Mary Lynch was mentioned on slugger a couple of months ago when there were complaints about her column in the Impartial Reporter. Ms. Lynch refers to those comments in her latest piece saying: “I may not say things that people want to hear but these things need to be said.”
On this occasion one of the things Ms. Lynch felt the need to say was about her “illegal and inhumane treatment in 1978” (by the RUC). This treatment seems indeed to have been both illegal and inhumane: “…the RUC female officer who held a gun to my head and repeatedly pulled the trigger whilst I silently prayed for the relief that death would bring from the one bullet that she left in its barrel!” If a policewoman was “playing” Russian Roulette to intimidate anyone it is completely unacceptable. Ms. Lynch says she does not want an apology but this is clearly a shocking crime committed against Ms. Lynch and something which should be dealt with by the prosecution of the woman officer concerned.
Unfortunately there are a few minor oddities about Ms. Lynch’s story of inhumane and illegal treatment. Female RUC officers were not armed in 1978 which makes this story of casual intimidation a bit odd. Maybe the female RUC officer borrowed a male officer’s gun. Still a wicked crime.
Then there is another problem with Ms. Lynch’s account. In 1978 the RUC were armed with Walther pistols and a variety of self loading rifles and submachine guns. Indeed in 1979 Margaret Thatcher was most annoyed that Jimmy Carter refused to allow the export of Ruger revolvers for use by the RUC. As such in 1978 there was a dearth of revolvers with which to play Russian Roulette against republicans (or anyone else). Without getting too technical it is physically impossible to use the weapons then available to the RUC in the fashion Ms. Lynch describes. The story of this wicked crime does, however, “Need to be said”….. unless of course it never actually happened.
This author has not written a biography and will not be writing one.
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