Death of British Army’s massacre general

Mike Jackson, the former head of the British Army and the adjutant of the Parachute Regiment during the Bloody Sunday massacre, has died aged 80.

Jackson was in charge of the Parachute Regiment’s 1st battalion when the Paras were told to “get some kills” prior to opening fire and shooting dead 13 unarmed civilians during a civil rights march in 1972. A fourteenth civilian later died from his injuries.

He apologised for the 1972 massacre following the publication of the Saville Inquiry, which showed that his claims that British soldiers had faced an armed threat were lies.

While serving in the north of Ireland, he was strongly associated with actions against ‘‘no-go areas” for the British military. He was a ‘military press liaison officer’ at the time of the Ballymurphy massacre, when a further 10 unarmed civilians were shot dead in West Belfast in 1971.

He was rewarded for the massacres with promotions, ultimately reaching the very top of the British military. This week, the British Army infuriated his many victims with a statement that said Jackson had “served with distinction” for 40 years.

Tony Doherty, Chairperson of the Bloody Sunday Trust, said the families of those who lost their lives in the Bogside would not mourn the former paratrooper’s death.

He said: “On behalf of the Bloody Sunday families and many other families who’ve had loved ones murdered by the British army; there will be no grieving the loss of this man.

“He knowingly ordered the execution of many innocent people and should have been in the international dock for war crimes.”

Mr Doherty, whose father Patrick was shot dead by Jackson’s men, referred to eulogies being bestowed on Jackson by the British establishment.

“The British may celebrate his life and so-called achievements as they gaze across the seas at their former empire, now gone. In the same way, the apartheid state of Israel celebrates the lives of their fallen generals as the slaughter innocent people continues day after day. The day of reckoning for others will come too.

“As he wreaked havoc in Derry and elsewhere in the 1970s, taking innocent life after innocent life, he thought they had quenched the spirit of freedom.

“Half a century on, they are barely capable of holding onto their last vestige of empire. For the many families that he tried to destroy, vengeance has become the laughter of our children and grandchildren.

“Mike Jackson’s name will sit well in the annals of imperial injustice alongside Widgery, Thatcher and Churchill. There will be no mourning here. We look forward to tearing down his statue,” he said.

SDLP Foyle MP Colum Eastwood has said his thoughts were with the Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy families.

“No doubt this will bring back very difficult memories of their loved ones and the decades long crusade they were forced to go through in an attempt to uncover the truth and secure justice,” he said.

He added that it must be very difficult for Bloody Sunday families to “read the glowing obituaries” of Jackson without any reference to the fact that he attempted to cover up the murder of their loved ones by his soldiers.

Fireworks were set off at Free Derry corner, a monument to the city’s famed resistance, as republicans youths celebrating Jackson’s death. But Liam Wray, whose brother Jim was killed on Bloody Sunday, said he did not “celebrate the demise of anybody”.

“Michael Jackson lived a long life of 80 years and died a natural death, not the victims of Ballymurphy or the victims of Derry… although I do not celebrate his death, I will not regret it,” he said.

In a statement, the Ballymurphy families said Jackson “began the narrative that all those killed in Ballymurphy and Bloody Sunday were gunmen”.

They added that “that lie stayed with the Ballymurphy massacre victims for over 50 years”.

They said he had had an opportunity to “accept his wrongdoing and apologise” at the inquest, but he “deflected our loss, pain and suffering”.

Veteran journalist Eamonn McCann, a former chairman of the Bloody Sunday Trust, said “what happened under Michael Jackson’s command in Belfast and Derry was a hinge point for the Troubles, changed the course and trajectory of the Troubles.” He said Jackson would be remembered “with revulsion”.

Saoradh also condemned the obituaries that “glorified” Jackson.

“Irish Republicans, the Irish people and supporters of the Irish struggle around the world know the truth,” they said.

“Today we send a message of solidarity and condolence to the countless victims of this tyrant as he passes from this world to the fires of hell.”

Urgent Appeal