Brother of IRA man backs call to return victim’s body
The brother of an IRA member reputedly killed at Captain Nairac’s behest has supported calls for the return of the Sunderland soldier’s body.
With the authorities saying little about Captain Nairac’s role around the time of the 28-year-old’s murder, stories grew that he was a member of the SAS undercover regiment and working with Protestant paramilitaries.
Among the cases the IRA linked him to was the unsolved death of one of its members, John Francis Green, in 1975 in County Monaghan in a cross-border raid by an armed gang.
His brother, Leo Green, told Irish television documentary series Prime Time earlier this month: “Although my family have a view that Robert Nairac was involved in my brother’s death, there is no feeling of acrimony towards him.
“And there is no feeling of acrimony towards his family. I have described him as a victim in the same way that my brother was a victim.
“The Nairac family entitlement to truth and Robert Nairac’s entitlement to a proper burial, his siblings’ entitlement to give him that proper burial, it’s up there with all the questions that IRA members’ families have”.
With Captain Nairac’s parents, Maurice and Barbara, now dead, the ongoing investigation by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) is seeking closure on behalf of his older sisters, Rosamonde and Gabrielle, who say little publicly about the case.
Commission lead investigator Geoff Knupfer believes “wild rumours” around Captain Nairac’s supposed activities while working in military intelligence have hampered the search for his body.
While investigations suggest Captain Nairac was in Northern Ireland at the time of Green’s death, he is believed to have been around 100 miles north of the murder scene.
Mr Knupfer has also denied Captain Nairac was in the SAS and said: “This is one of our highest profile cases and it is also the one on which we have least information.
“It is the only case in which we have been unable to even begin to search on the ground.
“I think it’s likely that Robert Nairac’s remains are buried somewhere close to where he was murdered near the bridge over the Flurry River in Ravensdale.
“As our recent success in finding the remains of Seamus Ruddy in France shows, when we have the right information we will find and recover the remains and return them to the family for a Christian burial.
“That is all that we and the families are interested in”.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Captain Nairac’s body or the remains of the two other “disappeared” victims of Republican terrorism can contact the ICLVR in complete confidence on 00800 555 85500, by writing to ICLVR, PO Box 10827, Dublin 2 or via the website www.iclvr.ie.