Miami Showband: “Disturbing questions about collusive and corrupt behaviour”
Henry McDonald reports (John has more detail here) on the conclusion of the privately released HET report (they are all intended for the families) subsequently released via the Pat Finucane Centre into the killing of the Miami Showband on 31st July 1975. He notes:
The Het team said the murders raised “disturbing questions about collusive and corrupt behaviour”. It said the review “has found no means to assuage or rebut these concerns and that is a deeply troubling matter”.
Update: Pat Finucane Centre have released a copy of that part of the report relating to Robin Jackson…
Though as Henry alludes, the membership of the gang who murdered the band members have long been beyond doubt, not least because two of them blew themselves up on the spot had dual membership of both state and non state forces:
The bogus army patrol comprised soldiers from the Ulster Defence Regiment and UVF members in Armagh. Members of the band were made to line up at the side of the road while one UVF member tried to hide a bomb on the bus. The plan was that the bomb would explode en route, killing everyone on board as it entered Dublin. But the bomb went off prematurely, killing Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, who were members of the UDR, as well as the UVF.
The focus of the press reporting though is:
The cold case police investigations unit, the Historical Enquiries Team (Het), found Robin Jackson was linked to the murders of three members of the Miami Showband in July 1975.
The pop group were on their way back to Dublin when their minibus was stopped by a fake army patrol near the border. The Het report found that Jackson, a member of loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force from North Armagh, had been linked to one of the murder weapons by his fingerprints. But Jackson later claimed in police interviews he had been tipped off by a senior Royal Ulster Constabulary officer to lie low after the killings.
Without seeing the the hard core of the report (let me know if you spot it anywhere?) it is hard to draw too many hard and fast conclusions. Collusion is a possibility (Finucane Centre has some interesting background on official British concerns about the UDR around this time), but so too is the likelihood these actions were about preserving an ‘informer asset’ inside the loyalist paramilitaries.
Three other members of the gang, James Somerville, Thomas Crozier and James McDowell were also members of the UDR but these were all convicted at the time; which indicates the operation itself was unlikely to have been ordered at some level by the state.
“The entire Catholic community supported the IRA. And I suppose you can prove that?”
galloglaigh, I wouldn’t say “entire” but I would say the majority of the Catholic community in Northern Ireland support Sinn Fein which is the political wing of the IRA. Its therefore obvious this same majority of the Catholic community also supported the IRA when they murdered the majority of the 1,857 civilians who died during the troubles.
Dwatch the majority of the 1857 civillians killed during the troubles were killed by Loyalists. Its what they specialised in.
dwatch
I think Sinn Fein only gained the majority support after the exit of John Hume and the peace process. It’s a bit like the DUP – When they stopped saying no and never, and with the self destruction of the UUP, they gained the majority support. But sure you’ve your mind made up and that’s that.
It still doesn’t deflect away from the HET’s report. The more reports come out, the more the narrative changes.
galloglaigh: Well that just shows your mentality… Sad!
Are you objecting to the arithmetic, or to my presumption that innocent victims should be treated equally?
Reader
How can you treat victims with equality, when you say some killings were twice as bad as others? Especially when it’s a case of ‘ours was worse than yours’. That just shows the mentality of thought.
galloglaigh, there is no comparision between the support for politicians at Westminister, assembly & local councils the PUP/UVF received from the Unionist community at elections to the support of SF/IRA from the Republican community after the signing of the 2006 St Andrews agreement. Remember one reason most working class Unionists refused (and still refuse) to support the PUP/UVF to this present day is because a minority of loyalists have not surrendered their weapons. Unlike SF/IRA who put on a well dramatized show disposing of weapons on TV in the ROI (to please Blair, Ahern,& Paisley) many Unionists still do not believe all IRA guns & Semtex were destroyed otherwise the dissent IRA would not be in existence or have the guns they have today.
dwatch
Nice try sir, but the DUP and the UUP were supported by the UVF and the UDA for a generation. Drumcree, Anglo-Irish Agreement, Ulster Workers Council Strike. The two parties were the de-facto political wings of the loyal terror organisations, and they all worked hand in hand to ‘keep Ulster British’!
galloglaigh, Utter nonsense, thats like saying the IRA supported the SDLP. The DUP, UUP, & SDLP have always been totally against violence, & murder throughout the troubles.
I attended a large meeting a couple of years ago in West Belfast were one of the speakers was Alban Maginness SDLP. He asked Gerry Adams and other SF members present why they went down the road of the gun & violence for 30 + years when they could have easily followed the road of the ballot box like the SDLP and as they are doing now? There was silence all round.
galloglaigh, Oh! I forgot to mention Gerry Adams could not have answered Alban Maginness’s question after all he has told everyone he was never in the IRA.
“The DUP, UUP… have always been totally against violence, & murder throughout the troubles”
It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt!
Yes the SDLP did not support violence, but to suggest the UUP, and especially the DUP were akin to the stance of the SDLP is utter nonsense. In fact, it’s pure pish!
William Craig’s Vanguard had the support of the loyal terror organisations.
The Ulster Workers Council Strike in the 70′s, organised by the UUP, the DUP, the UDA and the UVF heightened tensions, and led to an increase in the numbers of innocent Catholics being murdered.
DUP members set up a unionist terrorist organisation, who along with the UDA, the UVF, and MI5, shipped weapons and ammunition from South Africa, after the group set up by DUP members sold weapons technology to South Africa.
The rally at the Ulster Hall in opposition to the Anglo-Irish agreement was organised by the DUP, and was marshalled by the UDA and the UVF. This event again, led to heightened tensions, and led to an increase in the number of innocent Catholics being murdered by Unionist terrorists.
Previous to the Drumcree stand-off, Willie McCrea, a DUP MP, stood on a platform with one of the most notorious sectarian animals born on Irish soil. McCrea defended Billy Wright and supported his right to stay in Norn Iron, even though his organisation were killing innocent Catholics as presents to the Rat scumbag.
During the Drumcree stand-off, the Orange Order, the DUP and the UUP welcomed Wright’s bunch of murders to gain support from unionist terrorists. They also welcomed another notorious sectarian scumbag, Johnny Adair and his merry bunch of murdering bigots.
So don’t try and tell me that the DUP and the UUP were against the men of violence. They used their support to heighten tensions, which resulted in the deaths of many, many innocent Catholics.
And before I forget, please stop defending unionist terror, by pointing out republican terror. It makes you look like a fool!
By the way dwatch
You’re using a question asked of Gerry Adams, as if it has something to do with me. How about the question Gerry Kelly asked Nelson McCauseland “Where are the guns held by the Ulster Resistance?” which of course Nelson refused to acknowledge never mind answer!
galloglaigh: How can you treat victims with equality, when you say some killings were twice as bad as others? Especially when it’s a case of ‘ours was worse than yours’. That just shows the mentality of thought.
3 victims of the Miami Showband massacre.
10 victims of the Kingsmills massacre.
So therefore the Kingsmills massacre was over three times as bad. (If you treat the victims with equality.) I underestimated the difference in my earlier post. You still complained!
If the Unionist electorate so abhor the men of violence isn’t it strange that they didn’t reject the DUP & UUP at the polls after both put Hughie Smyth into the Belfast Mayor’s seat ( five months before the UVF ceasefire) and Frank McCoubrey into the Dep Mayor’s seat while his colleagues were murdering and destroying the Shankill?
Just a thought. Adams has always denied being in the IRA. Has anyone asked him the specific question “Were you a member of the Provisional IRA ?” or whatever they officially term themselves.
Joe
The dogs in the street know that answer, but I wonder would some DUP and UUP current and former members be comfortable with a similar question?
“3 victims of the Miami Showband massacre… 10 victims of the Kingsmills massacre”
Again a very short sighted post. What about the families? They are also victims. If one person was killed, that is as much a tragedy as 100 people being killed. But back to the point of ‘ours was worse than yours’, the mentality shines through; we suffered more than useins!
galloglaigh,
Still working hard on your rewriting of history dissertation I see. Sadly no one outside of dronesville and the green beer regions of the USA* agrees with you. Trying to equate constitutional politicians with SF or the security forces with PIRA is laughable.
*Greatly reduced since 2011.
Decimus
I found a book in the library when I was a teenager. It had a photograph in it with Willie McCrea and Billy Wright on a platform in solidarity. I can’t remember the title of the book, but I definitely seen it, and this is accurate. It had a number of related photographs, that followed the trend of unionist politicians cosying up to their loyalist terror buddies… and so on… and so on
galloglaigh,
Bully for you.
Sadly no one outside of dronesville and the green beer regions of the USA* agrees with you. Trying to equate constitutional politicians with SF or the security forces with PIRA is laughable.
it would be laughable if someone could show how Unionism was always as vociferous against state murder as it was against non-state actors. to cross post a comment of mine from an earlier thread on this issue…
And this post explains why unionists played hard to get with loyalists. They’ve had their own full standing paid armed forces since the creation of the state. The attempt by some to paint nationalists as being less moral because the shinners achieved electoral success within that constituency ignores the reality of collusion. British armed forces always had the fullest support and protection of the unionist community. Which is why you have never heard any Unionist leader demand the British govt open the books on collusion. Instead we get the fruit analogy, no matter how many instance and times the issue comes up.
I’m still waiting for the evidence where Unionist leaders have called on the British govt to open the books to independent investigation on collusion. Perhaps Decimus has a link….
RepublicanStones,
Your basic problem is that the accusations which you make about the security forces remain unproven, whilst the fact that SF’s military wing were responsible for the majority of murders here is indisputable.
Can someone explain the terms ‘state’ and ‘non-state’ to Decimus?
(Still waiting on that link)
RepublicanStones,
I’m aware of both terms.
Link to what?
I’m aware of both terms
Aware? But evidently not in possession of the meaning.
Link to what?
Thought not…good night.
RepublicanStones,
Good luck.
Submariner,
Just a point of information on the civilian deaths: the figure I have for 1969-98 is 1,856 killed, of which Loyalists killed 873 – so they didn’t kill most of the civilians in the Troubles. Loyalists did kill more civilians than Republicans did (735).
While I have the stats out, why not share some of the other interesting ones (ignore if not interested!) …
In 1975, the year of the Miami Showband killing, the stats for who did what were:
Security forces – killed 7 people
Loyalist paramilitaries – killed 121 people
Republican paramilitaries – killed 125 people.
1975 was therefore one of those exceptional years in which Republicans did not do a majority of the killing (though they weren’t far off). It was the only year that happened in the whole of the 1970s and 1980s. (The other years when Republican killing was under 50 per cent of the total deaths were 1969, 1992-4 and 1997).
1975 was the third most deadly year of the Troubles after 1972 (479 deaths) and 1976 (295 deaths). The six worst years of the Troubles were consecutive: 1971-1976 inclusive.
Taking the Troubles overall, Republicans out-killed Loyalists by more than 2:1; and out of the 30 calendar years of the Troubles 1969-1998, Republicans killed more than Loyalists in 25 of them.
In terms of overall killings, including those by security forces, Republicans had an overall share of the deaths of 65% or over in 15 of the 30 years from 1969-1998. In terms of averages, the overall of mean of Republican killings was 58.7% and the median was 65%.
1975 was therefore one of those exceptional years in which Republicans did not do a majority of the killing (though they weren’t far off). It was the only year that happened in the whole of the 1970s and 1980s. (The other years when Republican killing was under 50 per cent of the total deaths were 1969, 1992-4 and 1997).
MU,
1975 also happens to be the year in which they were supposed to be on ceasefire.
Decimus,
That is funny that 75 was a ‘ceasefire’ year (in a very black way).
That Republicans still killed 125 people also shows how much bigger the scale of the Troubles were in the first 6-7 years compared to the rest. They killed 154 in 1976 but after that, in the 22 years of their campaign, the most killings they managed in one year was 102 (in 1979). In the 1970-1976 period, they were averaging 134 per year; their average for 1977-98 was 50 killings per year, so it fell by just under two thirds.
The Loyalist drop-off was similar in scale after 1976, obviously at a lower level but with a more dramatic reduction. Their 1970-76 average was 83, but from 1977-98 they averaged around 18 murders per year. So it fell by around
The deaths attributable to the security forces followed a similar pattern, though at a much, much lower level. They were responsible for 30 deaths a year in the 1970-76 period, but in the rest of the Troubles averaged under 7 per year.
So the Troubles from 1977 onwards had a killing pattern of around 67% Republican, 24% Loyalist and 9% security forces. But in the fiercest period of 1970-76, the gap was narrower: 54% Republican, 32% Loyalist and 12% Security Forces. Enough death stats for now, it’s Christmas!
sorry, for the sake of completeness, the Loyalist reduction in killing rate post 1976 was around 78 per cent. Missed that off before.
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