by Ken Wharton
On the 25th, Francis Crossan (34), a Catholic, was found dead with his throat cut in the Shankill area of Belfast. It is now known that he was a victim of the renegade and seemingly independent UVF gang, the Shankill Butchers. Murphy roamed the areas nearest the Catholic New Lodge in the hope of finding someone likely to be Catholic to abduct. Francis Crossan (34), a Catholic man and father of two, was walking towards the city centre at approximately 12.40 a.m. when four of the Butchers, in a taxi belonging to one of the gang, spotted him. As the taxi pulled alongside him, Murphy jumped out and hit the man with a wheel brace to stun him. He was then dragged into the taxi by Benjamin Edwards and Archie Waller, two of Murphy’s gang. As the taxi returned to the safety of the nearby Shankill area, Crossan was given a savage beating. It is clear that he was subjected to a high level of violence, including having a beer glass repeatedly shoved into his head. Murphy repeatedly told Crossan: ‘I’m going to kill you, you bastard,’ before the taxi stopped at an entry off Wimbledon Street. Crossan was then dragged into an alleyway and Murphy, brandishing a butcher’s knife, cut his throat almost through to the spine. His body was then dumped in Bisley Street, close to the Shankill Road. His was the second loss to the family as his brother Patrick was killed by the UVF in a random sectarian murder in March 1973. (See Sir, They’re Taking The Kids Indoors, Chapter 3).
Troops patrol the Crumlin Road, Belfast. (Mark ‘C’)
Later that day, the IRA killed a soldier in the UDR. Private Robert Stott (22) was a part-time soldier in the Regiment and lived in Fountain Street in Londonderry, on the west bank of the River Foyle. He was almost home from work, when he was approached by a PIRA murder gang who shot him repeatedly. His family dashed from his nearby house and found him, mortally wounded in the street; he died at the scene. His movements had clearly been observed and clocked by PIRA dickers and they had observed his patterns of behaviour and his routine led to his death.
Before that terrible day was finished, a PIRA ambush at Clonavaddy, Co Tyrone cost the lives of two more policemen. In what bears all of the classic hallmarks of a carefully planned and well executed IRA attack, there was almost an element – unthinkable in some quarters – of Gardaí involvement. The RUC were contacted by Gardaí officers in Co Monaghan to inform a person in Co Tyrone that a relative had died. RUC officers from Dungannon were dispatched to a remote house in Pomeroy in order to deliver the message. However, the car got in difficulties in a narrow lane, blocked by a gate and when they tried to turn around, several PIRA gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons. Sergeant Patrick Maxwell (36), father of five and RUCR Constable Samuel Clarke (53), father of three, were both killed at the scene; over 40 rounds were fired at the four policeman, one of whom was wounded.
The wounded officer dragged his wounded comrade from the car and was able to call for help. The attackers escaped over the nearby border. In all, eight children had been left without a father, as the police carried out a mission of mercy. A local churchman described the murders as ‘… sickening …’ and ‘… despicable …’
LONDONDERRY 2
Driver Alasdair Sutherland, Royal Corps of Transport
Sometimes we went to the cattle market place at night below Creggan to do some ‘Coitus interruptus’ on the fornicating lovers in their rusty cars and took great pleasure in asking for their ID. We giggled like school kids as folk bundled their exposed body parts back inside their clothing as we shone our torches through the windows of the car. The scariest night was on standby in Bridge Camp when we were told that the dairy along the road was on fire and it was maybe a ‘come on’ (a sniper waiting for us). I remember driving the Pig with the hatches down to the dairy where we set up a cordon around the burning building; all of a sudden one of the lads shouted ‘gunman’ and gave a precise location between two buildings. As I looked I could see a man kneeling in the darkness carrying an SLR, we made ready, when suddenly someone shouted, ‘Another gunman right behind him.’ We then watched as both of these gunmen were joined by a third gunman and began to hard target towards us; we were told not to fire as it turned to be a Royal Artillery patrol on a different radio frequency to us coming down from the Bogside to see what the fire was. I don’t think they realised we were there and how close they came to being shot in what is now called a friendly fire or ‘blue on blue’
I was no longer an 18 year old boy; I had done things and seen things few others have, I have never forgotten that tour of duty; I left Northern Ireland a man, a veteran of the Troubles and I am very proud of that. I still recall those who fell in the Province in those few months, none of whom I knew personally, but I know that anyone of them could have been me.
Ross McWhirter (50), with his brother Norris, were twin statisticians and TV personalities and well known regulars on the BBC show ‘Record Breakers.’ They were noted for their photographic memory, enabling them to provide detailed answers to any questions from the audience about entries in the Guinness Book of Records. They were also journalists who formed and worked for a right-wing organisation called ‘The Freedom Association’. After the activities of the IRA’s England team, and in particular three recent attacks on London restaurants, Ross placed a reward of £50,000 for information which led to the capture and conviction of the Republican terror group members. The IRA’s Army Council took exception to this and the order was sent to assassinate McWhirter, although in court later, one of his killers stated that they had acted independently.
This is where the Lawnbrook Social Club once stood; site of the Shankill Butchers’ ‘Romper Room’. (Author’s photo)
McWhirter lived in Village Road, Enfield, a leafy suburb in north London, surrounded by much parkland and characterised by tree-lined streets. On the evening of the 27th, his wife Rosemary had just pulled up outside their house when she was grabbed by armed men. They forced her to get her husband’s attention and when he answered the door, they shot him several times in the head and chest. He was taken to Chase Farm Hospital, but died soon after being admitted. His killers, who raced off in Mrs. McWhirter’s car, were later captured and charged with 10 murders and 20 bombings. They were sentenced to life imprisonment but freed in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Archibald Waller (23) was a member of the Shankill Butchers and was responsible for the death of petty criminal and UVF member Stewart Robinson the previous month (see Chapter 10). On the 29th, he had attended his local Loyalist club in Downing Street, Belfast; he lived in Alloa Street, north of the Crumlin Road. He was sitting in his car, when he was approached by fellow members of the UVF. Possibly recognising these men, he may not have taken any defensive action and for that, he paid with his life, as they shot him dead in his own Loyalist heartland. One of his alleged killers was Noel Shaw, who would be dead within 48 hours at the hands of Lenny Murphy.
In the author’s previous work (Sir, They’re Taking The Kids Indoors) the subject of the mass murder in Dublin and Monaghan by the UVF is covered in some detail. On the same day as the Waller killing, an airport employee was killed by a Loyalist bomb at Dublin airport. This time the device was planted by the UFF, presumably as a reprisal for the continued terror activities of the IRA’s England team. One explosive device was placed in the toilets and another was placed outside; the latter one was defused. However when the first exploded, it wrecked the toilet area and blasted into a public bar at the airport, injuring over 20 people. When the rubble was cleared, the body of John Hayes (38) a father of three was found; he was already dead. The UDA/UFF made a statement in relation to the bombing blaming the Republic for providing a safe haven for terrorists.
The killings on that bloody Saturday ended in the eastern part of Belfast, with the killing of a UDR soldier, Private John Houston (44) in an incident which was possibly Troubles-unrelated. A part-time soldier, Private Houston also managed a Rangers Club in Pottinger Street, south of the Short Strand. He was attempting to stop a brawl and had forced the fighters out of the club and barricaded the door. However one man
outside, in the street fired shots through the door, which hit and killed Mr Houston. It is open to some conjecture as to who fired the shots, but this was a Loyalist area, Loyalists were drinking in the club and at least one of them was armed. UFF or UVF; as the saying goes: ‘You pays your money and you takes your chances.’
On the final day of the month – a Sunday – Noel Shaw (19), UVF, was shot dead by fellow UVF members in an internal feud. Known as ‘Nogi’ he was killed by the leader of the Shankill Butchers, Lenny Murphy, in direct retaliation for the killing of Archibald Waller on the 29th. Shaw had been sitting in a bar off the Shankill Road when he was confronted by Murphy. Murphy had him brought before a kangaroo court in the Lawnbrook Club, just south of the Shankill Road. After beating him with a pistol, Murphy shot him in front of his whole unit of about twenty men and other assorted witnesses and then returned to finish his drink at the bar. Two of the gang put Shaw’s body in a laundry basket in the back of a taxi and they drove it, ironically enough, to Downing Street where Waller had been killed. The taxi was then loaded with cans of petrol but before they could drive it away to burn, a passing Army patrol spotted bloodstains in the street and discovered Shaw’s body.
What is staggering is that Murphy and the others who killed Shaw wore no masks and very publicly assaulted him before Murphy himself fired at least six shots into the man’s body. Murphy’s reign of terror continued.
The previous month of October had seen the Troubles claim 34 lives. November came very close to emulating the blood-letting. In all 29 people were killed. The British Army lost nine and the RUC three, with the IRA responsible for 10 of those deaths. Eleven innocent civilians were killed, including six Catholics and one Protestant. The Republicans lost four, again all as a result of internal feuding and the Loyalists lost two through feuding. In total, the Republicans were responsible for 17 deaths that month, including four on the mainland. Of the civilian deaths, five were overtly sectarian in nature.
12
December
The Provisionals started the new month with a bang; quite literally in an ‘own goal’ explosion. Two of their ‘volunteers’ were en-route to Belfast city centre, in order to plant a car bomb there, as part of their so-called ‘economic warfare’ campaign. Their car, complete with a timed explosive device stopped in King Street. King Street is just off Castle Street which in turn is part of Divis Street which leads from the Republican heartland. It is uncertain whether they were priming the bomb to be driven a little deeper into the City Centre, or if it was intended to detonate in King Street. As one of the bombers – Paul Fox (20) – was priming the device, it exploded, killing him instantly and hurling his body several yards away. His accomplice – Laura Crawford (25) – who was a member of the Women’s IRA, Cumman na mBan, was mortally injured and died within minutes.
The following day, INLA who had hitherto been busy killing members of the Official IRA, turned their attention to killing innocent civilians. In what many regard as either a very obvious, outrageous sectarian murder or as a classic error of ‘intelligence’ shot and killed two Protestant businessmen in Londonderry. The Dolphin Restaurant was situated on the Strand Road; the road starts at the eastern tip of the Catholic Bogside and runs north through the city running roughly parallel to the River Foyle. On the morning of the 2nd, masked INLA gunmen walked into the Dolphin Restaurant which was very full at the time and fired a fusillade of shots at Charles McNaul (55) and Alexander Mitchell (46) as they were discussing business over a meal. Both men were hit several times and died at the scene. INLA, or the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as they were initially known, made a totally spurious claim that the two men were UDA members. The killings were condemned by the Catholic Church as: ‘ … savage and cold-blooded outrages.’
On the 3rd, Lost Lives lists Peter Hamill (25) as being a victim of the Troubles after he was shot, apparently accidentally, in his house in the Markets area of Belfast. It was alleged that he was keeping an Armalite rifle safe for a friend who was in the IRA and that he was involved in a scuffle with a possible Republican paramilitary. His death, like many others in that tormented period, remains a mystery.
Friday 5 December 1975 finally saw the end of Internment. The last 46 people who had been interned without trial were released. This was announced by Merlyn Rees, who said that those found guilty of crimes would be brought before the courts. During the period of Internment, 9 August 1971 to 5 December 1975, 1,981 people were detained; 1,874 were Republican, 107 were Loyalist.
As the author has written, between 1974 and 1975, London in particular was subjected to a 14-month campaign by the IRA’s England team, including gun and bomb attacks. Some 40 bombs exploded in the capital, killing 35 people and injuring many more. The four members of what became known as the ‘Balcombe Street gang’ – Martin O’Connell, Edward Butler, Harry Duggan and Hugh Doherty – were part of a six-man IRA ASU that also included Brendan Dowd and Liam Quinn. This ASU was also known as both the England Team and the England Department. Quinn shot dead Police Constable Stephen Tibble in London after fleeing from police officers. (See Chapter Two).
The Balcombe Street siege started on Saturday 6th. Following a chase through London, the Police pursued Hugh Doherty, Joe O’Connell, Eddie Butler and Harry Duggan through the streets after they had fired gunshots through the window of Scott’s Restaurant in Mount Street, Mayfair, in a second attack on the establishment. They had thrown a bomb through the restaurant window a few weeks before on 12 November 1975, killing one person and injuring 15 others. The Police Bomb Squad had detected a pattern of behaviour in the ASU, determining that they had a habit of attacking again some of the sites they had previously visited. In a scheme devised by a young Detective Sergeant, the Met flooded the streets of London with unarmed plain-clothes officers on the lookout for the ASU. The four IRA men were spotted as they slowed to a halt outside Scott’s and fired from their stolen car.
Inspector John Purnell and Sergeant Phil McVeigh, on duty as part of the operation, picked up the radio call from the team in Mount Street as the stolen Cortina approached their position. With no means of transport readily available, the two unarmed officers flagged down a London black cab and tailed the men for several miles through London, until the IRA men abandoned their vehicle. Purnell and McVeigh, unarmed, continued the pursuit on foot despite being fired at several times by the terrorists. Other officers joined the chase, with the four IRA men running into a block of council flats in Balcombe Street, adjacent to Marylebone rail station, which sparked off a six-day armed siege. Purnell was subsequently awarded the George Medal for his bravery and several other police officers were also decorated.
The four IRA men ended up in a flat at 22b Balcombe Street in Marylebone, taking its two residents, John and Sheila Matthews, hostage. The men declared that they were members of the IRA and demanded a plane to fly both them and their hostages to Ireland. The Police naturally refused and the stand-off commenced with armed police officers, equipped with sniper rifles amongst other weaponry all with their sights trained on the flat from every conceivable position. All the adjacent flats were evacuated and all the residents were taken to hotels for their comfort and safety.
The men surrendered after several days of intense negotiations between Metropolitan Police Bomb squad officers Detective Superintendent Peter Imbert and Detective Chief Superintendent Jim Neville, and the gang’s leader Joe O’Connell. The resolution of the siege was a result of the combined psychological pressure exerted on the gang by Imbert and the deprivation tactics used on the four men. The officers also used carefully crafted misinformation, through the BBC radio news—the police knew the gang had a radio—to further destabilise the gang into surrendering.
Just five days after the first PIRA ‘own goal’ their ranks were thinned by two more as yet again, their murderous efforts led to the death of two more of their own members. The South Armagh unit had left an unprimed device at a place called Kelly’s Corner, close to Killeen on the Irish border.
When two members of their bombing team went back in order to prime it, it exploded, killing both instantly. James Lochrie (19) and Sean Campbell (20) were the dead IRA men and NORAID had four more Irish ‘martyrs’ to add to their ‘Roll of Honor’ (sic.), following the King Street debacle. There has been suggestion in some quarters that British undercover soldiers had discovered the device previously, following a tip off and had booby-trapped the IRA’s own weapon. This is, however, unsubstantiated.
Belfast City Centre segment gates at Christmas. (Mark ‘C’)
The Irish Republican Socialist Party or IRSP (Irish: Pairtí Poblachtach Sóisalach na h-Éireann) was founded on 8 December 1974 by former members of the Official Republican Movement, independent socialists, and trade unionists headed by Seamus Costello. The ‘MP in blue jeans’ as the British press referred to Bernadette McAliskey (née Devlin) was a prominent member but later resigned when a move to make INLA accountable to the IRSP leadership failed. Ronald Trainor (17) was a member of the party and lived in Portadown, Co Armagh, and as such, came to the attention of the UVF’s Portadown unit. On the 15th, a masked gang approached his house in Ballyoran Park and threw a bomb through the front window; he was dreadfully injured, and died a few hours later in hospital. Lost Lives reveals that he was one of three family members killed during the Troubles.
On the 18th, Harold Wilson, then Prime Minister, paid a visit to Londonderry and amongst other things, chatted to soldiers manning a VCP near Guildhall Square. Shortly after that visit two soldiers were killed close to that same VCP; it is thought that the PM actually chatted to the two men. A vehicle packed with explosives and taken to the scene by a PIRA bombing unit exploded and a career Royal Artillery soldier and a comrade from REME were killed instantly in the blast. Gunner Cyril McDonald (43), an Aberdonian and father of four and REME soldier, Craftsman Colin McInnes (20) from Leicester were very close to the seat of the blast. The REME soldier was on attachment to the Royal Artillery. On the same day, Major James David Hicks (35) on attachment to the Army Air Corps was killed in what the MOD term ‘an aircraft accident.’ The author has determined that he was from the Windsor area in Berkshire and that he is buried at St Leonard’s Road in the Royal town.