Republican News · Thursday 14 March 2002

[An Phoblacht]

Fermanagh families tell stories of state violence


Paula Love, whose uncle was shot dead by a British soldier

The Untold Truth features the stories of ten Fermanagh families whose lives have been affected by state violence in the conflict in the North.

Martin Love was 24 when he was killed by two members of the British Army in the early hours of Easter Monday, 8 April 1985.

Mark Edward Trotter was home in Enniskillen on leave from the British Army's Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) when he fired the shots that killed Martin Love. Using a Walther 9mm pistol Trotter first shot Martin in the head then fired another five rounds into his prone body, hitting him in the back and legs. His accomplice was UDR man James Robert Kenny.

The UDA, using its UFF cover name, claimed responsibility for the killing and when both British soldiers, who were arrested a short time after the killing, were sentenced, they served their time on UDA wings in Long Kesh.

Kenny's father was an RUC man who would have been friendly with both Martin Love and his father, while Martin Love's sister lived in the house next door to Trotter's family in Hillview in Enniskillen. Trotter would have known Martin because he visited there often.

When telling the story of Martin's killing, Thomas Love, his brother, said that on the night he was killed Martin was wearing an Easter Lily, as he had attended one of the commemorations in County Fermanagh on Easter Sunday and had gone drinking afterwards.

It was as Martin walked past his father's house, in Cornagrade, that Trotter came out from behind a hedge and shot him.

Thomas added: "The most insulting thing that happened was at the funeral. A wreath landed from the UDR. The company that Kenny belonged to - he was C Company 4 UDR, from the Officers and ranks of C Company UDR. My father's eyes went red. He said 'get that over the fence quick!' - I couldn't believe it myself when I saw it. My brother-in-law lifted it and threw it over the hedge."


Mary and Betty Leonard, whose son and husband, respectively, Volunteer Louis Leonard, was assassinated in 1972

Mary Leonard tells the story of her son Volunteer Louis Leonard, who was shot dead by two gunmen in his Butcher's Shop in Derrylin, County Fermanagh, on 15 December 1972. Although responsibility for Louis's death was laid at the door of loyalists, his family have always believed that the Crown forces were behind the assassination.

Louis was in his butcher's shop on the night he was killed, as his wife Betty was doing the deliveries in the van. Betty was stopped by the RUC. Mary thinks they were after Louis and were surprised to see Betty driving. The RUC later denied they had a checkpoint on the road that night.

The day before, a British Army captain called Reese took a photo of Louis and said it "would do for his memorial card".

"The RUC never came out to tell me about Louis," writes Mary, "but the British Army came out the day he was buried to raid the house, but they never got raiding because Dessie (Louis's father) met them on the lane and he didn't let them come in."

A couple of months after Louis died, as Mary Leonard was putting clothes on the line, she found bullets pinned to the line with bits of paper saying, 'we got your son down six foot and we'll get you'.

Mary took the bullets to a solicitor, who sent her a letter three weeks later saying there was nothing he could do for her. He also sent her a bill for £5.

There are ten testimonies in this booklet, compiled by Loretta Lynch and Angela Tierney of the group Fírinne, based in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh.

There are contributions from former republican prisoners and local people recounting their experiences of harassment at the hands of the Crown forces and farmers affected by the closure of border roads.

The youngest person to tell her story is Maura Jackman who as a 14-year-old was arrested, charged and held on remand in Armagh prison.

In a moving chapter, she recalls the indignity of being strip searched: "I was brought to Armagh on remand and I was there for six or seven days. On entry there I was strip searched, which was a very harrowing experience for a 14-year-old. I was brought into a room with six or seven women prison officers there and made to strip naked in front of them. I was told to squat over a mirror; it was just terrible. During the search itself there were no insults, but there didn't need to be any - it was humiliating enough. After I was strip searched I was given a sheet to put around me and I was told to go wash in the bath and after that I was brought to a cell."

  • The Untold Truth is available from Fírinne, 87 Main Street, Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh. Tel (028/048) 67 723896 or e-mail: firinne@fsmail.net

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