Friday, March 14, 2008
Unsung hero of the Troubles worth remembering…
YESTERDAY saw the funeral of Gerry McLaverty, the only survivor of the bloodthirsty gang of loyalist serial killers and sectarian psychopaths known as the Shankill Butchers. McLaverty’s courage - in identifying members of the UVF gang who slashed his wrists (pictured), stabbed him, hacked him with an axe, tied a noose round his neck and left him for dead - undoubtedly meant that lives were saved. Members of the gang were eventually convicted of 19 murders, although suspected of up to 11 more, and McLaverty, described as a gentle giant, eventually recovered, although he rarely spoke of his harrowing experience. You can read McLaverty’s statement to the police in this extract from Martin Dillon’s book on the Shankill Butchers (page 196). I think we’ve good reason to be thankful for Gerard McLaverty; perhaps his bravery deserves to be remembered in some way other than newspaper tributes?
Belfast Gonzo @ 07:04 PM
here here!! we should all keep gerry mclaverty in our thoughts. I was with a friend of mine a few minutes before he was picked up by the shankill butchers and murdered.
To add a more controversal thought however. We should also remember that it was not the police who stopped the shankill butchers, not withstanding mclavertys bravery, it was the IRA active service unit who took out Lennie Murphy.
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 07:54 PMWe should also remember that it was not the police who stopped the shankill butchers, not withstanding mclavertys bravery, it was the IRA active service unit who took out Lennie Murphy.
Reading Dillon’s book, you could not fail to be struck by the incompetency of the RUC investigation. A good example being that all the UVF statements in relation to the murders were signed Captain Long but Inspector Nesbitt and his team never thought to link that with the gang’s preferred haunt, the Long Bar on the Shankill Road.
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 08:13 PMIncompetence or tacit collusion?
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 08:17 PMIncompetence or tacit collusion?
Who knows but the entire investigation should be viewed in the light that, after possibly 30 murders in 10+ years, it took an intended victim to literally point the gang out to the RUC on the Shankill Road before charges were brought.
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 08:21 PMRemarkable to think that the “Cathedral Quarter” was rather more famous for this sort of thing than heroic drinking exploits
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 08:25 PMDec,
He fits perfectly the role of a ‘counter-gang’ leader and with the British having form confirmed through Jackson and Haddock who knows.
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 08:27 PMC’mon Mark
You’re not seriously suggesting Britain allowed a bunch of sociopathetic murderers and cutthroats free reign, in order to create pressure on the IRA campaign from within the Catholic\Nationalist population?
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 08:30 PMWhile reading Gerry’s account to the police I couldn’t but reflect also on the final half hour of young Paul Quinn’s life.
May we as a society never go back to such inhumanity.
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 08:32 PMDec,
My bad, silly old me suggesting they may have done something they have been proven to do.
The weirdest thing about Murphy is his end seems to have been the only time Loyalist criminality contributed to a positive outcome
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 08:38 PMjoecanuck,
Well said.. Heck, who provided the information on Murphy? I would say that the RUC at the time deserve an enormous amount of credit, it also puts into doubt the claim that the RUC were working hand in hand with the loyalist paramilitaries to kill anyone from the Nationilist/Republican community.
Cheers
Rob
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 08:42 PMDec: “You’re not seriously suggesting Britain allowed a bunch of sociopathetic murderers and cutthroats free reign, in order to create pressure on the IRA campaign from within the Catholic\Nationalist population? “
They did it elsewhere, such as Kenya and Aden… So why *NOT* Northern Ireland?
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 08:57 PMOnionists are very quiet. Did somebody say something bad?
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 10:56 PMSeems strange that the RUC didn’t return him to his house and then tip off the UVF as to his whereabouts so as they could finish him off before he identified anyone. Well, it seems strange if you are a conspiracy theorist, a republican, a paranoid schizophreniac or the usual mix of all three. In reality it was thanks to a few hard working RUC detectives, one of whom I know well, that the Shankill Butchers were caught. But let’s not let that get in the way of an excuse to demonise Protestants and Unionists.
Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 11:25 PMYou can easily see the professionalism and excitement of Nesbitt and his squad that they had cracked these cases.
Well done to them; no collusion there.Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 11:35 PMEvening Intelligence,
Your name reminds me of the boy who went down to join the UVF and he had passed the eleven plus so they immediately promoted him to the rank TA. He promptly asked what this was and was told: Telligence Afficer.Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 @ 11:55 PMI am very sad that this gentleman died especially quite young. I am thankful that he survived his ordeal at the hands of those evil killers and helped put them in gaol.
In that Murphy and the others proclaimed themselves to be “fighting” for Protestantism and Unionism I am ashamed and further angered that they did these things; things I had not wanted nor supported. There is little else I can say other than to offer condolences to Mr. McLaverty’s friends and relatives.
Posted by on Mar 15, 2008 @ 12:05 AMIn reality it was thanks to a few hard working RUC detectives, one of whom I know well, that the Shankill Butchers were caught.
Actually, no it wasn’t. It was because one of the gang’s victims pointed out his attackers to those ‘hard working’ RUC men.
Posted by on Mar 15, 2008 @ 12:07 AM‘In reality it was thanks to a few hard working RUC detectives, one of whom I know well, that the Shankill Butchers were caught.’
Yeah, the way they immediately made that connection between Captain Long and the Long Bar was stunning detective work-or not as the case may be.
Robert Harris must have based Enigma on these ace code-breakers.
Posted by on Mar 15, 2008 @ 12:19 AMTurgon
There is no doubt that your opinion is shared by very many in your community including many who were in the RUC before it was disbanded and is representative. To think otherwise would be childish.Intelligencer
Many others were embittered by the troubles enough to be ambivalent (as on the other side of the fence)and still others (we could argue about the numbers) we’re either supporting it tacitly or actually controlling from on high.Posted by on Mar 15, 2008 @ 12:19 AM“Onionists are very quiet. Did somebody say something bad?”
Of course not, we’re just off planning a commemoration for the butchers at Stormont for International Workers Day, since Jennifer McCann “would never, ever say to unionists or loyalists that they should or should not be doing something.”
Anyway I digress. If it really took the RUC 10 years to catch these guys that’s depressing and worrying.
Posted by on Mar 15, 2008 @ 12:23 AMOK, on a serious note about why Unionists are quiet, I’d imagine it’s because many aren’t as familiar with the story of the butchers as nationalists are. We know they exist and did some quite nasty things, but groups or “communities” if you must tend not to focus on the aspects of “their” history that show them in such a negative light. Probably the same way nationalists don’t pay too much attention to the innocent civilians/children shot in cold blood by ‘republicans’ during the Easter Rising.
Based on that ignorance I’m sure some would put the fact that so many nationalists do know the intricate details, as a gut reaction anyway, down to a habit of seeking out victimhood. Myself I’m sure it’s more to do with the fact that a campaign like that is bound to leave an enormous impact on the community that was targeted, especially in those folk who actually remember it, but I think there is a tendency to collective selective amnesia in our “cultural war”.
Posted by on Mar 15, 2008 @ 12:29 AMFair enough Beano but your lucky the police force’s performance only rates “depressing and worrying” on your scale and not “terrifying and horrific” as it was for others.
BTW I’m not a great believer in rubbing people’s nose in it as a way of conflict resolution. Turning memories of the dead into party political stunts when the aforesaid deceased are busy turning in their grave is not on.
There is a hint though that you believe the deeds of Lennie and co. were equitable with the work done by the other side.Posted by on Mar 15, 2008 @ 12:35 AMThat was a tediously convoluted way of excusing the collective averting of eyes, Beano.
Posted by on Mar 15, 2008 @ 12:36 AMA very grim business. There have been far too many Gerry McLavertys. Those who stirred up all this shite have a lot to answer for too.
Posted by on Mar 15, 2008 @ 12:52 AMI was thinking that fifty is a young age to go but then again Mr McLaverty lived thirty years longer than the Butchers had intended him to. I just hope that he was able to enjoy a reasonable quality of life after the horrific experience that he endured. Society owes him a debt.
I have spent the evening revisiting the horrors that were the Butchers - a grim experience (and one that will probably cause me nightmares after a long hiatus). For what it’s worth I believe that the cops gave the Butchers a bye-ball a lot of the time - SB would have known exactly what they were at. Self-confessed British agent Ginger Baker and his cronies in the east Belfast UDA were ‘rompering’ and blow-torching Catholics in similar fashion during 1972 - classic Kitson!
Posted by on Mar 15, 2008 @ 12:56 AM
