Unsolved murders linked to UDR
A County Derry man whose brother and a companion were shot dead in
1975 believes members of a UDR patrol where responsible for the
killings. The family also have reason to believe that Robert
McConnell was a member of that UDR patrol.
GAA fans Colm McCartney and Sean Farmer, returning to Derry from a
football match in Dublin, were found dead at the side of a road near
Newtownhamilton in County Armagh. Both had been shot.
Speaking to AP/RN last week, Sean McCartney, a brother of Colm, said
that his family believe the pair were killed by members of a UDR
patrol which was in the area at the time.
At the inquest into the deaths three RUC members made statements
saying they were on patrol in the area just before the two men were
killed and were themselves stopped by armed men who spoke to them
``with Ulster accents''.
``These RUC men put the UDR patrol in the area at about 11.45pm on
Sunday night and at about quarter past midnight the bodies were
found. The time of death was put at about midnight'', says Sean
McCartney. He continued: ``There has never been an adequate
investigation into the deaths of the two men. As far as I am
concerned it was brushed under the carpe.''
A second unsolved sectarian killing has also recently been linked to
the UDR- the brutal murder of Patsy Kelly, an independent nationalist
councillor, on July 24 1974 in the County Tyrone village of Trillick.
To date no one has ever been questioned, arrested or charged in
connection with this killing. However, the recent confession of a
former UDR soldier, who was present the night Patsy was killed, has
broken the silence surrounding the murder.
The story of this confession was first exposed in Ireland on Sunday
and the family of Patsy Kelly have since appealed to the former UDR
man, who had no direct involvement in the killing and broke down as
he recalled the events of the fatal encounter, to come forward and
make a full statement. They say Patsy met his killers as he was
returning home after working in the Corner Bar in Trillick, when his
car was stopped by a UDR patrol.
A source told AP/RN that the UDR patrol consisted of ``notorious
loyalists'' who were locally known to be ``involved in paramilitary
activity''. Patsy was taken from his car and shot at least six or
seven times. The former UDR man, who made the confession, named six
UDR soldiers who were present that night. The named killers included
a currently prominent unionist politician in County Tyrone, who shot
Patsy ``at least two times'', and another man who fired four shots into
Kelly.
Patsy's younger brother, Peter, recalls how ``thousands of local
people were involved in the search for Patsy''. Bloodstains, shirt
buttons and cartridge cases were discovered along the roadside one
mile from Trillick, at the place Patsy is believed to have been
murdered. His car was also found, burnt out, the day after his
disappearance in Colebrooke, County Fermanagh ten miles away. Three
weeks later a fisherman came across Patsy's body floating in the
remote Lough Eyes, also in Fermanagh.
The killers may have hid the body to conceal the fact that their
victim had been killed with a legally held weapon. Patsy was shot
with a Smith and Wesson revolver, standard issue to the UDR at the
time.
The former UDR man told his story to a local man. The two men were
watching the news in a public place, when Gerry Adams's picture
appeared on the television. The eyewitness to the confession said,
``I think the troubles are over'', to which the ex-soldier replied,
``It's too late for poor Patsy. I was there the night they killed
Patsy''. The UDR man admitted he was in the back of a van with other
UDR men, and witnessed the killing through the open back door. He
described how Patsy's body was taken to Lough Eyes, attached to two
56lb agricultural weights, and dropped into the lough.
Members of the UDR and British military intelligence are also being
linked to the murder of County Louth man Seamus Ludlow. Ludlow's body
was discovered dumped at the side of the road in May 1976. He had
been shot through the heart, right lung and liver with a .38
revolver. The dead man had been returning to his sister's home after
an evening at The Lisdoo Arms in Dundalk when he fell into the hands
of loyalist killers when he accepted a lift.
Details of the killing recently emerged after a loyalist travelling
with Ludlow's killers gave a full account of the murder. Paul
Hosking, at the time active on the fringes of the UDA, had been out
drinking with three other men when Seamus Ludlow was lured into their
car. Two of the gang were members of the UDR, one a captain. The
third man was a loyalist from Comber. All three were active in the
Red Hand Commando.
Events which followed the killing suggest that Ludlow's killers were
more than a gang of drunken sectarian thugs. In a cover up which was
to follow, the Gardai attempted to blacken the dead man's name and
implicate members of his family by branding Ludlow an informer and
the killing as an IRA execution. The investigation into the death was
abruptly dropped. The family were only given 45 minutes prior notice
that the inquest was being held. At the inquest there was no
ballistic or forensic evidence. Twenty years later a senior Garda
officer admitted that the force had suppressed crucial evidence.
The family of Seamus Ludlow believe the explanation behind Garda
inaction and hostility is that at least two of the killers were
working as agents for British military intelligence and therefore
``above the law.'' The British/Irish Rights Watch is supporting the
family's demand for a full inquiry and have produced a dossier on the
Ludlow case.
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