LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
"The contents of this statement and of the attached list of murders attributed to Robin Jackson, which I have provided voluntarily, are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. I am prepared to testify about the matters referred to in these statements in the two libel cases in which Sean McPhilemy is involved, one in the U.K., the other in the USA. I hereby authorise Sean McPhilemy to use these statements as he thinks fit"
John Oliver Weir .
”I think it is important to make it clear that this collusion between Loyalist paramilitaries such as Robin Jackson and my RUC colleagues and me was taking place with the full knowledge of my superiors......."
-------------------
This is an indepth description and complete and frank admission by an ex RUC officer of how they armed and colluded with loyalist terrorists.
It makes some interesting reading, especially regarding the credability of the source.
Its refreshing to see such men being so honest, especially someone who was convicted of murder and involved in collusion.
SeeingRed [John Weir's Affadavit]
1. I am a former member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) which I joined in 1970 and served until 1980. After initial training in Enniskillen Training Depot, I began my police career in Strandtown RUC Station in East Belfast.
2. I left the RUC in 1980 following my conviction for the murder of William Strathearn at Ahoghill, Co.[County] Antrim, which occurred in April 1977. I will deal with this incident later in this statement. (See paragraphs 33-38)
3. I recall that in 1970 or 1971, while I was serving as a young constable, aged 20, in Strandtown there was an arms amnesty in which members of the public handed in substantial quantities of guns and ammunition of different types. Many of these guns were then given out by RUC officers to local members of a Loyalist paramilitary organization, the Ulster Defence Association, with the knowledge of the senior officers in my station. On one occasion I was ordered by Inspector Don Milligan to remove a number of rifles which had been handed in under the amnesty, and place them in the boot of his car. I do not know where he took them but it was common knowledge among my colleagues that such weapons were being given to Loyalists whom my colleagues supported.
4. In 1972, I was transferred to Armagh RUC station and I served in a specialist anti-terrorist unit, the Special Patrol Group (SPG), in Armagh for the following two years or more. This involved me in police work related to the political unrest in Northern Ireland and especially combatting IRA terrorism. For example, my duties included making early morning arrests, attending the scenes of bombings and shootings and riot control. I quickly discovered that many members of my SPG unit had Loyalists connections and supported the activities of Loyalist paramilitaries. I recall that, during the Ulster workers Strike in 1974 all members of my SPG unit fully supported the Loyalist efforts to bring down the power-sharing Executive and we toured the barricades and encouraged the strikers to persevere. When my colleagues and I learned that we were going to be sent to Portadown to contain Loyalist protests, we sabotaged our own police vehicles by putting sugar in petrol tanks and disabling our vehicles. As a result we were not sent to Portadown. My SPG had about thirty members, of whom 29 were Protestant and the only one Catholic, Maurice Coyle, who resigned and emigrated to Canada.
5. It is important to make it clear that my SPG unit, following Coyle's departure, was entirely Protestant and committed to the Loyalist cause.Each SPG unit had a call sign, which used each colour as a call sign; my unit's call sign was 'Orange.' The SPG Commander for the whole of Northern Ireland, Superintendent Killen, made a joke of this on a visit to Armagh when he showed his knowledge of our unit, saying that our colour was appropriateas we were basically an Orange Lodge.
6. The area we were responsible for patrolling included the whole of South Armagh and, on, the whole of south Down. I recall one incident near Glenanne in South Armagh, when I was on patrol with a Constable Moorcroft. We were called to a shooting incident which had occurred at Glenanne Lake and Mowhan village, the incident involved others members of our SPG unit and had led to the accidental death of two British soldiers, shot in error by my colleagues. I recall that, on the way to the scene of the incident, Constable Tom Moorcroft told me that he was concerned in case the dead men would turn out to be Loyalist paramilitaries operating in the area. He mentioned the name of one such paramilitary, James Mitchell, who was also a member of the RUC Reserve in Markethill at that time. This incident confirmed my growing realization that the security forces were involved in Loyalist terrorism.
7. I recall a visit to my SPG unit by RUC Assistant Chief Constable Charlie Rodgers, who asked us for our views on how best to combat the rise in IRA activity in south Armagh. South Armagh was, at that time, an area which was experiencing much terrorist activity from both sides. Loyalist and republican. We used the opportunity presented by Rodgers' visit to express some extreme solutions to the problem, such as that we use commercial lorries with armored plating which would enable us to remove illegal IRA ro******************************************s by shooting everyone dead, or that we should perform road stops wearing civilian clothes and carrying illegal weapons, pretending to be either UVF or IRA units, thereby learning the true allegiance of those we had stopped. ACC Rodgers expressed his support for these proposals and other extreme measures, with the result that some of us later implemented them. One of my colleagues, who later murdered an innocent Catholic, tried to justify his action by saying that Charlie Rodgers, on one of his visits to Armagh SPG, had authorized an RUC shoot-to-kill policy.
8. I recall that in 1974, towards the end of my time in Armagh SPG, I was having a drink with a girlfriend in Norman's Bar in Moira, Co. Armagh,when we were bought drinks by two men in the pub. We had an easy conversation and one of the men, who had already known my name, told me he had heard good reports about me and knew me to be sympathetic to the Loyalists. They left within fifteen minutes and I made inquiries as to who they were. That was the first time I ever met Robin Jackson and R.J. Kerr, two Loyalist paramilitaries, whom I would later come to know well. I assumed that oneof my SPG colleagues had previously informed these men that I would be useful to their cause.
9. Two murders in 1974 and 1975 led to my transfer from Armagh SPG to another SPG unit in Castlereagh, Belfast. The IRA had murdered an Ulster Defence Regiment officer called Elliott. After his death, I received information that he had been held and murdered at the home of Jimmy Carville. At Mollyash, Castleblaney, across the border in Co. Monaghan. I passed this information on to Sergeant John Poland in RUC Special Branch camp in Armagh. A short time later John Francis Greene, a known IRA man who was on the run from Lurgan, Co. Armagh, was shot dead in Jimmy Carville's house. I later learned that my name was being linked to the second murder and that rumours were circulating that I had organized the murder of John Francis Greene, in retaliation for the Elliott murder. Although this was untrue, these rumours put me at additional risk from the IRA and as a result, I was transferred to Belfast. I later became aware that the Greene murder had been committed by an Ulster Defence Regiment [UDR] soldier Robert McConnell, and by one of the men I had met in Norman's Bar, the Loyalist paramilitary Robin Jackson.
10. Some time after my transfer to Belfast, I received a visit from two of my former colleagues in Armagh SPG, Gary Armstrong and Ian Mitchell.They told me that ACC Rodgers had spoken to their unit once more and that they had expressed their view to him that a drastic change of policy was necessary to combat the IRA more effectively in South Armagh. They told me that they had decided for themselves, as a result of the discussions stimulated by his visit s, that the time had come to take direct action against not merely known Republicans or IRA activists but against the Catholic population in general. I agreed with them that the only way to stop the IRA murder campaign was to attack the Catholic community itself, so that it would put pressure on the IRA to call off its campaign. After I had indicated my interest in their plans, Armstrong and Mitchell informed me that they had already begun to implement them. They had started their campaign by carrying out a bomb and gun attack near Keady village, in June 1976, at the Rock Bar which is located within yards of the border with the Irish Republic.
11. Armstrong and Mitchell gave me a detailed account of how they had organized and carried out the attack. They explained how, during the attack, the detonator had exploded but the bomb itself had failed. They also told me that the machine gun attack, which had been designed to keep the customers inside the bar until the bomb exploded, had resulted in just one serious injury. The injured man had been shot by a third RUC Constable, William McCaughey, who had participated in the attack. A fourth RUC Constable, Laurence McClure also took part. I was also told that two other RUC Constables who had previously agreed to participate, David Wilson and William Scott, had failed to turn up as arranged.
12. I agreed at that meeting in Castlereagh RUC station that I would attend a further meeting in Gary Armstrong's house in Rosemount Park, Armagh on a date which was also set. When I first arrived at that meeting a few days later, the following RUC officers were present: Gary Armstrong, Laurence McClure, Ian Mitchell, David Wilson and William Scott. Another RUC Constable Samuel 'Euel' Cosgrove, had agreed to attend but did not turnup. We decided at that meeting, after a lot of discussion, that we would press on with a second attack but we did not settle on a particular target. McClure and Armstrong had explained to me in detail the past activities of their group, so that I would have a proper understanding of the character of the organization I was joining.
13. I recall that McClure told me, at that meeting in Armstrong's house, that there was a farmhouse at Glenanne from which they had already carried out several operations. He did not tell me, at that stage, the identity of the person who owned the farmhouse but he said it was owned by an RUC officer. He also said it might be necessary for his group to find a different base of operations because he believed that police officers, who were unaware that the group's activities had been authorized at a higher level, knew that the farmhouse had been used in connection with the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in 1974. McClure informed me about this attack and others which he and others had carried out from this location. These includedi) the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. I believe that 33 people were killed and scores seriously injured in these two bombings, which occurred on the same day. The explosives for both attacks had been provided by Captain John Irwin, an Intelligence Officer in the UDR. The bombs had been assembled at the farmhouse in Glenanne, which was owned by the RUC Officer James Mitchell. The main organizer of both attacks had been a Loyalist paramilitary and UDR Captain Billy Hanna from Lurgan, Co. Armagh. The bombs had been transported in cars with Robin Jackson, Billy Hanna and David Payne taking part in the Dublin attack and Stuart Young taking responsibility for the one in Monaghan. Stuart Young later told me, at a meeting at Mitchell's farmhouse, that he had intended to place the Monaghan bomb outside a different bar in the town but the Gardai (police), who were completely unaware of what his gang were doing, had not allowed them to park at that location. Although those two bombings were amongst the worst atrocities of the Irish Troubles, those responsible for them were never even questionedby the RUC, even though both the RUC and Army Intelligence knew within days of the bombings the identities of the culprits. Indeed, since Irwin belonged to Army Intelligence it is possible that both Army Intelligence and the RUC were aware of the impending bomb attacks before they took place. Hanna and Jackson are now dead but Mitchell, Payne and Irwin are still alive.
(ii) a bomb and gun attack on two pubs in Crossmaglen, carried out by McClure and Robert McConnell in November 1974, with the getaway car provided by James Mitchell and his housekeeper Lily shields. A local man, Thomas McNamee, was seriously injured and died from his injuries a year later. No one has ever been prosecuted for this crime.
(iii) the murder of two Gaelic football supporters at Tullyvallen, near Newtownhamilton in August 1975 by McClure, McConnell and other Loyalists belonging to the UVF. These men were wearing military uniforms when they stopped the two football supporters and after identifying them as Catholics, shot them dead.
(iv) a gun and bomb attack on Donnelly's bar in Silverbridge, South Armagh in December 1975. This was carried out in retaliation for the murder of an RUC Reserve Constable William Meeklim who, the group believed had been held at the bar after being kidnapped by the IRA. I understand that three people were killed in this attack and that several more were injured. Mr. Donnelly's 14 year old son was one of those shot dead in the attack. Those responsible for the attack are: Stuart Young, Sammy McCoo, "Shilly" Silcock, McConnell, with the get away car provided by Laurence McClure and Lily Shields. After the attack the group reassembled at Mitchell's farmhouse. I believe that no one has ever been prosecuted for these murders but that the RUC has known the truth for many years. On the same night Robin Jackson led a gang which placed a bomb in Dundalk, south of the border. One person was killed in that attack. Both attacks were co-ordinated.
(v) the murder of three Catholic brothers, the Reaveys, at Whitecross, South Armagh in January 1976. This attack was carried out by McConnell, Laurence McClure, RUC Reserve Constable Johnny Mitchell and one of McClure's brothers who, alone, was not a member of the security forces. On the same night Robin Jackson shot the three O'Dowd brothers dead. Both attacks were co-ordinated.
(vi) a car bomb in Castleblaney across the border in County Monaghan in March 1976 in which one man was killed. This attack was carried out by Laurence McClure and Robert McConnell. The explosives used in this attack, as in the others mentioned above, were provided by UDR Captain John Irwin and they were stored in Mitchell's farmhouse before the operation - though neither of these facts were revealed to me at this first meeting in Armstrong's house.
14. The meeting ended with an understanding that I would be contacted at the appropriate moment after the next operation had been agreed upon. Shortly after my return to Belfast I was contacted by Armstrong. I subsequently drove to Armagh where I met Armstrong and McClure in a carpark near the RUC station. We drove from there in McClure's car to Mitchell's farmhouse in Glenanne where I discovered that between 8 and 10 armed men, wearing camouflaged clothing were on parade in the farmyard. We discussed a bombing and shooting operation directed against a Catholic pub, Tully's, in Beleeks, South Armagh. I learnt that the car bomb had been prepared. Mitchell had the plans of the pub which showed that there was no escape route for the customers in the pub and billiard room into the main living quarters; the idea was to leave the car bomb outside the building, to shoot the place up from outside so that no one would leave before the bomb exploded, thereby ensuing maximum casualties. Armstrong and McClure then proceeded to check the route to and from the pub. However, when they found out that the Parachute Regiment was on patrol that evening, the operation was called off and I returned to Belfast.
15. On the evening after my return to Belfast, the group carried out the bombing which had been planned for the day before. The attack occurred on 8th March, 1976. The plans of the building turned out to be inaccurate and it turned out that in fact there was a door from the pub and billiard room into Tully's living quarters. So, when shots were fired through the windows, all the customers fled into the living quarters with the result that when the bomb exploded it caused only structural damage to the pub itself and none of the customers were killed or seriously injured. This bomb attack was carried out by McClure, one of McClure's brothers, Armstrong, Sammy Whitten from Portadown, Wilson Fry from Tandragee and other Loyalist paramilitaries. I have since learned that the Parachute Regiment was aware of the planned bomb attack on the second night and allowed it to proceed.......
(Rest of statement contained in above link)
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by mejustme
