“If I can see they are trying to do that I will definitely go back.”
An Irish Times report notes Darren Graham’s response to the statement from the Fermanagh GAA County Board, “If I’m selected I will turn out. But I will also be wanting to see what progress they make on the whole judgement around it, and if they are taking a stand.” County Board Chairman, Peter Carty, also said on the BBC’s Newsline that no individuals or clubs had been identified by Mr Graham in the meeting this week and that “There was no official complaint” – which will probably mean that there will be no sanctions against clubs or individuals. Also in the Irish Times, earlier this week, Fintan O’Toole had an interesting article on the background to the abuse. [subs req]From the Irish Times
They got Ronnie Graham first, while he was delivering coal not far from his own house in Lisnaskea. He was 39, writes Fintan O’Toole
After the killing, the IRA left the guns to be moved by a 13-year-old boy, who had been recruited into its youth wing by a teacher at his school.
Five months later, in November 1981, Ronnie’s younger brother, Cecil, was visiting his wife and their newborn baby at her parents’ house. She had gone to stay there because the baby had been born prematurely and needed constant attention. But Cecil’s wife was a Catholic, and the house she was staying in was in a nationalist area. Cecil was spotted going into the house. As he left, he was shot 16 times.
It took them more than three years to get the third Graham brother. They had tried to get Jimmy in 1980, but he had fought them off, and been given a medal. Perhaps his escape had annoyed them, or perhaps, as many Protestants believed, there was a deliberate plan of ethnic-cleansing, aimed at wiping out whole families. In any case, he was a soft target now. He arrived in the school bus he drove to collect children from a primary school and take them to the local swimming pool. He was parking the bus when they fired the first two shots at him. Then they got into the bus and fired 24 more shots, just to be sure.
..
Darren Graham’s paternal grandfather was a member of the B Specials. His father, uncles and aunt were part-time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment, which allowed the IRA to justify its assault on the family. But his mother was Catholic and so is his two-year-old daughter.
And, after noting the author Colm Tóibín’s references to the murders in Bad Blood
Darren Graham [son of Cecil Graham] didn’t make a big issue of his religious affiliation. But that wasn’t enough to stop other people doing it for him.
What was done to the Grahams – the methodical murders; the naked joy when they got Jimmy at last – left at least some people with a bad conscience. Cecil Graham’s Catholic father-in-law told the inquest in 1983 that he was upset that in the two years since Cecil’s death “none of the neighbours had extended sympathy or even mentioned the murder of his son-in-law”. But the silence belied an unspoken disturbance.
Colm Tóibín, when he walked through the area three years after they got the third Graham brother, found that the dead Grahams were seen as uneasy, vengeful spirits still haunting the place.
As he was talking to two young Catholic men in Kinawley, he mentioned the spate of tragic car accidents in the locality, in which all the victims seemed to be young Catholic men. “People think it’s revenge,” one of them blurted out. When pushed, they explained that the older people maintained that the accidents were a sort of revenge for what was done to the Grahams. “God, you know, did I understand? It was God.”
The unspoken guilt transmuted itself into irrational fear and it is not hard to see how that fear could in turn be channelled into the abuse of Cecil Graham’s son.
Guilt for the murderous campaign against Border Protestants was kept at bay by the notion that the victims were off-duty UDR men and therefore mere ciphers of British imperialism.
Darren Graham had the temerity to punch through that easy tribal stereotype by playing GAA and not defining himself simply as a Protestant. It took the hate that dares not speak its name to make him one now.
I’m from Fermanagh and this case has brought to light some of the events that happened there during the troubles.
Jimmy Graham wasn’t killed in front of the kids waiting to go swimming. That was because the headmaster of the Catholic primary school in Derrylin asked Jimmy to turn up 5 minutes early on that particular morning, at 10-55am. I don’t think I have to say anything more on that subject. The headmaster died 6 months later after a sudden illness. Some locals believe this was the beginning of some sort of curse from above.
Also, Darren Graham’s aunt also lost her life when a car crashed through a UDR checkpoint and hit her. So all 4 siblings in the Graham family died violent deaths.
As a side note, I believe that Sean Lynch has something to do with Lisnaskea Emmets. That’s Sean Lynch, former IRA man who was injured in the incident that saw Seamus McElwaine killed by the SAS.
In Fermanagh 95% of murders were committed by the IRA, with Protestant farmers, shopkeepers, businessmen and former members of the security forces targeted, as well as RUC and UDR men. Just check out the names of Gillian Johnston, Harold Keys, Jack McClenaghan, Emily Bullock for starters.
The mentality amongst Protestants in Fermanagh during the troubles was no matter how friendly your rural Catholic neighbour was, are they the one supplying information to the IRA gunmen??? Somebody was.
Regarding the GAA in this thread.
If Darren had previously gone to the GAA with a compliant and they did nothing, then the GAA is at fault. If not, its purely a society problem, and truth be told (from Darren) all the incidents revolve around 3 Ferm clubs not every club he played against.
Also the whole displinary structure of the GAA is based on the referee’s report. Darren was probably told that if this ever happend again, report it to the ref and the Ferm board will take action.
All disiplinary investigations relating to matches are based upon the refs report. People have had jaws broken in matches, and because the ref didn’t report it nothing was done.
Cumbersome system but thats the way it works
Many thanks to Dublin for their fine work on Saturday, sparing us from a repeat of 1993
Finbarr,
I’m not from Fermanagh but anyway… I think your posting about the headmaster and it’s hints / innuendo is a disgrace.
This thread has spoken of ethnic cleansing and you posted about the IRA and 95% of the killings so I went to the CAIN site for a list of killing in Ferm… there were 112 killings in Ferm with 97 by Republicans (about 87% so your figure isn’t too far off).
However, if we go to Wiki and see the troubles in Ferm … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:The_Troubles_in_County_Fermanagh
I downloaded a copy of the Wiki entries and added a few extras to bring me up to half of the 112 people killed. You can see that most killed were part of security forces…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:The_Troubles_in_County_Fermanagh
2 26 August 1972 – Alfred Johnston (32) and James Eames (33) UDR
3 16 November 1972 – Joseph Calvin (42)RUC
4 5 June 1973 – David Purvis (22)RUC
5 25 November 1981 – Angela D’Arcy, Catholic civilian, was shot by an off-duty member of the British Army
7 9 November 1982 – Garry Ewing (31) RUC, Helen Woodhouse (29), Protestant civilian
8 19 February 1983 – Alan Price (53), Protestant civilian
11 18 May 1984 – Thomas Agar (35), Robert Huggins (29) and Peter Gallimore (27), British Army.
12 3 March 1985 – Hugh McCormac (40), RUC (Catholic)
13 7 April 1985 – Martin Love (24), Catholic civilian.
14 9 January 1987 – Ivan Crawford (49), RUC
15 8 November 1987 – Edward Armstrong (52), RUC
20 8 November 1987 – Marie Wilson (20), Samuel Gault (49), Georgina Quinton (72), John Megaw (68), Wesley Armstrong (62)
26 8 November 1987 – Bertha Armstrong (53), William Mullan (72), Agnes Mullan (70), Kit Johnston (70), Jessie Johnston (66) and Ronnie Hill (68), civilians, all Protestants,
27 18 March 1988 – Gillian Johnston (21), a Protestant civilian.
29 4 August 1988 – William Hassard (59) and Frederick Love (64), both Protestant civilians. Both were contractors to the British Army/RUC.
30 5 February 1992, Joseph McManus, IRA
33 15 May 1976 – Harry Keys (29), Francis Kettles (39) and Thomas Evans (33), RUC
35 September 1972 – Thomas Bullock (53), UDR, and his civilian wife, Emily Bullock (50)
36 2 December 1984 – Alistair Slater (28), British Army.
37 2 December 1984 – Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde (27) IRA, Kieran Fleming (26) IRA
39 7 August 1972 – David Wynne (21) and Errol Gordon (22), BA
41 6 May 1979 – Norman Prue (29), Royal Ulster Constabulary and Robert Maughan (30), BA
42 11 February 1986 – Derek Breen (29) RUC, and John McCabe (25) Catholic civilian
44 24 October 1972 – Michael Naan (35) and Andrew Murray (25), Catholic civilians killed by the British Army.
46 2 June 1972 – Victor Husband (23) and Brian Robertson (23), BA
47 11 February 1980 – Joseph Rose (21) and Winston Howe (35), RUC
49 13 December 1989 – Michael Paterson (21) and James Houston (23), BA.
50 19 May 1979 – Jack McClenaghan, UDR
51 2-Dec-74 Maddocks, John BA
52 6-May-79 Maughan, Robert BA
53 12 October 1973, McAdam, Raymond Catholic Civ
54 13-Feb-72 McCann, Thomas BA
55 5-Feb-80 Abercrombie, Aubrey UDR
56 17-Nov-81 Beacom, Albert UDR
Please don’t think that this is an attempt to justify the killings. It’s my attempt to analyse others postings claiming ethnic cleansing which I don’t think holds up.
joeCanuck “No Rory, I am not an innocent, nor do I need to read more.
There cannot be many families that lost 3 brothers in this squalid conflict. “
there was the three Reavey brothers and the two ODowd brothers and an uncle (all three were SDLP) killed on the same night in 1974 by Robin Jackson and the Glennane Gang mainly comprised of UDR members. These killings lead to the Kingsmills killings in reprisal
Anonymous
It is equally criminal to murder a policeman as it is to murder anyone else.
What’s more, the Provisional IRA deliberately intimidated, murdered and ostracised Roman Catholic policemen and UDR men and their families in order to ensure that the police force and UDR was overwhelmingly Protestant: their targeting, therefore, of members of those forces was sectarian.
Further, in rural areas in particular, like Fermanagh, a large proportion of the Protestant male population served in the UDR in a part-time capacity, as a means of communal and self-defence, while still living in the community. Such men were deliberately targeted for murder by PIRA. This targeting was a sectarian campaign against the Protestant community in Fermanagh.
hence I posted “Please don’t think that this is an attempt to justify the killings” but of course you wish to read what you wish to read.
The security forces were Protestant regardless. They had no support from nearly half the population incl the SDLP and the church. The UDR was officially known to be 17% illegal paramilitary. The UDR / B Specials were a means of employing those incapable of getting a job elsewhere.
Anonymous,
There were over 140 murders in Fermanagh, and from reading down your list I can see several omissions, including Herbert Kernaghan who was shot while delivering milk to a school in Rosslea.
There was also the last Protestant businessman in Rosslea, Douglas Deering, murdered in his shop in 1977. he was in no organisation and was actually a member of a small Protestant sect who believe in pacisfism and are against the idea of joining security forces and the like.
In the list you published, Jack McClenaghan is listed as UDR. Not that it matters, but he was actually a civilian breadman who was shot in back while going about his job in the border village of Garrison. A 64-year-old man shot by real heroes while he delivered bread in a Catholic village.
There are also several Protestants from Fermanagh who were murdered outside the county, such as Harold Keys, who was just 24 and brutally murdered in front of his Catholic girlfriend in Ballintra, Co. Donegal. His killers also whooped with joy as they left the scene of the crime as Harold lay dying in his own vomit and blood, having been shot 30 times. His crime? He was a retired RUC officer.
You have said my comments are a disgrace. All I have done is point out that Jimmy Graham was asked to show up 5 minutes early on that particular day. That actually happened, which might well have been a coincidence, but deserved investigation, wouldn’t you say?
Also Anonymous, if you’re going to use sources to back up your argument, you could at least use a more reputable one than Wikipedia. Which, by and large, has been hi-jacked by Republicans revisionists when it comes to discussing the events of Irish history and the troubles in general.
Cain would be a better start, or the Lost Lives book when doing a headcount of murders in Fermanagh.
I took the figure of 112 from the CAIN site which is acknowledged as the definative listing of killings. This database is based on information supplied by Malcolm Sutton who in turn was a co author w McKittrick of your mentioned “Lost Lives”
I needed a web based list of incidents in Fermanagh and wiki provided this. I explained that from starting w wiki I was using their listing of two or more deaths in one incident. I mentioned that this fell short of a 50% of CAIN’s 112 so I added a few more.
I tried to post dis-passionately while you seem to like the tabloid mode – I’ll stay objective thanks.
how you hint at a conspricy involving the timing of Jimmy Graham’s arrival on the day of his killing is a pathetic, tabloidesque disgrace.
Anonymous
The security forces were Protestant regardless.
Partly as a result of the intimidation and murder of RC members by PIRA. The Protestant make-up of the forces meant that attacks on them were in effect sectarian.
The UDR was officially known to be 17% illegal paramilitary.
“Officially known” by whom?
The UDR / B Specials were a means of employing those incapable of getting a job elsewhere.
Evidence? Didn’t think so.
“Partly as a result of the intimidation and murder of RC members by PIRA. The Protestant make-up of the forces meant that attacks on them were in effect sectarian. ”
wrong, the BSpecials / UDR was formed to enforce (bully) the Protestant parliament for a Protestant people. They were the thugs in uniform to intimidate and terrorise the nationalist population.
By your rationale the catholic make up of the IRA effective means that the British Army, killing IRA, members, was / is effectively sectarian… I must let me MEP know and see can we charge them in The Hague court – rubbish.
Officially by the official report from your Gov back “as early as 1973â€â€¦. You’ll note that the UDR were interconnected with the RUC and UVF thro’out…
http://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/details_on_that_udr_and_collusion_story/
you must accept this official report… it’s not like HMG would lie now would they !?!?
“……. in December 1925 , the pro-British ‘A’ and ‘C’ Special Constabulary (in the Six-Occupied Counties) had mutinied and taken their own Officers as hostages ; they were about to become unemployed (and , for most of them , unemployable !) and wanted a better deal . On 16th December 1925 , they handed in their demands to the Stormont ‘Minister for Home Affairs’ , ‘Sir’ Richard Dawson Bates , who was not impressed with their conduct …….â€
“you must accept this official report…
So you accept the Widgery report ?
not in the slightest would I accept any HMG report… I asked the question of páirc na saileach as a good British subject HE should accept the report that one in seven member of the UDR were state sponsered terrorists.
You’ll note that I bring gov lying into my postings and likewise you bring the Widgery report which is complete lies and white wash… and you see the similarities!?!? Thanks, at least we’re getting places.. perfidious Albion and all that.
darth rumsfeld “Many thanks to Dublin for their fine work on Saturday, sparing us from a repeat of 1993 ”
as a Dub then I appreciate your ‘heart felt’ congrats – lets hope we win the Sam.
While on the topic of Derry playing in Dublin I’m reminded of the UDR killing of Seamus Heaney’s cousin…
* A County Derry man whose brother and a companion were shot dead in 1975 believes members of a UDR patrol where responsible for the killings. The family also have reason to believe that Robert McConnell was a member of that UDR patrol.
GAA fans Colm McCartney and Sean Farmer, returning to Derry from a football match in Dublin, were found dead at the side of a road near Newtownhamilton in County Armagh. Both had been shot.
Sean McCartney, a brother of Colm, said that his family believe the pair were killed by members of a UDR patrol which was in the area at the time.
At the inquest into the deaths three RUC members made statements saying they were on patrol in the area just before the two men were killed and were themselves stopped by armed men who spoke to them “with Ulster accents”.
“These RUC men put the UDR patrol in the area at about 11.45pm on Sunday night and at about quarter past midnight the bodies were found. The time of death was put at about midnight”, says Sean McCartney. He continued: “There has never been an adequate investigation into the deaths of the two men. As far as I am concerned it was brushed under the carpet.” *
I think the mentioned UDR terrorist, Robert McConnell, is the same one eulogised by Wullie Frazier and FAIR.
Finbarr, note this whataboutery doesn’t need to include the tabloid element that you are so fond of.
Anonymous,
I do not see much disgraceful in Finbarr’s comments. They are pretty factual. Yes talking about someone being shot 30 times or dying in their own blood and vomit is pretty horrible but that is how people die when they are murdered. People do not die the way they do in movies, not even in the likes of Saving Private Ryan even that is too sanitised.
I do not know about Jimmy Graham and can make no comment on it; but my wife’s family knew Douglas Derring and his family well and what Finbarr has posted is exactly correct.
You may not regard what happened in Fermanagh especially South Fermanagh as ethnic cleansing but most Fermanagh protestants I know do regard it as exactly that.
Anonymous
You keep saying that my comments regarding the time Jimmy Graham arrived at the school is a disgrace / pathetic etc. Why? Because it’s true?
When Jimmy’s brother (Ronnie) was murdered in 1981, a boy was convicted of the murder – he was 13 at the time of the killing and had hid the guns after the murder took place. The boy had been recruited into the junior wing of the IRA by a teacher at his school.
Like it or not, and maybe it doesn’t fit comfortably with your outlook on the troubles, but in rural areas, including in parts of Fermanagh, the IRA had agents who passed on information to them about their Protestant neighbours – you could call it setting up people for murder. They may not have been fully fledged members of the IRA but they certainly played an essential role in IRA activities.
The current Republican mission of rewriting the history of the troubles will not succeed.
Finbarr,
Clearly your telling the truth was so “disgraceful” and “pathetic” that anonymous had to retreat to bed.
Turgon “Yes talking about someone being shot 30 times or dying in their own blood and vomit is pretty horrible but…â€
ok, noted; tabloid reporting w blood, guts and gory seems acceptable – Fealty doesn’t seem to have objected.
“…but most Fermanagh protestants I know do regard it as exactly that.â€
I looked at the numbers and I disagree. You haven’t commented on the number or percentages but want to continue with your opinions – so be it.
Finbarr, if you consider unsubstantiated claims about someone without mention of them even being questioned by the cops but based on local Protestant rumour, as reasonable then that’s your prerogative. But the same rules should apply?
Now let me review APRN to see what they say is true about people in Fermanagh being killed… anything goes, right ?
Anonymous,
You “diasgree” that what happened in Fermanagh was ethnic cleansing. I merely inform you that those Fermanagh protestants I know do regard it as such. That is their perception.
To take one case: why was Douglas Derring murdered. Can you find a way to describe that as a nonsectarian murder?
My postings were a review of the numbers and percentage of the killings in Ferm and how they can’t be described as enthnic cleansing or sectarian in general eg. most of those listed in the 50% of the total killed, were security forces. The one you described is probably sectarian. This doesn’t take away from the fact that most killed in Ferm were security forces.
Remember I posted “Please don’t think that this is an attempt to justify the killings†and I feel that some of the posts directed at me, without reviewing the statistics, are just looking for me to justify killings in Fermanagh – I don’t and won’t.
Anonymous,
Okay I entriely accept your rejection of the killings in Fermanagh.
Remember that really very large numbers of Fermanagh protestants were in or connected to things like the UDR even if only briefly and many of them were murdered long after leaving.
Again perception is all important. It is the perception in South Fermanagh that there was ethnic cleansing. The CAIN ststs etc. do not record (and I am sure there can be no record of) intimidation and that along with the mrurders may well have helped create a fear of ethnic cleansing which itself would drive people out.
wrong, the BSpecials / UDR was formed to enforce (bully) the Protestant parliament for a Protestant people.
The UDR was established specifically to replace the B-Specials and to recruit on a cross-community basis. It initially had 18% RC membership.
They were the thugs in uniform to intimidate and terrorise the nationalist population.
They weren’t: that’s just your prejudice and desperation to justify PIRA murders.
By your rationale the catholic make up of the IRA effective means that the British Army, killing IRA, members, was / is effectively sectarian… I must let me MEP know and see can we charge them in The Hague court – rubbish.
Charge them with what in the Hague court? The Army’s killings of PIRA members were mostly lawful.
Officially by the official report from your Gov back “as early as 1973â€â€¦. You’ll note that the UDR were interconnected with the RUC and UVF thro’out…
http://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/details_on_that_udr_and_collusion_story/
you must accept this official report… it’s not like HMG would lie now would they !?!?
5-15% infiltration in one year is not what you claim. You’re deliberately misrepresenting the facts.
Anonymous,
The teacher of the primary school where Jimmy Graham was killed said in a TV interview on the day of the murder that he had asked him to turn up 5 minutes early. It is not ‘local Protestant rumour’.
When I have time I will analyse the Fermanagh murders during the ‘troubles’ comprehensively.
Good man Turg, we’re getting there (but you didn’t answer many of my questions).
“…and desperation to justify PIRA murdersâ€
Wrong. I’ve never justified any killing but you choose to assume that because I post the facts about the UDR being a bunch of thugs then I’ve automatically got to be a IRA supporter. As I’ve posted many times to this site… “I’m not sure what I am (NI pigeonhole etc) but I very damned sure I know what I’m notâ€. In this case… I’m not someone who assumes that the UDR is an honourable grouping in the NI conflict just because they have a Brit Army uniform. You’ll also note that the Brit Army spent least on the UDR for equipment – they never cared about your Love of Queen and Their Country!
“The Army’s killings of PIRA members were mostly lawfulâ€.
I guess the whole ‘sauce for the goose’ doesn’t work in this case. What are you smoking Willow? UDR members get killed and it’s ethnic cleansing of Protestant while IRA members get killed and it can’t be described similarly as ethnic cleansing of Catholics by the Ustascheeerrrr I mean the British Army SSeerrr SAS.
Can anyone answer “Is a hypocrite in NI the same as a bigot“ ? Case in point Willowfield.
“5-15% infiltration in one year is not what you claim. You’re deliberately misrepresenting the facts. “
no I’m not, but hey, let try this; ok then maestro, then what are the facts of that report? Shock me into reading the report again and see that the UDR were a well trained (not half drunk), cross community, civic minded battalion for the benefit of ALL RESIDENTS of NI.
Finbarr, “…day of the murder that he had asked him to turn up 5 minutes early. It is not ‘local Protestant rumour’â€.
Don’t bother. I’m not doubting that the headmaster did ask him to arrive early. I’m saying that it’s a disgrace and sign of your sick mindset that someone being asked to turn up early implicates the asker in the dead person’s killing. I’ve asked my staff to come to work a bit earlier. If killed in the commute or on arriving, does that make me guilty of aiding and abetting their murder!!!?? Don’t bother replying to this either it’s rhetorical. You need help, seriously.
Anonymous,
I said before that I am not fully aware of the surrondings of the Jimmy Graham’s murder but surely you accept that the easiest way to murder a man driving a bus is to do it when he is stationary in said bus for a predicatable period of time.
You said your following was rhetorical but it is worth answering
“I’ve asked my staff to come to work a bit earlier. If killed in the commute or on arriving, does that make me guilty of aiding and abetting their murder!!!??”
If hypothetically you asked your staff to arrive early and on arriving on that day they were murdered by people the police might take some interest in why you had asked the person to turn up early. There may well be a good explanation but that does not make it an unreasonable question.
The easiest way might be when he turns up at the bus depot in the morning or when his shift is finished. Or when he returns home from work in the eveng or on his way home from the pub some evening or lastly anywhere and anyhow as there’s infinite possibilities. Finbarr seems to think there’s only one way and the teacher is involved (you seem to be following that line too) – therefore PERCEPTION becomes cause and action!?!?
Didn’t perception lead to the internment disaster… “fcuk it, they’re guilty, lock’em all up” and the IRA’s best recruitment phase.
“There may well be a good explanation but that does not make it an unreasonable question. ”
there possibly (probably) is a non criminal explaination else the cops would have made arrests. However, so many years after the killing, after police investig etc, an ugly rumour is being brandied about.
More importantly the enviroment… Finbarr in broadcasting an ugly rumour in a toubled society where people get killed, attacked, interned or shunned etc. based on UNSUBSTANIATED PERCEPTIONS.
anonymous
Wrong. I’ve never justified any killing but you choose to assume that because I post the facts about the UDR being a bunch of thugs then I’ve automatically got to be a IRA supporter.
But you don’t post facts: merely prejudice.
I guess the whole ‘sauce for the goose’ doesn’t work in this case. What are you smoking Willow? UDR members get killed and it’s ethnic cleansing of Protestant while IRA members get killed and it can’t be described similarly as ethnic cleansing of Catholics by the Ustascheeerrrr I mean the British Army SSeerrr SAS.
Your comment makes no sense. I merely stated that most Army killings were lawful: that is correct. If you wish to dispute it, you are free to do so.
no I’m not, but hey, let try this; ok then maestro, then what are the facts of that report?
I already stated the facts: an estimate of 5-15% inflitration in one year (1973). The report doesn’t deal with subsequent years, and we know that recruitment was tightened as a result.
Controls? things were tighened and cleared up so much that we’d the Glenanne Gang killings thro’out N Armagh to the Dub Monaghan bombings right up until the proud UDR/RIR cadre killed the two friends in Poyntzpass.!?!?
Yeah that really sorted out the problems… good job (for the sake of the honour of the BA) they only reviewed one year and issued one report.
The UDR were part of the problem as were the RUC and the courts. You can’t accept this and the systematic and complete corruption of the regimment was just a ‘few bad apples’ to quote the unioinist politicos / apoligists for these murderers.
Anonymous,
Don’t you realise that for every person murdered in the style of Jimmy Graham, there are several more people involved in such killings. There will be IRA men and sympathisers scouting the roads to ensure there are no checkpoints. There’ll be the safe house after the event. Someone will dispose of the guns used. And there’ll also be others helping out.
I’ve never once said the headmaster was involved. Merely pointed out ‘A FACT’ which required investigation. The gentleman is dead a long time, 22 years, so I doubt anybody would threaten him unless from beyond the grave!
As for Jimmy Graham, his house was under constant guard from the SAS, he kept the bus at his home so didn’t require to pick it up at the depot in the morning. He was killed in Derrylin because he received no SAS guard there (for some bizarre reason as it’s not exactly a Unionist heartland) and was in an area close to the border where IRA sympathisers wouldn’t have been in short supply.
Just like his brother Cecil Graham, who was killed in Donagh – the most hardline Republican area in all of Fermanagh – the IRA struck when he would be a soft target. Republicans rarely murdered Protestants in Unionist areas in Fermanagh as it would be much more difficult to carry out such a deed and escape; there was always the danger for them of a neighbour who was in the security forces returning fire, and they did not have any sympathisers and agents in such areas to feed them the required information.