Unanswered questions over the death of Louis Leonard
On 15 December 1972 the body of Louis Leonard, 26 years old, was
found in a pool of blood in a fridge in his butcher shop. It was
only ten days before the Fermanagh man was to celebrate his first
Christmas with his wife Betty and baby son Tony.
The last few hour of his life are a mystery. He had been working
late in the shop. His brother Barry called for a chat, leaving at
10.40pm. Twenty minutes later Louis had disappeared.
Betty discovered him gone when she got back from Lisnaskea. The
shop was locked.
A woman had witnessed some strange events. A large expensive
looking black car had pulled up twenty minutes earlier. A well
dressed man got out, peeped through a window to the shop,
returned to the car and drove off.
He returned ten minutes later with another man. His companion was
dressed in overalls. They entered the shop. A few minutes later
the woman saw the men drive away. The shop lights had been
switched off.
Later a teenage girl confirmed seeing the car.
The following morning, Louis' brother and brother-in law-broke
into the shop and found him. He had been shot 8, possibly 10
times. The bullets from a .38 and a .45 revolver had been fired
at close range in the back of the head.
Then in February 1973, new evidence came to light. Different
witnesses told of having passed the shop at around 1.30am and
seeing lights on.
A local farmer spoke of a blue van like Louis' being parked in
front of the shop at 1.45am. Another witness recalled having seen
three men outside the shop at 1.30am. One of whom wore a white
butcher's coat and appeared to be opening the door.
Louis Leonard had suffered a lot of harassment from the RUC and
British army. A British army patrol, a few weeks prior to his
death, had taken photographs of him. On the night of his murder
his wife Betty was stopped and held at an RUC checkpoint outside
Lisnaskea. A bomb had gone off in Lisnaskea. The RUC men were
agitated.
Local people believe that there was Crown force involvement. They
believe that he was taken out of his shop at 11pm and driven away
in the expensive looking car. Later at 1.30am they returned to
the butcher shop, brought him into the fridge and murdered him.
On Sunday 28 December 1997 there will be a wreath laying
ceremony in Derrylin County Fermanagh in his memory, 25 years
after his death.
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