six Counties. Internment had been employed by the apartheid Stormont regime in every decade since the creation of the northern state as a means of suppressing republican resistance. In the 1920s, ’30s, ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, republicans and nationalists had been imprisoned without trial. Even at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, the ongoing imprisonment of Lurgan republican Martin Corey without any charges having been preferred demonstrates that internment, in one guise or another, still remains a favoured British tactic. In 1971, as the British army swept into nationalist areas across the North, 342 men were arrested in the initial swoops. Among those arrested were republicans, socialists, GAA activists and prominent members of the Civil Rights Movement. In Armagh, the British army raided homes in their efforts to arrest a man who had been dead for the previous four years. The reaction of the nationalist community throughout the Six Counties and in the Twenty-Six Counties was one of palpable anger. This anger was reinforced when news of the torture of the internees, particularly 11 men who became known as the ‘hooded men’, became public. The anger took the form of increased support for republicanism and the commencement of a campaign of civil disobedience within the nationalist community. In one part of Belfast, between August 9 and 11, over 600 British soldiers entered the Ballymurphy area, raiding homes and rounding up men. Young and old alike were shot and beaten as they were dragged from their homes without reason. During this three-day period, 11 people were brutally murdered. All 11 were unarmed civilians, murdered by the British army’s Parachute Regiment. One of the victims was a 45-year-old mother of eight children, while another was a well-known parish priest. In the aftermath, no investigations were carried out and no member of the British army was held to account. The accounts of how the 11 died bear a striking similarity to the stories told by the Bloody Sunday families in Derry, whose loved ones also fell victim to the Britain’s Parachute Regiment. Eleven months later and not far away from Ballymurphy, on July 9 1972, another five people, two of them children and one a priest, were shot dead in what became known as the Springhill Massacre. Several others were injured. Local people believe that the fatal shots in this incident were fired from covert British army observation posts. Yet, like the Ballymurphy killings in 1971 and the Bloody Sunday killings in January 1972, no one was ever arrested or charged in connection with the Springhill shootings. The 1971 killings have often been referred to as the forgotten massacre, but, to the families left behind, they didn’t forget. For almost 40 years, they have carried their pain and grief deep within their hearts, but their thirst for the truth to be told has not diminished one iota. The Ballymurphy Massacre families, along with those of the Springhill Massacre, have had their lives devastated by state violence, cover-ups and lies. They have seen their loved ones killed with impunity with no proper investigations. They themselves became targets of harassment because they dared to challenge the British state’s version of events. Some of the families have suffered multiple traumas with the loss of other relatives due to the conflict. Over the past number of years, the relatives and survivors of the Ballymurphy Massacre have campaigned across Ireland, Britain, the US and Europe in their quest to establish the truth. As part of that campaign, the families are demanding an independent and international investigation into the murder of their loved ones. However, the British government continues to thwart the families’ just demands. Last Thursday [December 9], British direct rule minister Hugo Swire told the British parliament that his government would not conduct such an inquiry and instead told the families to co-operate with the Historical Enquiries Team [HET]. In doing so, he demonstrated the utter contempt which the British government has for the victims of that government’s armed forces. Swire and other British ministers know only too well that the Ballymurphy families have absolutely no faith in the HET. How could they? After all, the families had previously outlined their total and collective opposition to the PSNI’s HET, underlining that it did not meet the necessary requirements regarding independence – one of their key demands. The families have also pointed out that the HET had previously conducted a ‘review’ and ‘investigation’ into two of the killings below the radar and concluded that the Parachute Regiment had no case to answer. That was an appalling statement and a direct indictment of the failings of the HET in what can only be described as an attempt to whitewash the truth concerning the Ballymurphy Massacre. As the families themselves have stated, information concerning the killings evidentially merits that any investigative process must equally examine links between the killings of those in Ballymurphy and those killed during Bloody Sunday. The chain of evidence indicates that some of the same paratroopers were involved in both massacres – all involving unarmed civilians. By promoting the use of the flawed HET process, the British government seeks to neutralise and stall the campaign demands of the Ballymurphy families, while also controlling what does and does not emerge about official governmental policy at the time of these killings. Official governmental and military documents uncovered in London prior to the sending in of the Paratroopers cite directives to use ‘shock and stun’ tactics. There can be no doubt that part of the policy was to inflict such devastation and carnage that would suppress the community and/or turn it in on itself. Other examples of this military approach are Bloody Sunday, and the multiple killings in Springhill and New Lodge in which a total of 36 nationalist lives were claimed within an 18-month period. Over the same period, a total of 92 people were also killed in separate incidents by the British army. A further six people were killed by the RUC. All with impunity. The HET process equally avoids examining similar multiple killings by the British army that would draw focus to the thematic approach, tactics and policy of the British government during this period, which is essential to any proper investigation. The above figures do not include the activities of the unionist death squads, including the Kelly’s and McGurk’s Bar bombings, in which official misinformation and lies were also peddled with the aim of further fracturing and dividing the nationalist community. That all of this was occurring during the posting to the Six Counties of key British military and counter-insurgency strategist Frank Kitson, who wrote and published five manuals on low intensity warfare and infiltration tactics, is no coincidence. It is the families’ considered view that the HET has been engaged in what can only be described as an elaborate exercise of serpentine weaving, aimed at managing and suppressing the truth concerning the Ballymurphy Massacre. éirígí supports
the families and survivors of the Ballymurphy Massacre in their quest
for the truth and completely endorses the families’ demand and
the compelling case they have made for an independent international
investigation into the deliberate murders of 11 unarmed civilians
– a case that no-one can genuinely argue with. On August 9, the first of the killings took place in Springfield Park. A local man was trying to lift children to safety when he was shot and wounded. People tried to help, but were pinned down by British army gunfire. The parish priest, Father Hugh Mullan, took out a white cloth and tried to reach the wounded man, but as he knelt over him, anointing him, he was shot. Another young man, Frank Quinn, on witnessing this came out of his position of safety to help Mullan and he too was murdered. The bodies lay until local people could reach them and remained in neighbours’ houses until the next morning. 200 yards away, at exactly the same time, local people were standing on waste ground at the top of Ballymurphy when the British army opened fire. Noel Phillips, a young man of 19 was shot and wounded. As he lay crying for help, a mother of eight children, Joan Connolly, went to his aid. She was heard to say “It’s alright son, I’m coming to you”. Joan was shot in the face and, as she lay on the ground, other local men tried to get to her, which resulted in them also being shot. When this atrocity was over, Daniel Teggart, a father of 13 children, had been shot 14 times and Joan Connolly lay dead. Joseph Murphy who was shot in the leg and Noel Phillips, also suffering from a wound, did not receive any medical attention. When a British army Saracen [an armoured personnel carrier] pulled into the field, Noel Phillips received a summary execution, witnessed by many people. The British began to throw the dead and wounded into the Saracen, including Joseph Murphy. Murphy was taken to the Henry Taggart military base, where he was severely beaten. He died three weeks later. His family said that, if he had received medical attention, he would have lived. Others wounded were also severely beaten, none received medical attention. Eddie Doherty was making his way home along the Whiterock Road on August 10 when a British army digger and Saracen moved in to dismantle a barricade that had been erected. From the digger, a member of the Parachute Regiment shot Eddie in the back. He did not receive any medical attention and died of his wounds. In the early morning of August 11, John Laverty, aged 20, was shot dead by British soldiers. Joseph Corr, a father of seven, was also shot and later died on August 27 as a result. The Parachute Regiment’s account is that both men were firing at them. In fact, neither man was armed. All ballistic and forensic evidence disproved this testimony, with no residue from firearms being found. The British army’s version of events remains the ‘official’ version. Paddy McCarthy, a community worker, was shot in the hand while attempting to leave the local community centre to distribute milk and bread. A few hours later, he decided to continue with his deliveries, but he was stopped by British soldiers and beaten. Paddy suffered a massive heart attack and died as result of his ordeal. John McKerr was
opening Corpus Christi chapel for people attending a funeral later
that morning when a British army sniper shot him. Despite harassment
from British soldiers, local residents went to his aid and remained
at his side until an ambulance arrived. He died of his wounds on August
20. Paddy Butler, aged 38, was married with six children and worked for Belfast Corporation most of his life. British army snipers had been positioned in Corry’s timber yard and had fired without warning into the Westrock/Springhill areas, already seriously injuring a number of people. At that point, Paddy went to get the local priest Fr Noel Fitzpatrick. It was at this time that someone had said that a young girl had been shot further down near Corry’s. Paddy Butler and Fitzpatrick had just walked out into the open when a sniper from Corry’s opened fire at them. The bullet passed through Fitzpatrick and hit Butler, killing them both. Fifteen-year-old David McCafferty was shot by the same sniper as he tried to retrieve the bodies. Margaret Gargan [13], who was struck by a single British army bullet as she spoke with a number of friends, and David McCafferty were the youngest victims that night. John Dougal had left school the month before and was 16-years-old. He, along with a friend, was going to the aid of another wounded man when both lads were shot by the British. John died several hours later.
’Murph
voice is heard loud and clear in Derry Relatives of the Ballymurphy Massacre victims joined tens of thousands of people on the streets of Derry on Sunday (30th Jan) for what was the city’s final Bloody Sunday march. Exactly 39 years to the day, the march finally and symbolically made its way to the Guildhall – the original destination of the anti-internment march on that ill-fated day in January 1972. The march was the first since the publication of the Saville Report on June 15 last, which exonerated all those killed and wounded. It was led by a banner reading ‘Vindicated’. In the words of Gerry Duddy, brother of Jackie Duddy, who was shot dead: “Innocence has been proven and accepted. The truth has at last been acknowledged.” The rally in Guildhall Square was addressed by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams and SDLP MP Mark Durkan. Mr Adams recalled the Ballymurphy Massacre in Belfast in August 1971 which left 11 dead, including a parish priest and a mother-of-eight. The Parachute Regiment that carried out the massacre was the very same that unleashed further carnage on the streets of Derry six months later. Mr Adams said the relatives, and indeed all victims of the Troubles, deserved the truth. Mark Durkan said: “This may be the last march, but not the last stand we will take in relation to truth, in relation to justice, whether it is in relation to Bloody Sunday, the families of Ballymurphy or so many other people who have suffered the loss of loved ones at the hands of unjustified and unjustifiable violence.” It seemed as though the campaign torch had been passed from the Derry families to the Ballymurphy families. They featured heavily in all major discussions of the weekend, and their representatives attended all functions. Their banner followed directly after the main ‘Vindicated’ sign. Briege Voyle, whose mother Joan Connolly was one of those killed in the Ballymurphy Massacre, called for continued support for the victims’ families as they seek justice for their loved ones. Addressing the Bloody Sunday families, she said in relation to the publication of Saville last June: “It was an honour to be here on that day and share on your moment. I live in hope that one day you will be with the Ballymurphy families as we celebrate our day of innocence. Until then our fight for the truth will go on.” Speaking out against criticisms that another inquiry like Saville would be too expensive, Mrs Voyle said that no cost compares to that of the loss of a loved one. And when it happens unlawfully at the hands of the state the government owes the families justice. Pat Quinn, whose father Frank died in Ballymurphy, made the group’s objectives clear. “We want a statement of innocence, an independent international investigation and an apology from the British government. To achieve this we need to get the story out there and make people aware,” he said. When asked why the Bloody Sunday campaign has been more successful than the Ballymurphy campaign, Tony Doherty, son of Patrick Doherty, who died on Bloody Sunday, said: “We had an easier time. Bloody Sunday happened in broad daylight and with media present. Ballymurphy had no media coverage and it happened, for the most part, in the dead of night.” Most of the Derry families have stated that if the Ballymurphy families need help on their campaign they are “with them all the way”. The Bloody Sunday marches have always been a great vehicle to raise awareness for other struggles, from civil rights to gay rights. Their presence will be missed, but it is important to note the final march was carried out in high spirits. In a poignant tribute, the thousands who packed Guildhall Square applauded in place of the traditional one-minute silence as the names of the dead and wounded were read out. Singer Frances Black led the crowd in singing Labi Siffre’s ‘Something Inside So Strong’, and a moving rendition of the civil rights anthem ‘We Shall Overcome’. Campaigns from all over the world have taken lessons from Bloody Sunday, from the El Mozote Massacre in El Salvador to the campaign for justice in Gaza. It is an example to the rest of the world of how to conduct a campaign with the utmost dignity and persistence.
Ballymurphy
meeting 'worthwhile' The families of those killed by the British Army in Ballymurphy 40 years ago have described their first ever meeting with the First Minister Peter Robinson on Friday as a 'worthwhile experience'. Eleven people lost their lives including a mother-of-eight and a local priest in the 1971 shootings, which were carried out by the same British Army Parachute Regiment that six months later would killed 13 innocent civilians on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry. Families of those killed are calling for an apology from the Government and an independent international investigation into the deaths. They have taken their campaign to London and now they want Mr Robinson's support. John Teggart's father Danny was killed he told UTV it was good another person especially Peter Robinson had heard their story. "We were able to go into details about exactly how they were murdered and how it affected the families afterwards, with him especially as First Minister and leader of the DUP it was important for someone like him to understand that the state is responsible", Mr Teggart said. "It was worthwhile, he did give us some pointers and indicated we could look at civil prosecution, that in itself is worthwhile", he added. The meeting lasted just over an hour.
Ballymurphy
meeting DUP Leader, Rt. Hon. Peter Robinson MLA said: “Today I met with and listened carefully to the views expressed by the people from Ballymurphy. Everyone recognises that that period of time in Ulster’s history was very dark and there are hundreds of similar stories throughout the Province. Throughout the Province there are thousands of victims who have not had their questions answered about the deaths of their loved ones. To lose a loved one is a painful experience. The way in which we deal with the past requires sensitivity. The DUP is of the view that a further raft of open-ended, costly inquiries is not beneficial.”
Revealed:
The timeline of events that led to the Ballymurphy Massacre Next Tuesday will mark exactly 40 years since the beginning of one of the most horrifying periods in the history of West Belfast. The Ballymurphy Massacre took place during the opening days of internment when the then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Brian Falkner, gave the green light for state forces to rip thousands of men, women and children from their homes and detain them indefinitely without trial. The ensuing chaos caused riots and civil unrest in nationalist areas across the North, including dozens of deaths. However, the shockwaves felt at the 11 deaths at the hands of the Parachute Regiment in Ballymurphy over August 9-11 are still felt to this day. 57 children were left without a parent as a result of the massacre. The families of those killed are still searching for the truth of what happened to their loved ones and have stepped up their campaign to clear the names of the mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters incorrectly and maliciously branded by the authorities and the media as IRA gunmen/women deserving of death. For the first time, in this week’s edition of the Andersonstown News, the families of each of the 11 who died have come together to speak in great detail about what happened to their loved ones and the havoc it wreaked on families the in the aftermath. Patsy McMullan, the brother of Fr Hugh Mullan who was killed tending to a wounded man in the Springhill Park area, tells us that he and his family were due to visit their brother in Ballymurphy that day. “He phoned down to us to tell us not to come up as there was going to be serious trouble. So we stayed where we were,” said his Patsy. “We listened to the news throughout the day and it seemed quiet enough. But as the night went on, by 11pm I heard on RTE news that a priest was shot in Ballymurphy. I knew that out of anybody, Hugh would be the type to do what he is supposed to have done (go out and tend to the injured). That’s his nature, he does that type of thing.” The brothers of 19-year-old Frank Quinn, who was shot dead beside Fr Mullan, spoke about how their parents were forced to leave their Stranmillis home after their Protestant neighbours turned against them. “Our neighbours (in Stranmillis) had sent us to a Coventry of sorts because the media said the people who died that night were gunmen and gunwomen,” said Pat Quinn. “I would have ran errands for these people and they knew me on first name terms, yet now there was coldness from them towards us.” Noel Phillips was the first of the four people to die during the massacre at ‘the Manse’, where Paratroopers opened fire indiscriminately on a group of people searching for their loved ones. Whilst injured on the grass, a solider executed Noel by shooting him twice in the head. “We were all playing cards outside the door of our house at Whitecliff Parade when we heard the Prods were invading Springfield Park,” remembers Noel’s oldest brother Rab. “So people started to scatter all over the place. That was the last I saw of him alive. After 11pm that night I heard that someone was shot dead and we worked out that it was our Noel.” Danny Teggart was shot in the leg during the massacre on the Manse. The Paras would then shot the father-of-13 children 14 times to make sure he was dead. “Daddy had been to see my sister Alice earlier on that day,” his son John told the Andersonstown News. “She had cut his hair for him and still has some his curls from that day. She also told him that she was pregnant and he was going to be a grandfather again. With the turmoil of what happened to my father, Alice ended up losing that child.” Joan Connolly, the only female victim of the massacre, was left to die on the Manse after soldiers shot her in the face as she tended to the injured Noel Phillips. She left a family of eight children behind her whose lives were torn apart by the loss of their beloved mother. “People then heard shooting and heard her screaming that she couldn’t see, then they heard more shooting and did not hear her again. We only heard exactly what happened years later,” said her daughter, Briege Voyle. “She had come out to Noel Phillips where he lay on the Manse after being shot, she heard him crying in pain and went to help him. She had said to me earlier on that night that those loyalists would shoot you where the army wouldn’t so she went out there (on to the Manse) because in her head she believed the army wouldn’t shoot her. When she walked out she wasn’t being a hero, she believed she’d be okay as she was a women.” Joseph Murphy was shot on the Manse but was taken with the dead and injured to Henry Taggart barracks on the Springfield Road. His daughter Janet Donnelly spoke of the torture her father received from the Paras inside the barracks, injuries which would lead to his death two weeks later. “He says when the soldiers came near them they kicked the bodies whether they were alive or dead,” said Janet. “On his death bed in the Royal, my daddy told my mother that one young soldier had asked for medical intervention and a priest for the men, but another soldier hit him with the butt of a rifle and told him not to pray over a fenian bastard. Those were my daddy’s words to his wife on his death bed.” The sister of 31-year-old father-of-four Eddie Doherty, shot dead while on his way home from checking on the safety of his family, spoke of how the army lied about her brother to cover up their actions. “They swore his life away,” said Kathleen McCarry. “The solider that shot him said Eddie was the guy who threw the petrol bomb at the barrier at Brittons Parade. According to another soldier’s statement, Eddie was armed with a rifle.” John Laverty and Joseph Corr, both shot dead on the morning of August 11, were also portrayed as IRA gunmen by the authorities. John’s sister Carmel Quinn told us that her family believes the army fabricated a story about a riot taking place that morning to cover up for the two men’s deaths. “They had to make it look like a riot took place so they trailed young boys out of houses at the top of Dermot Hill, and they went into Ballymurphy and trailed a man of 80 out of his home,” said Carmel. “There were 52 people pulled out of their homes that morning, arrested and brought to Girdwood (army barracks in North Belfast). Out of that 52, two of them were charged with riotous behaviour, one of whom was (John’s brother) Terry. My mummy always said they did that because that had to try and justify John being murdered.” Elieen McKeown, daughter of Joseph Corr, spoke of how her father’s workmates in Shorts sent a taunting letter to the family in the aftermath of her father’s death. “The media had portrayed him as an IRA gunman so after he died my mummy received a letter from his workmates at Shorts,” said Eileen. “It said, ‘May your husband and his sub-human pals roast in hell.’ That was the only acknowledgement she got for his death from his workplace.” The daughter of community worker Paddy McCarthy, a Londoner who died from a massive heart attack after Paratroopers staged a mock execution on him, speak for the first time about their father’s death in this week’s Andersonstown News special. “I was totally unaware that there was something called the Ballymurphy Massacre,” said Jenny Asham. “And like the Bloody Sunday situation, it’s outrageous that troops should behave in that manner. It’s even more difficult in that I’m English and that these troops are from where I come from.” The family of Andersonstown carpenter John McKerr, shot by an army sniper as he took a break from working at Corpus Christi church, talk of how their father was not supposed to be in Ballymurphy on the day he died. “The day he died he was supposed to go up to St Michael’s chapel in Andersonstown to work, but he decided he would come back here [Corpus Christi] because there was a funeral that day and he was going to open up and finish off a few things before the funeral came in,” said his daughter Bernie Brannigan. “Mum said to him to be careful
because of the curfew, but he said he’d be fine – if he
missed the curfew he would stay with the nuns, it would be all right.
And that was it.”
Marchers
call for Ballymurphy Massacre probe The 40th anniversary of the killing of 11 people in Belfast in 1971 was commemorated with a march through the Ballymurphy area yesterday. Hundreds of people walked behind banners calling for a probe into the shooting of 11 civilians by paratroopers over three days between August 9 and 11. The event became known as the Ballymurphy Massacre. The shootings started during the launch of the army operation to enforce internment without trial. The paratroopers claimed they were shot at as they entered the area and returned fire. These claims were disputed by the relatives of those killed and injured. Among those killed was a Catholic priest who was going to the aid of a wounded man. Ballymurphy relatives have called for an inquiry similar to that held into Bloody Sunday, which happened a short time later, also involving the Paratroop Regiment. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams echoed those calls at yesterday's rally. Mr Adams said: "After the publication of the Saville Report, the British Prime Minister David Cameron said that the events of Bloody Sunday did not define the role of the British Army in Ireland. "He is wrong. It does. In my view, the British knew they were killing unarmed civilians. The Peace Process continues, slowly but surely bringing about change, but the Peace Process will become organic only when those who lost loved ones in the conflict have closure." Bishop of Down and Connor Noel
Treanor has also publicly supported the campaign for an inquiry into
the killings, and presented relatives with a previously undisclosed
report, compiled by the church at the time.
New Inquests
into Ballymurphy Massacre The Attorney General has ordered ten new inquests into the Ballymurphy Massacre. The families of the victims will hold a press conference today, Tuesday 15th November, at 10.30am in Corpus Christy Church Hall, Ballymurphy, Belfast. The intervention comes after Attorney General John Larkin reviewed the original inquests held a year after the August 1971 massacre and found many unanswered questions. He found that in many instances no witnesses were called, there was no effective investigation and the accounts of British soldiers conflicted. Eleven people - including a Catholic Priest and a mother of eight - died in the shootings, carried out over a three-day period following the introduction of internment. British army chiefs claimed the Parachute Regiment only opened fire because republicans were shooting at them. But for years the families have demanded that the truth about what really happened be told - that their loved ones were all innocent victims. Now the families are hopeful that the new inquests, due to begin in a few months’ time, will contribute to bringing their four decade long campaign to an end. The Troops Out Movement congratulates the families on their determination and tenacity in fighting for truth and justice for their murdered loved ones. We wish them every success and
pledge our continued support in their ongoing struggle.
Families
welcome new inquests into 1971 killings The Ballymurphy families have welcomed a decision by the North’s attorney general John Larkin to order fresh inquests into the killings of 10 people shot dead by British paratroopers in the west Belfast area in 1971. The families have been pressing for an independent inquiry into the killings by the soldiers which happened just months before the same regiment was involved in Bloody Sunday in Derry which resulted in 14 killings of innocent civilians. They repeated their calls for an international inquiry yesterday while adding that the reopened inquests were a “very important step on our journey for truth”. The families say that 11 people died, including a priest and a mother of eight children, as a result of the shootings and actions of the paratroopers which happened in August 1971 during the introduction of internment without trial. The British army said it fired in response to shots from republicans. The 11th victim was Paddy McCarthy (44) who died as a result of heart attack a short time after a soldier allegedly put an empty gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger. “We will continue to gather evidence and locate and record witness evidence to assist a further application to the attorney general in relation to the death of Mr McCarthy. “We will continue in our quest to have the truth about Pat’s death to be a matter of historical record,” the families said. The families said Mr Larkin exhibited leadership and credibility in announcing that the inquests will be reopened. “We regard the original sham inquests as a serious neglect of duty by everyone involved and leave a lot of questions to be answered,” they added. The families called for the inquests to be held without delay, and with sufficient resources and funding provided to the coroner and the families’ legal representatives to ensure that all of the facts were known. They added that even a fully resourced and effective inquest would have limitations. “It will be able to provide facts and gather crucial forensic, logistical and witness testimony evidence, but it will not be able to examine the causes, context and consequences of the massacre and answer so many of the questions that must be answered,” the families said. “We believe that only an international and independent investigation can facilitate the discovery of the facts and provide an accurate historical account of the events of August 1971 on the streets of Ballymurphy,” they said. Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams described the decision as a “landmark legal judgment” which provided families with the possibility of getting to the truth. “The inquests must now be held without delay and the families must be provided with the necessary resources to ensure that all of the facts are uncovered,” he said. Alex Attwood, the SDLP Assembly member for West Belfast, said that the decision was “a step in the right direction” which vindicated the families’ campaign. Both politicians said an international
inquiry must be held to reveal the full truth behind the killings.
Relatives
of Para victims take crusade to PM's door Relatives of people shot by the Paras have taken their campaign to Downing Street. A delegation handed in a letter to Number 10 asking for an “independent international investigation” into the Ballymurphy killings in Belfast in 1971. The Ballymurphy Massacre Families campaign also asked the Government to issue a “statement of innocence” in relation to the people killed. The Army said it opened fire in the Ballymurphy area in response to republican gunfire. Pat Quinn, whose brother Frank (19) was among those killed, said: “We will ask anyone, and go anywhere, until we discover the truth about what happened to our loved ones.” The group was joined at Downing Street by Mark Durkan, SDLP MP for Foyle. Mr Durkan said the families wanted an “independent investigation” into what happened. He added: “I do not think it’s too much to ask.”
Ballymurphy
massacre families demand justice The families of those killed by paratroopers during the 1971 Ballymurphy massacre in Belfast have demanded that David Cameron meet with them to discuss their call for an independent investigation into the atrocity. Eleven innocent civilians were killed by members of the parachute regiment in the 36 hours between August 9-11 - six months before the same regiment carried out the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry. The families of the victims have waged a 40-year campaign for justice. This week they have written an impassioned letter to Mr Cameron urging him to meet them to discuss their calls for an independent investigation. The open letter states: "The only mechanism acceptable by the campaign group is an independent international investigation which looks at causes, context and consequences of the massacre. Any story-telling or historical enquiry team-type process is not good enough." They also call for a full declaration of innocence for those killed and a public apology from the British government. John Teggart, whose father Daniel was shot 14 times, told the Star: "On Bloody Sunday it all happened in 20-30 minutes and the eyes of the world were watching. "Everyone knew it was murder. In Ballymurphy it took place over three days, it was a sustained attack by around 600 paratroopers that led to the murders. "We are calling for an investigation similar to that conducted by (retired Canadian Judge) Peter Cory and his panel (into security force collusion). "All those calling for public inquiries are entitled to one but we have released that to go down the inquiry route would be a long way off. "The minimum we want is for our loved ones' deaths to be investigated. To date there has been no proper police investigation, only an internal investigation by the army itself. "With regards to David Cameron, we are impatient. He has refused to meet with us, he has not responded to our correspondence. We are calling for him to meet us face to face." An online petition has also
been launched on the campaign's website ballymurphymassacre.com
Some of the
Victims of State Killing Robert Anderson 25 years, Mourne View Park, Newry, shot dead along with Sean Ruddy and Thomas James McLaughlin by British soldiers in Newry, Co. Down, on 24 October 1971. The soldiers were on the roof of a building overlooking a bank and shot the three men as they attempted to rob the bank. Declan Arthurs 21 years, Cappagh, Co. Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at RUC Loughgall Barracks, County Armagh, on 8 May 1987. Seven other IRA activists were also killed; Seamus Donnelly (19), Michael Gormley (25), Eugene Kelly (25), Patrick Kelly (30), James Lynagh (31), Padraig McKearney (32), and Gerard O'Callaghan (29). Anthony Hughes (36), a civilian was also shot dead and his brother seriously injured when they drove their car into the firing zone. Daniel Barrett 15years, Havana Court, Ardoyne, north Belfast, shot dead sitting on the garden wall of his home on 9 July 1981, by members of the British army's Welsh Guards. Antoine MacGiolla Bhrighde 27 years, IRA activist, from County Derry, shot dead by undercover British soldiers at Kesh, County Fermanagh, on 2 December 1984. John Boyle 16 years, shot dead in a graveyard near his home, at Dunloy, County Antrim, by members of an undercover British army unit on 11 July 1978. Eamonn Bradley 23 years, Derry City, an IRA activist, he was unarmed when he was shot dead by British soldiers on 25 August 1982. He was coming out of bar in the Shantallow area of the city. Francis Bradley 20 years, Toome, County Antrim, shot dead by undercover British soldiers crossing a field at the back of a farmhouse outside Toome on 18 February 1986. Seamus Bradley 19 years, Creggan, Derry city, shot and fatally wounded by British soldiers in the Creggan area early on 31 July 1972. He died a short time later. The shooting occurred during ‘Operation Motorman,' a British military plan to saturate and take over nationalist areas of the North from which they had been more or less excluded since the Bloody Sunday shootings in January 1972. Charles Breslin 20 years, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead along with Michael Devine (22) and his brother David Devine (17) by undercover British soldiers, on 23 February 1985. The shootings occurred in the early hours of the morning as the three men were returning to an arms dump. The undercover soldiers were aware of the arms dump after being tipped off by an informer. Denis Brown 28 years, Ardoyne, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead along with two other IRA activists, William Mealy (30) and James Mulvenna (28), by undercover British soldiers on 20 June 1978. The three men were killed in an ambush as they approached a post office vehicle depot in north Belfast. William Hanna (28), who drove into the fire zone, was also shot and killed by the soldiers. James Brown 18 years, Creggan, Derry City, killed along with James English (19) when British soldiers deliberately drove their armoured vehicle into a crowd of people in Derry on 19 April 1981. James Bryson 25 years, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot and fatally wounded by undercover British soldiers in Ballymurphy on 31 August 1973. He died in hospital on 22 September 1973. Patrick Mulvenna (19), also an IRA activist was shot dead in the same incident. Both men were getting out of a car when they were shot. Sean Burns 21 years, Lurgan, County Armagh, an IRA activist, he was shot dead in a car by an undercover RUC unit outside Lurgan on 11 November 1982. Two other IRA activists, Eugene Toman (21) and Gervase McKerr (31), were also killed in the shooting. The three men were travelling in the car outside Lurgan when the shooting occurred. Brian Campbell 19 years, Coalisland, County Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead along with Colm McGirr (23) by undercover British soldiers on 4 December 1983. The shooting occurred just outside Coalisland as both men approached an IRA arms dump. Joseph Campbell 17years, Havana Street Ardoyne, North Belfast, when he was shot dead in Ardoyne on 11 June 1972 by members of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Wales. Teddy Campbell 57 years, from the Markets area of Belfast. A Republican political prisoner sentenced for possession of weapons in 1972, he suffered several severe beatings in Long Kesh jail. As a result of the beatings and subsequent long-term neglect he was released from prison in poor health. His death on 3 May 1974 in Musgrave Hospital his relatives believe was due to mistreatment by the authorities. Tony Campbell 19 years, New Lodge Road, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers along with Ambrose Hardy (26), Brendan Maguire (33) and James Loughran (35) on the New Lodge Road on 3 February 1973. The latter three men were all civilians. They were all shot by soldiers from an observation post on top of high-rise flats. The British army shooting followed a drive by shooting by unionist/loyalist paramilitaries only moments earlier and only yards away. Three people died in that shooting; James Fusco (58), James Sloan (19) and James McCann (18). Stan Carberry 34 years, Andersonstown, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers as he travelled in a car along the Falls Road, near Beechmount, on 13 November 1972. Rodney Carroll 22 years, Armagh City, County Armagh, an INLA activist, he was shot dead by an undercover RUC unit along with Seamus Grew (31), on 12 December 1982. Both men were in a car that was chased by the RUC unit, who opened fire on the men after it was forced to a halt. James (Jimmy) Casey 57 years, Derry City, shot and fatally wounded by British soldiers on 24 July 1972. Mr Casey was in a car with three others returning home from a night out at Greencastle, County Donegal, when their vehicle was fired at by British soldiers in an observation post. Peter Clancy 19 years, Coalisland, County Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers in the car park of a Catholic church outside Coalisland on 16 February 1992. Three other IRA activists, Sean O'Farrell (23), Kevin O'Donnell and Daniel Vincent (20) were also shot dead in the same incident. The four young men were involved in an attack on Coalisland RUC barracks, and afterwards retreated to the church car park where a large unit of undercover soldiers were waiting for them. Peter Cleary 25 years, County Armagh, an IRA activist, he was arrested, beaten and shot dead by undercover British soldiers while visiting his girl friend near Forkhill, south Armagh, on 15 April 1976. Kevin Coen 28 years, Sligo town, County Sligo, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers operating in unmarked cars near the Fermanagh/Cavan border on 10 January 1975. Joan Connolly 50 years, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, shot dead near her home by British soldiers on 9 August 1971. Three other people were also shot and killed by the soldiers in the same incident; Daniel Taggart (44), Noel Philips, and Joseph Murphy (41), who died from his wounds on 22 August 1971. The British soldiers were firing from observation posts overlooking the Ballymurphy area. Michael Connors 13 years, and John Maughan 19 years, both shot dead in Church Lane, near Belfast City centre, on 1 March 1972, by members of a joint British army and Royal Ulster Constabulary patrol. Michael Connors and John Maughan were both members of Ireland's travelling community and were living at a site in the Belfast area at the time of their deaths. Joseph Cunningham 26 years, Rathcoole, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by the RUC on the outskirts of north Belfast on 10 February 1972. Seamus Cusack 27 years, Bogside, Derry City, shot and fatally wounded by British soldiers in the Bogside area during street disturbances. He died shortly after he was admitted into Letterkenny Hospital. Manus Deery 15 years, Limewood Street, Derry City, shot dead 20 May 1972 by members of the British Army firing from the city walls. John Dempsey 16 years, Turf Lodge, west Belfast, shot dead on 8 July 1981, by members of the British army. Sammy Devenney 42 years, Bogside, Derry City, badly beaten by a number of RUC members who entered his home on 19 April 1969. He died from his injuries on 16 July 1971. Several members of Mr Devenney's family, including his children, where also beaten in the attack. David Devine 17 years, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead along with his brother Michael Devine (22) and Charles Breslin (20) by undercover British soldiers, on 23 February 1985. The shootings occurred in the early hours of the morning as the three men were returning to an arms dump. The undercover soldiers were aware of the arms dump after being tipped off by an informer. Michael Devine 22 years, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead along with his brother David Devine (17) and Charles Breslin (20) by undercover British soldiers, on 23 February 1985. The shootings occurred in the early hours of the morning as the three men were returning to an arms dump. The undercover soldiers were aware of the arms dump after being tipped off by an informer. Francis Dodds 32 years, Locan Street, Beechmount, Belfast. A republican political prisoner he suffered several severe beatings in Long Kesh prison while on remand there in September 1972. Sentenced to 14 years for possession of explosion in March 1973, the beatings he received left him with circulation problems in his legs. Requests to prison doctors to treat his ailments and the accompanying pain were dealt with by proscriptions of aspirin. The neglect led to his untimely death in Long Kesh on 9 September 1973. Daniel Doherty 23 years, Derry City, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at Gransha Hospital, Derry, on 6 December 1984. Another IRA activist, William Fleming (19) was shot dead in the same incident. Patrick Doherty 31 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; John Duddy (17), Kevin McElhinney (17), Bernard McGuigan (41), Hugh Gilmore (17), William Nash (19), Michael McDaid (20), John Young (17), Michael Kelly (17), James Wray (22), Gerald Donaghy (17), Gerald McKinney (35), William McKinney (26) and John Johnston (59). Gerard Donaghy 17 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; John Duddy (17), Kevin McElhinney (17), Bernard McGuigan (41), Hugh Gilmore (17), William Nash (19), Michael McDaid (20), John Young (17), Michael Kelly (17), James Wray (22), Patrick Doherty (31), Gerald McKinney (35), William McKinney (26) and John Johnston (59). Michael Donnelly 21 years, Cavendish Street, Falls Road, west Belfast, struck by a plastic bullet fired by a member of the British Army's Royal Artillery Regiment. The shooting occurred at Leeson Street in the Lower Falls Road in the early morning of 9 August 1980, he died shortly afterwards. Seamus Donnelly 19 years, Cappagh, Co. Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at RUC Loughgall Barracks, County Armagh, on 8 May 1987. Seven other IRA activists were also killed; Declan Arthurs (21), Michael Gormley (25), Eugene Kelly (25), Patrick Kelly (30), James Lynagh (31), Padraig McKearney (32), and Gerard O'Callaghan (29). Anthony Hughes (36), a civilian was also shot dead and his brother seriously injured when they drove their car into the firing zone. Tony Doris 22 years, Coalisland, County Tyrone, an IRA activist, shot dead by undercover British soldiers at Coagh, Co. Tyrone, on 3 June 1991. Mr Doris and two other IRA activists, Peter Ryan (35), and Lawrence McNally (39), were driving into Coagh when soldiers opened fire from hidden positions using heavy machine guns. John Dougal 16 years, Springhill Avenue, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, shot dead in Springhill housing estate on 9 July 1972, by members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment. A short time after John's death soldiers firing from the same positions shot dead Margaret Gargan (13), Father Noel Fitzpatrick (a Catholic priest), Patrick Butler (38) and David McCafferty (14). Several others were also serious injured. Subsequently the tragedy became know as "Springhill massacre". Joe Downey 23 years, Markets, south Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers near his home on 21 July 1972. The soldiers responsible were in observation posts in the gas works. Unionist/loyalist gunmen were also firing into the area at the time. John Duddy 17 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; Gerard Donaghy (17), Kevin McElhinney (17), Bernard McGuigan (41), Hugh Gilmore (17), William Nash (19), Michael McDaid (20), John Young (17), Michael Kelly (17), James Wray (22), Patrick Doherty (31), Gerald McKinney (35), William McKinney (26) and John Johnston (59). Henry Duffy 45 years, Benevenagh Gardens, Creggan, Derry, struck by a plastic bullets fired by a member of the British Army's Royal Anglian Regiment, on the morning of 22 May 1981. He died later that day in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. Patrick Duffy 50 years, Derry City, shot dead by undercover British soldiers in an unoccupied house in the city on 24 November 1978. The soldiers had concealed themselves in the house to observe an IRA arms dump there. They shot Mr Duffy after he entered the house. Paul Duffy 23 years, Stewartstown, County Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers near a derelict farm house near Ardboe, County Tyrone, on 26 February 1978. Seamus Duffy 15 year-old, shot-dead by a plastic bullet fired from a passing RUC patrol on August 9th 1989 while returning home from an internment night bonfire in the New Lodge area of North Belfast. At the time of Seamus' killing there was no rioting. Immediately after his death the RUC said that they would appoint a 'top policeman' to investigate the exact circumstances of the death as they believed that Seamus did not die as a result of being hit by a plastic bullet. Patrick Elliot 19 years, Broadway, Falls Road, west Belfast, shot dead by British soldiers coming out of a chip shop he tried to rob on the Andersonstown Road. No firearm was found on his body. Mairead Farrell 31 years, Andersonstown, an IRA activist, she was shot dead by undercover British soldiers in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988. Daniel McCann (30) and Sean Savage (24), also IRA activists, were shot and killed during the same incident. Gerard Fennell 28 years, Twinbrook, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers at Twinbrook on 8 November 1974. The soldiers responsible were concealed in hedges over looking the Stewartstown Road and shot him as he tried to hijack a bus. Fr. Noel Fitzpatrick 40 years, a Catholic priest in Ballymurphy, west Belfast, he was shot dead by British soldiers firing from concealed positions overlooking Ballymurphy, on 9 July 1972. Fr. Fitzpatrick was praying over a wounded man when he was shot. Also killed in the Ballymurphy area that day by British army snipers were, Patrick Butler (39), Margaret Gargan (13), John Dougal (16) and David McCafferty (14). William Fleming 19 years, Derry City, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at Gransha Hospital, Derry, on 6 December 1984. Another IRA activist, Daniel Doherty (23) was shot dead in the same incident. Martin Forsythe 19 years, Turf Lodge, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover RUC officers in Belfast city centre on 24 October 1971. Bernard Fox 16 years, from Etna Drive, Ardoyne, North Belfast, he was shot dead on 4 December 1972, by members of the British Army's Light Infantry Regiment. Thomas Friel 21 years, Creggan Heights, Derry City, hit by a rubber bullet near his home late on the evening of 17 May 1973. He died in hospital on 22 May 1973. Members of the British Army's Royal Artillery Regiment carried out the shooting. James (Jim) Gallagher 20 years, Derry City, shot dead sitting in a bus by a British soldier as it passed an Army barrack in Derry on 17 May 1976. The soldier was in an observation post and shot Mr Gallagher as he sat upstairs at the back of the bus. Margaret Gargan 13 years, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, she was shot dead by British soldiers firing from concealed positions overlooking Ballymurphy, on 9 July 1972. Also killed in the Ballymurphy area that day by British army snipers were, Patrick Butler (39), Fr. Noel Fitzpatrick (40), John Dougal (16) and David McCafferty (14). Stephen Geddis 10 years, St. Comgall's Row, Divis Flats, Falls Road, west Belfast, struck on the head by a plastic-bullet on 28 August 1975, fired by a member of the British army's Royal Anglian Regiment. The child died in hospital 2 days later on 30 August. Gerard Gibson 16 years, Norglen Parade, Turf Lodge, West Belfast, shot dead on 11 July 1972, by members of the British Army's Royal Green Jackets. Hugh Gilmore 17 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; Gerard Donaghy (17), Kevin McElhinney (17), Bernard McGuigan (41), John Duddy (17), William Nash (19), Michael McDaid (20), John Young (17), Michael Kelly (17), James Wray (22), Patrick Doherty (31), Gerald McKinney (35), William McKinney (26) and John Johnston (59). Michael Anthony Gormley 25 years, Co. Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at RUC Loughgall Barracks, County Armagh, on 8 May 1987. Seven other IRA activists were also killed; Declan Arthurs (21), Seamus Donnelly (19), Eugene Kelly (25), Patrick Kelly (30), James Lynagh (31), Padraig McKearney (32), and Gerard O'Callaghan (29). Anthony Hughes (36), a civilian was also shot dead and his brother seriously injured when they drove their car into the firing zone. Tony Gough 24 years, Shantallow, Derry City, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the city on 22 February 1986. Seamus Grew 31 years, Armagh City, County Armagh, an INLA activist, he was shot dead by an undercover RUC unit along with Rodney Carroll (22), on 12 December 1982. Both men were in a car that was chased by the RUC unit, who opened fire on the men after it was forced to a halt. Edward Hale 25 years, Twinbrook, west Belfast, shot dead by undercover soldiers during a robbery of a bookmakers on the Falls Road, on 13 January 1990. The soldiers also killed two other men, Peter Thompson (23) and John McNeill (43). The undercover soldiers were apparently aware of the robbery well in advance and waited for them to emerge from the building before they carried out the shooting. None of the men were armed. William Hanna 28, Ballysillan, north Belfast, shot dead by undercover British soldiers on 20 June 1978. Mr Hanna was driving home when he drove into an ambush set up by the soldiers at Ballysillan Post Office Depot. Three IRA activists were killed in the same firing. They were Denis Brown 28 years, William Mealy (30) and James Mulvenna (28), all from Ardoyne. Ambrose Hardy 26 years, New Lodge Road, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers along with Tony Campbell (19), Brendan Maguire (33) and James Loughran (35) on the New Lodge Road on 3 February 1973. The latter three men were all civilians. They were all shot by soldiers from an observation post on top of high-rise flats. Gerard Harte 29 years, Carrickmore area, Co Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at Drumnakilly, County Tyrone, on 30 August 1988. His brother Martin Harte (21) and Brian Mullin (26), both IRA activists, were also killed in the shooting. The three men were in a car when soldiers, using heavy machine guns, fired on it. Martin Harte 21years, Carrickmore area, Co Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at Drumnakilly, County Tyrone, on 30 August 1988. His brother Gerard Harte (29) and Brian Mullin (26), both IRA activists, were also killed in the shooting. The three men were in a car when soldiers, using heavy machine guns, fired on it. Seamus Harvey 20 years, Drumuckavall, south Armagh, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers on 16 January 1977. Mr Harvey and several others were examining an abandoned car outside Crossmaglen when British soldiers concealed in surrounding fields opened fire on them. Michael Hayes 27 years, Spamount Street, New Lodge Road, north Belfast, shot dead by British soldiers near his home on 1 October 1973. Mr Hayes had been out with friends on the evening of 30 September and was making his way home afterwards when he was shot. Desmond Healey 14 years, Lenadoon, West Belfast, shot on 9 August 1971, in Lenadoon by members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment. Denis Heaney 21 years, Derry City, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by an undercover soldier in Derry, on 10 June 1978. The soldier was in an unmarked car that Mr Heaney another man had tried to hijack. Both were unaware of the soldier's identity when they approached the car. Daniel Hegarty 15years, from Swilly Gardens, Creggan, Derry City, when he was shot dead on 31 July 1972 by members of the British Army's Royal Scottish Guards, in Creggan Heights. John Hemsworth 37, on July the 7th 1997 John Hemsworth made his way home through the Clonard area of west Belfast from an evening out with friends. He was stopped and without reason immediately set upon by several RUC members. On New Year's Day John died from a brain haemorrhage. Kevin Heatley 13 years, Second Avenue, Derrybeg estate, Newry, Co. Down, shot dead on 28 February 1973, by members of the British Army's Royal Hampshire Regiment. Henry Hogan 21 years, Dunloy, County Antrim, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover soldiers following a gun battle at Dunloy on 21 February 1984. Declan Martin (18), also an IRA activist, was shot dead at the same time. Anthony Hughes 36 years, Caledon, County Armagh, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at RUC Loughgall Barracks, County Armagh, on 8 May 1987. Mr Hughes was driving towards the barracks just as undercover British soldiers ambushed a party of IRA members. His brother was also seriously wounded in the shooting. Eight IRA activists were killed in the ambush; Michael Anthony Gormley 25 Declan Arthurs (21), Seamus Donnelly (19), Eugene Kelly (25), Patrick Kelly (30), James Lynagh (31), Padraig McKearney (32), and Gerard O'Callaghan (29). Michael Hughes 16 years, Derrybeg estate, Newry, Co. Down, was shot dead on 18th October 1974, by members of the British Army's Royal Marine Commando Regiment. Charles Irvine 16 years, Divis Flats, West Belfast, shot on 13 July 1975, in his car on the Falls Road, by members of the British Army's Scot's Guards Regiment. He died a short time later in hospital. John Johnston 59 years, Derry City, shot and fatally wounded by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. He died on 16 June 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; Gerard Donaghy (17), Kevin McElhinney (17), Bernard McGuigan (41), Hugh Gilmore (17), William Nash (19), Michael McDaid (20), John Young (17), Michael Kelly (17), James Wray (22), Patrick Doherty (31), Gerald McKinney (35), William McKinney (26) and John Duddy (17). Pearse Jordan was shot-dead by the RUC 25th November 1992 on the Falls Road Belfast. Pearse Jordan was driving alone along the Falls Road when the car in which he was travelling was rammed from behind by one of a number of RUC covert vehicles that had been following him. As he exited the car he was shot three times without warning in the back falling to the ground. Albert Kavanagh 18 years, Cavendish Street, Falls Road, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by members of the RUC after he was captured during a commercial bomb attack on 4 March 1972. The shooting took place at Boucher Road in south Belfast. Mr Kavanagh was unarmed. Colm Keenan 19 years, Derry city, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the Bogside area of the city on 14 March 1972. Eugene McGrillan (18), also an IRA activist, was shot dead around the same time. Their deaths followed a British army raid into the Bogside late in the evening. A gun battle ensued between IRA members and the soldiers, however the IRA said later that the two dead men were not involved in gun battle. Eugene Kelly 25 years, Co. Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at RUC Loughgall Barracks, County Armagh, on 8 May 1987. Seven other IRA activists were also killed; Declan Arthurs (21), Seamus Donnelly (19), Michael Anthony Gormley (25), Patrick Kelly (30), James Lynagh (31), Padraig McKearney (32), and Gerard O'Callaghan (29). Anthony Hughes (36), a civilian was also shot dead and his brother seriously injured when they drove their car into the firing zone. Michael Kelly 17 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; Gerard Donaghy (17), Kevin McElhinney (17), Bernard McGuigan (41), Hugh Gilmore (17), William Nash (19), Michael McDaid (20), John Young (17), John Duddy (17), James Wray (22), Patrick Doherty (31), Gerald McKinney (35), William McKinney (26) and John Johnston (59). Patrick Kelly 30 years, Co. Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at RUC Loughgall Barracks, County Armagh, on 8 May 1987. Seven other IRA activists were also killed; Declan Arthurs (21), Seamus Donnelly (19), Michael Anthony Gormley (25), Eugene Kelly (25), James Lynagh (31), Padraig McKearney (32), and Gerard O'Callaghan (29). Anthony Hughes (36), a civilian was also shot dead and his brother seriously injured when they drove their car into the firing zone. Paul Kelly 17 years, Whiterock Crescent, west Belfast, shot dead in a stolen car at Kennedy Way roundabout on 15 January 1985, by members of the British army's Ulster Defence Regiment. Kevin Kilpatrick 21 years, Coalisland, County Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by the UDR near Coagh, County Tyrone, as he attempted to drive through a checkpoint on 13 May 1973. Eamonn Lafferty 20 years, Creggan, Derry City, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the city on 18 August 1971. John Laverty 20 years, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, accosted by British soldiers, beaten and then shot dead on 11 August 1971. Mr Laverty had been with his younger brother that evening visiting a sister in Turf Lodge. On their way home they could hear the sounds of whistles and the rattle of bin lids; a warning at that time that British troops were in the area. The two young men decided to split up. John was later found dead in a derelict corporation yard at the top of the Whiterock Road. Mr Joseph Corr was also shot and fatally wounded that evening by British soldiers in the same area. He died on the 27 August 1971. Danny Lennon 23 years, Andersonstown, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers as he drove a car along Finaghy Road North. The British soldiers were in an armoured vehicle when they spotted Mr Lennon. They immediately opened fire on the car, firing over 60 shots during a short chase. After Mr Lennon was killed the car went out of control and hitting a mother and her three children. The children, Joanne Maguire (9), John Maguire (3) and Andrew Maguire (6 weeks), were all killed. The failure of the British authorities to release the results of the children's autopsies has resulted in much speculation that they too may have been shot by the British army. Julie Livingstone 14 years, Carrigart Avenue, Lenadoon, west Belfast, was struck on the head by a plastic bullet at Stewartstown Road on 12 May 1981. She died the following day in hospital. A member of the British Army's Prince of Wales Regiment fired the bullet. Seamus Ludlow was abducted and murdered by armed Loyalists and British soldiers outside the town of Dundalk on the night of 1st. and 2nd. May 1976. He was last seen thumbing a lift home from the pub at around midnight before he disappeared. Despite false claims, that were encouraged by the Irish Gardai, that Seamus Ludlow had been murdered by the IRA because he was an informer, it is now known that both the Gardai and the RUC in the North of Ireland were aware at least in 1979, if not even earlier, that the killers were in fact Loyalists. They knew that they included at least two locally recruited members of the British Army. Jim Lynagh 31 years, Co. Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at RUC Loughgall Barracks, County Armagh, on 8 May 1987. Seven other IRA activists were also killed; Declan Arthurs (21), Seamus Donnelly (19), Michael Anthony Gormley (25), Eugene Kelly (25), Patrick Kelly (30), Padraig McKearney (32), and Gerard O'Callaghan (29). Anthony Hughes (36), a civilian was also shot dead and his brother seriously injured when they drove their car into the firing zone. Patrick McAdorey 24 years, Ardoyne, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in Ardoyne on 9 August 1971. Internment without trial was introduced in the early hours of 9 August, and the Ardoyne area like many nationalist areas in the North of Ireland were entered by large forces of British troops on raid and arrest operations. During the resistance to these operations scores of people were killed or injured by British forces. Aidan McAnespie 24 years, Aughnacloy, County Tyrone, he was shot dead by a British soldier as he crossed the border into the South of Ireland on 21 February 1988. Mr McAnespie had been on his way to play Gaelic football when a British soldier in an observation post shot him. The soldier claimed he was moving the machine gun inside the post when his hand, which he said was wet, slipped on the trigger. The soldier was later charged and acquitted of manslaughter. The family and Friends of Mr McAnespie said he was constantly harassed by the soldiers at the checkpoint and threatened he would be shot. The soldier acquitted was allowed to return to the British army. Daniel McAreavey 21 years, Lower Falls Road, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers near his home on 6 October 1972. George McBrearty 24 years, Derry City, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by an undercover British soldier in the city on 28 May 1981. Another IRA activist, Charles Maguire (20), was shot dead in the same incident. Nora McCabe was shot-dead by the RUC on the 8th July 1981 at 7.45am as she left her home in Linden Street off the Falls Road for the corner shop to buy cigarettes. Patrick McCabe 16 years, Duneden Park, Ardoyne, north Belfast, shot dead in Ardoyne on 27 March 1973, by members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment. David McCafferty 14 years, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, he was shot dead by British soldiers firing from concealed positions overlooking Ballymurphy, on 9 July 1972. Also killed in the Ballymurphy area that day by British army snipers were, Patrick Butler (39), Fr. Noel Fitzpatrick (40), John Dougal (16) and Margaret Gargan (13). Daniel McCann 30 years, Andersonstown, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988. Mairead Farrell (31) and Sean Savage (24), also IRA activists, were shot and killed during the same incident. Joseph McCann 25 years, Turf Lodge, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the Markets area of south Belfast, on 15 April 1972. Mr McCann was making his way along a street when soldiers using a heavy machine gun fired him on. The soldiers had been tip off about Mr McCann's visit to the area and fired on him as soon as he was spotted. Michael McCartan 16 years, Artana Street, Ormeau Road, south Belfast, shot by a member of the RUC on 23 July 1980. He died in hospital at1.30am on 24 July 1980. Martin McCaughey 23 years, Galbally, County Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers outside Loughgall, County Armagh, on 9 October 1990. Desmond Grew, also an IRA activist, was killed in the same incident. Mr Grew's brother, Seamus Grew, was shot dead by undercover RUC members in 1982. Stephen McConomy 11 years, Dove Gardens, Derry City, hit by a plastic bullet on 16 April 1982, fired by a member of the British Army's Royal Anglian Regiment. He died in hospital three days later on 19 April. Danny McCooey 20, died on May 20 1977, after being set upon by British soldiers in Castle Street, as he returned from a night out at a city centre snooker hall with a friend. Eamonn McCormick 17 years, Glenalina Road, Ballymurphy estate, West Belfast, shot and seriously injured on Halloween night 1971, by members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment. He died in hospital nearly three months later on 16 January 1972. Gerald McDade 23 years, Ardoyne, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers after his arrest in Ardoyne on 21 December 1971. Mr McDade was in a social club when soldiers entered and arrested a number of men and took then outside. The men were line up against a wall. The British authorities claimed Mr McDade tried to escape when he was shot, however witnesses to the shooting disputed this. In November 1974 Mr McDade's brother James died in a premature explosion in England. He was also a member of the IRA. James McDaid 30 years, Derry City, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers as he made his way across a field near the Derry/Donegal border on 29 December 1972. He was unarmed when he was shot. Michael McDaid 20 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; Gerard Donaghy (17), Kevin McElhinney (17), Bernard McGuigan (41), Hugh Gilmore (17), William Nash (19), Michael Kelly (17), John Young (17), John Duddy (17), James Wray (22), Patrick Doherty (31), Gerald McKinney (35), William McKinney (26) and John Johnston (59). Anthony McDowell 13 years, Duneden Park, Ardoyne, north Belfast, shot dead on 19 April 1973, by members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment. Seamus McElwaine 25 years, Scotstown, County Monaghan, an IRA activist, he was shot dead after he was capture by undercover British soldiers in County Fermanagh, on 26 April 1986. Mr McElwaine had been on the run for several years after escaping from Long Kesh prison in 1983. On the night he was killed he and another IRA activist were examining explosives when they were fired on. Mr McElwaine was hit and captured, the other man, who was also hit, managed to hid until day break when he too was arrested. He said later he heard the soldiers questioning Mr McElwaine for some time before they killed him. Annette McGavigan 14 years, Drumcliff Avenue, Derry City, shot dead by a British soldier in a street in the city on 6 September 1971. Eugene McGillan 18 years, Derry city, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the Bogside area of the city on 14 March 1972. Colm Keenan (19), also an IRA activist, was shot dead around the same time. Their deaths followed a British army raid into the Bogside late in the evening. A gun battle ensued between IRA members and the soldiers, however the IRA said later that the two dead men were not involved in gun battle. James McGrillan 25 years, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the Springfield Road area on 15 February 1976. Colm McGirr 23 years, Coalisland, County Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead along with Brian Campbell (19) by undercover British soldiers on 4 December 1983. The shooting occurred just outside Coalisland as both men approached an IRA arms dump. Kevin McGovern 19 year, Kinawley, County Fermanagh, shot dead by the RUC at Cookstown, County Tyrone, on 29 September 1991. Mr McGovern, a student, the RUC said was shot as he attempted to throw something at them. Nothing was found. It was revealed the RUC had staked out the area hoping to catch an IRA bombing unit. Bernard McGuigan 41 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; Gerard Donaghy (17), Michael McDaid (20), Michael McDaid (17), Hugh Gilmore (17), William Nash (19), Michael Kelly (17), John Young (17), John Duddy (17), James Wray (22), Patrick Doherty (31), Gerald McKinney (35), William McKinney (26) and John Johnston (59). Doreen McGuinness 16 years, Distillery Street, west Belfast, shot in a stolen car on 1 January 1980, by members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment. She died shortly after being admitted to hospital. Peter McGuinness 41 years, Bawnmore, Shore Road, north Belfast, struck by a plastic bullet fired by a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary on 9 August 1981. He died minutes later in the living room of his home. Robert McGuinness 22 years, Brandywell, Derry City, he was shot and fatally wounded by British soldiers as he walked home in the early hours of 22 June 1973. He died four days later on 26 June. Residents said Mr McGuinness was unarmed when a soldier from inside an armour car shot him. Sean McIlvenna 33 years, originally from Belfast living in Dundalk, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by members of the RUC near Blackwatertown, County Armagh, on 17 December 1984. William McKavanagh 21 years, Markets, south Belfast, he was shot dead by British soldiers near his home on 11 August 1971. Mr Kavanagh with several other men when taking fish from a burnt out shop. Seeing British soldiers the men panicked and fled. Patricia McKay 20 years, Lower Falls Road, west Belfast, an IRA activist, she was shot dead by British soldiers on 30 September 1972. There had been several shooting incidents in the Falls Road area earlier on the same day Mrs McKay was shot; a British soldier and an IRA volunteer were killed in these exchanges. Following the funeral of a victim of sectarian violence, who was also a republican, the shooting resumed, and Mrs McKay was killed at this time. She was unarmed when she was shot. Padraig McKearney 32 years, Co. Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at RUC Loughgall Barracks, County Armagh, on 8 May 1987. Seven other IRA activists were also killed; Declan Arthurs (21), Seamus Donnelly (19), Michael Anthony Gormley (25), Eugene Kelly (25), Patrick Kelly (30), Jim Lynagh (31), and Gerard O'Callaghan (29). Anthony Hughes (36), a civilian was also shot dead and his brother seriously injured when they drove their car into the firing zone. Sean McKee 17 years, Ladbrook Drive, Ardoyne, North Belfast, shot dead in Ardoyne on 18 May 1973, by members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment. Francis McKeown 43 years, Coolnasilla Park South, Glen Road, west Belfast, shot and fatally wounded on 15 July 1972, at Lenadoon by members of the British Army. He died in hospital the following day. Francis McKeown was married with six children, whose ages at the time of his death ranged from just six months to thirteen years old. James McKernan 29 years, Andersonstown, west Belfast, IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers on the Andersonstown Road on 14 September 1986. Gervase McKerr 31 year-old Gervaise McKerr, was shot-dead by the RUC on November 11th 1982 along with two other men Eugene Toman (21), and Sean Burns also 21 at Tullygally Road in Lurgan Co Armagh. These killings, and those of three other men in the north Armagh area also by the RUC three weeks later, became known as shoot-to-kill incidents. Trevor McKibbin 19 years, Ardoyne, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in Ardoyne on 19 April 1977. At his funeral unionist/loyalist paramilitaries detonated a car bomb amongst the mourners, killing two people and injuring dozens of others. Gerard McKinney 35 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; Gerard Donaghy (17), Michael McDaid (20), Michael McDaid (17), Hugh Gilmore (17), William Nash (19), Michael Kelly (17), John Young (17), John Duddy (17), James Wray (22), Patrick Doherty (31), Bernard McGuigan (41), William McKinney (26) and John Johnston (59). William McKinney 26 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; Gerard Donaghy (17), Michael McDaid (20), Michael McDaid (17), Hugh Gilmore (17), William Nash (19), Michael Kelly (17), John Young (17), John Duddy (17), James Wray (22), Patrick Doherty (31), Bernard McGuigan (41), Gerard McKinney (35) and John Johnston (59). Thomas James McLaughlin 27 years, Newry, shot dead along with Robert Anderson and Sean Ruddy by British soldiers in Newry, Co. Down, on 24 October 1971. The soldiers were on the roof of a building overlooking a bank and shot the three men as they attempted to rob the bank. Samuel McLarnon 47 years, Ardoyne, north Belfast, shot dead in his home by the RUC on 15 August 1969. The street where Mr McLarnon lived was being invaded by RUC and unionist mobs at the time of the shooting. Neil McMonagle 24 years, Derry, an INLA activist, he was shot dead by an undercover British soldier in the city on 2 February 1983. The shooting occurred after Mr McMonagle and another spotted a man in a car acting suspiciously in the Shantallow area. When they approached the man he pulled out a gun and when tackled he shot Mr McMonagle dead and wounded his friend. John McNeill 43 years, Oldpark, north Belfast, shot dead by undercover soldiers during a robbery of a bookmakers on the Falls Road, on 13 January 1990. The soldiers also killed two other men, Peter Thompson (23) and Edward Hale (25). The undercover soldiers were apparently aware of the robbery well in advance and waited for them to emerge from the building before they carried out the shooting. None of the men were armed. Colm McNutt 18 years, Derry City, an INLA activist, he was shot dead by an undercover British soldier in the city on 12 December 1977. Mr McNutt and another man attempted to hijack a car being driven by the undercover soldier. When he approached the car the soldier inside immediately opened fire wounding McNutt. The soldier fired again as he tried to escape, killing him. Dermott McShane 35 years, Derry city, he was killed when a British army armoured vehicle was deliberately driven at a crowd during rioting in the city on 13 July 1996. Martin McShane 16 years old, Meenagh Park, Coalisland, Co. Tyrone, shot dead near his home by members of the British Army's Royal Marine Commandos on 14 December 1971. Paul McWilliams 16 years, Springfield Avenue, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, shot dead on 9 August 1977, by members of the British Army's Light Infantry Regiment. Paul Magorrian 21 years, Castlewellan, County Down, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers as he walked along a street in the town on14 August 1974. Dorothy Maguire 19 years, Lower Falls, west Belfast, she was shot dead by British soldiers along with Maura Meehan (30) on 23 October 1971. The two women had been in a car driving around the Lower Falls Road area raising the alarm that British soldiers were raiding homes in the area when they were shot. William (Jackie) Mailey 30 years, Ardoyne, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead along with two other IRA activists, Denis Brown (28) and James Mulvenna (28), by undercover British soldiers on 20 June 1978. The three men were killed in an ambush as they approached a post office vehicle depot in north Belfast. William Hanna (28), who drove into the fire zone, was also shot and killed by the soldiers. Colm Marks a member of the IRA shot-dead by the RUC in April 1992 in Downpatrick Co Down. Colm Marks, unarmed and posing no threat was apprehended by the RUC in the driveway of a house in Downpatrick and shot-dead as part of an undercover operation that lay in wait for the IRA. Declan Martin 18 years, Dunloy, County Antrim, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover soldiers following a gun battle at Dunloy on 21 February 1984. Henry Hogan (21), also an IRA activist was shot dead at the same time. Private Paul Oram, a member of the 14th Intelligence Company, was killed earlier during the gun battle. Michael Marley 17 Years, Dunville Street, Falls Road, west Belfast, shot dead on 24 November 1973, by members of the British Army's Royal Green Jackets at Divis Flats. Gerard Martin Maginn 17years, Springfield Road, west Belfast, shot dead in a stolen car in the Poleglass housing estate on 3 November 1991, by members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. John Maughan 19 years, and Michael Connors 13 years, both shot dead in Church Lane, near Belfast City centre, on 1 March 1972, by members of a joint British army and Royal Ulster Constabulary patrol. Michael Connors and John Maughan were both members of Ireland's travelling community and were living at a site in the Belfast area at the time of their deaths. Maura Meehan 30 years, Lower Falls, west Belfast, she was shot dead by British soldiers along with Dorothy Maguire (19) on 23 October 1971. The two women had been in a car driving around the Lower Falls Road area raising the alarm that British soldiers were raiding homes in the area when they were shot. Paul Moan 15 years, Glen Road, West Belfast, shot dead on 31 March 1980, in a stolen car by members of a British army foot patrol on the Shaw's Road. Tobias Molloy 18 years, Fountain Street, Strabane, killed by a rubber bullet during the early hours of Sunday, 16 July 1972. The fatal bullet was fired by a British soldier at the ‘Camels Hump' checkpoint on the border between Lifford, County Donegal, and Strabane, County Tyrone. Jackie Mooney age 17, from Legland Street, Ligoniel, North Belfast, was shot dead on 15 July 1972 by members of the British army's Royal Marine Commandos. Alex Moorehead 16 Years, Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone, shot dead in Newtownstewart on 7 October 1972, by members of the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment. Desmond Morgan 18 years, Coalisland, County Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the town on 27 November 1973. Brian Mullin 26 years, Carrickmore area, Co Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at Drumnakilly, County Tyrone, on 30 August 1988. Two brothers, Gerard Harte (29) and Martin Harte (21), both IRA activists, were also killed in the shooting. The three men were in a car when soldiers, using heavy machine guns, fired on it. James Mulvenna 28 years, Ardoyne, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead along with two other IRA activists, Denis Brown (28) and William Mealy (30), by undercover British soldiers on 20 June 1978. The three men were killed in an ambush as they approached a post office vehicle depot in north Belfast. William Hanna (28), who drove into the fire zone, was also shot and killed by the soldiers. Patrick Mulvenna 19 years, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers in Ballymurphy on 31 August 1973. James Bryson (25) also an IRA activist was fatally wounded in the same incident and died in hospital on 22 September 1973. Both men were getting out of a car when they were shot. William Nash 19 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; Gerard Donaghy (17), Michael McDaid (20), Michael McDaid (17), Hugh Gilmore (17), William McKinney (26), Michael Kelly (17), John Young (17), John Duddy (17), James Wray (22), Patrick Doherty (31), Bernard McGuigan (41), Gerard McKinney (35) and John Johnston (59). Michael Neill 16 years, Stanhope Street, Unity Flats, north Belfast, shot dead on 24 October 1977 by members of the British army ‘s Argyle and Southern Highlanders regiment. Leo Norney 17 years, Ardmonagh Parade, Turf Lodge, West Belfast, shot dead at Turf Lodge on 13 September 1975, by members of the British army's Black Watch Regiment. Brendan O'Callaghan 21 years, Lenadoon, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers not far from his home on the Stewartstown Road on 24 April 1977. He was part of an IRA patrol designed to protect republican and nationalist areas from attacks by unionist/loyalist paramilitaries. He was in the car park of a bar when soldiers fired on him from concealed positions in near by hedges. Gerard O'Callaghan 29 years, Co. Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers at RUC Loughgall Barracks, County Armagh, on 8 May 1987. Seven other IRA activists were also killed; Declan Arthurs (21), Seamus Donnelly (19), Michael Anthony Gormley (25), Eugene Kelly (25), Patrick Kelly (30), Jim Lynagh (31), and Padraig McKearney (32). Anthony Hughes (36), a civilian was also shot dead and his brother seriously injured when they drove their car into the firing zone. Kevin Barry O'Donnell 21 years, Coalisland, County Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers in the car park of a Catholic church outside Coalisland on 16 February 1992. Three other IRA activists, Sean O'Farrell (23), Peter Clancy (19) and Daniel Vincent (20) were also shot dead in the same incident. The four young men were involved in an attack on Coalisland RUC barracks, and afterwards retreated to the church car park where a large unit of undercover soldiers were waiting for them. Majella O'Hare 12 years, Rathview Gardens, Whitecross, Co. Armagh, shot near her home on 14 August 1976, by members of joint British army patrol of Royal Marine Commando and Parachute Regiment. She died on her way to the hospital. Daniel O'Neill 20 years, Falls Road, an IRA activist, he was shot and fatally wounded by British soldiers on 4 January 1972. He died three days later. Terence O'Neill 26 years, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by the RUC in Ballymurphy on 1 July 1980. Edward O'Rawe 27 years, Lower Falls Road, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the Falls Road area on 12 April 1973. Sean O'Reardon 13 years old, Oramore Street, Clonard, Falls Road, West Belfast, shot dead in the Clonard area on 23 March 1972, by members of the British Army's Gloucester Regiment. William Price 28 years, Carnan, County Tyrone, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers near Ardboe, County Tyrone, on 13 July 1984. The soldiers captured Mr Price during an attempt to burn down a factory. Several minutes afterwards he was shot dead. James Quigley 18 years, Lower Falls Road, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the Falls Road area on 29 September 1972. He was shot in the attic of a shop after soldiers said they saw a gunman. His body was thrown from the building to the ground. Michael Quigley 19 years, Derry City, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers near his home on 17 August 1972. He had been on his way to a party when he was shot. In 1976 during a compensation hearing the judge, who awarded his family damages, said the dead youth had not been involved in any activity when he was shot, and his death was not due to an accidental, but deliberate shooting. Frank Quinn 20 years, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, he was shot and killed by British soldiers in the Bally Murphy area on 9 August 1972. Mr Quinn had been with Catholic priest Fr. Hugh Mullan when he was shot. The two men and others had gone to the aid of a wounded man when they were both shot. They died for their wounds a short time later. Billy Reid 32 years, New Lodge Road, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in central Belfast on 15 May 1971. Thomas Reilly 22 years, Turf Lodge, west Belfast, he was shot dead by British soldiers near his home on 9 August 1983. It was a warm summers day and Mr Reilly was not wearing a shirt when he was shot. A British soldier was later charged and convicted with his murder. He was the first soldier to be jailed for life for killing in the North of Ireland. However, it was later revealed that he had been released from prison after three years and reinstated in the army. Daniel Rooney 19 years, St. James area, west Belfast, he was shot dead by undercover soldiers near his home on 27 September 1972. Patrick Rooney 9 year-old Patrick Rooney was shot-dead by the RUC in August 1969. Patrick was shot as his father Cornelius attempted to carry him from his bedroom to the family living room for safety during disturbances when a RUC/loyalist led mob attacked the lower Falls area in Belfast. Patrick Rooney was the first child to be killed in the Troubles. Frank Rowntree 11 years, Lower Clonard Street, Falls Road, west Belfast, shot with a (doctored) rubber bullet on 20 April 1972, at the Divis Flats, by members of the British Army's Royal Anglian Regiment. He died in the Royal Victoria Hospital three days later on 23 April. Sean Ruddy 19 years, Newry, shot dead along with Robert Anderson and Thomas James McLaughlin by British soldiers in Newry, Co. Down, on 24 October 1971. The soldiers were on the roof of a building overlooking a bank and shot the three men as they attempted to rob the bank. James Saunders 22 years, Oldpark area, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the Oldpark area on 6 February 1971. John Savage 17 Years, Ardoyne, North Belfast, shot dead in a stolen car on the Springfield Road on 18 December 1976, by members of the British army's Parachute Regiment. Sean Savage 24 years, Andersonstown, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by undercover British soldiers in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988. Mairead Farrell (31) and Daniel McCann (30), also IRA activists, were shot and killed during the same incident. Louis Scullion 27 years, Unity Flats, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers near his home on 14 July 1972. Seamus Simpson 21 years, Andersonstown, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the Andersonstown area on 11 August 1971. Martin Skillen 21 years, Turf Lodge, west Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in the Lower falls Road area on 3 August 1974. Brian Smyth 32 years, Ardoyne, north Belfast, an IRA activist, he was shot dead by British soldiers in Ardoyne on 17 April 1973. The soldiers were in an observation post and claimed Mr Smyth and other men were armed. Several years later one of the soldiers involved in the shooting admitted at the appeal of one of the men arrested after the shooting and charged with possession that he had lied. He said none of the men had a gun and they had opened fire when their commanding officer said the men were members of the IRA. The same officer told the soldier to lie after the shooting. Brian Stewart 13 years, Norglen Crescent, Turf Lodge, west Belfast, hit by a plastic bullet near his home on 4 October 1976, fired by members of the British army's King's Own Scottish Borders. He died in hospital six days later on 10 October. John Starrs 19 years, Derry City, an IRA activist, he was shot and fatally wounded by British soldiers in the city on 13 May 1972. Ken Stronge 46 years, Donegal Road, south Belfast, he was shot and fatally wounded by undercover British soldiers as he drove along North Queen Street, on 4 July 1988. He was driving a taxi and was passing an RUC barrack there, as they IRA were about to attack the building. A large number of undercover soldiers, apparently aware of the intended attack, waited inside and outside the barrack and pour heavy fire into the surrounding area once the attack began. David Thompson 28 years, Sheriff Street, Short Strand, east Belfast, he was shot dead by British soldiers near his home on 17 October 1971. He was at the corner of his own street when he was shot. Kathleen Thompson 24 years, Creggan, Derry City, she was shot dead by British soldiers in the back garden of her home on 6 November 1971. The shooting took place during a raid and arrest operation by British forces. Mr Thompson had a bin lid in her hand to raise the alarm of the raiding party's presence when she was shot. Peter Thompson 23 years, Dunmurry, west Belfast, shot dead by undercover soldiers during a robbery of a bookmakers on the Falls Road, on 13 January 1990. The soldiers also killed two other men, John McNeill (43) and Edward Hale (25). The undercover soldiers were apparently aware of the robbery well in advance and waited for them to emerge from the building before they carried out the shooting. None of the men were armed. Eugene Toman 21 years, Lurgan, County Armagh, an IRA activist, he was shot dead in a car by an undercover RUC unit outside Lurgan on 11 November 1982. Two other IRA activists, Gervase McKerr (31) and Sean Burns (21), were also killed in the shooting. The three men were travelling in the car outside Lurgan when the shooting occurred. Joseph (Joe) Walker 18 years, Derry, an IRA activist, he was shot and killed by British soldiers near his Creggan home on 3 December 1973. Keith White 20 years, Houston Park, Mourneview estate, Lurgan, County Armagh, hit by a plastic bullet fired by a member of the RUC on 31 March 1986. He died in hospital two weeks later on 14 April. Paul Whitters 15 years, Derry City, struck on the head by a plastic-bullet fired by a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary on 15 April 1981. He died in hospital ten days later on 25 April. Jim Wray 22 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; Gerard Donaghy (17), Michael McDaid (20), Michael McDaid (17), Hugh Gilmore (17), William McKinney (26), Michael Kelly (17), John Young (17), John Duddy (17), William Nash (19), Patrick Doherty (31), Bernard McGuigan (41), Gerard McKinney (35) and John Johnston (59). John Young 17 years, Derry City, shot dead by British soldiers at an anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January 1972. In total fourteen people, including Mr Doherty were killed or fatally wounded that day, known later as Bloody Sunday. The others killed were; Gerard Donaghy (17), Michael McDaid (20), Michael McDaid (17), Hugh Gilmore (17), William McKinney (26), Michael Kelly (17), Jim Wray (22), John Duddy (17), William Nash (19), Patrick Doherty (31), Bernard McGuigan (41), Gerard McKinney (35) and John Johnston (59).
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