Innocent victims denied justice
AS THE two former Paras face prosecution the question has been asked: Why aren’t those IRA men who murdered innocent civilians on both sides of the Irish Sea being dragged to court, too? Here, we recall some of the victims whose killers were never convicted — or were released early.
Jonathan Ball, aged three
ON MARCH 20, 1993, IRA terrorists placed bombs inside litter bins outside Argos in Warrington, Cheshire, and 100 metres away outside Boots. The cast-iron bins sent out hails of shrapnel, causing appalling injuries for dozens.
Toddler Jonathan Ball was out with his baby-sitter to buy a card for Mother’s Day. He was in his pushchair when the first blast went off and died instantly. Twelve-yearold Tim Parry would also die of injuries sustained that day.
Jonathan’s devasted father Wilf died of a heart attack in 2004. His mum, Marie, sunk into depression and became a recluse. Her body was found at her home in 2013, a coroner ruling that she had ‘died of a broken heart’. Nobody has been charged with the murder.
Danielle Carter, aged 15
IT WAS a clear April morning in 1993 when an IRA bomb ripped through the City of London, the biggest explosion on the mainland since World War II. Danielle Carter, 15, was waiting in her father’s car with her sister when a one-ton truck bomb was detonated by remote control by the Baltic Exchange. She died instantly; her sister, Christine, then eight, needed years of hospital treatment after being peppered with glass.
Two others killed were Baltic Exchange employees Paul Butt, 29, and, Thomas Casey, 49. Nobody has been convicted.
Jean McConville
A MOTHER-of-ten, aged 37, who was abducted in front of her children in 1972, Jean McConville was tortured and shot in the head. Her body was buried on a beach.
Her crime? She was accused of being a British sympathiser after comforting a soldier shot and wounded outside her Belfast home.
Soon afterwards, more than a dozen figures arrived at her home and burst in. Mrs McConville was dragged through the door as her children clung to her legs. A week later, a man who identified himself as being from the IRA, called at the home. He handed the children their mother’s purse and wedding ring, saying: ‘I was told to deliver this.’
Gerry Adams, who denies he was head of the IRA’s Army Council, was arrested in 2014 and questioned for 72 hours over his knowledge of the murder. To date, nobody has been charged.
Jasmine Cochrane-Patrick
ON DECEMBER 17, 1983, the last Saturday before Christmas, outside Harrods in London, an IRA bomb inside a car was detonated as families thronged the streets.
Six were killed: Shoppers, Philip Geddes, 24, Jasmine CochranePatrick, 25, and kenneth Salvesan, 28, and police officers Sgt Noel Lane, 28, PC Jane Arbuthnot, 22, and Insp Stephen Dodd, 34. No one has been convicted. Graham Barker, Roy Bright, Anthony Daly, John Heritage, Robert Livingstone, Keith Powell, Robert McKnight, George Measure, Laurence Smith, Simon Tipper, Jeffrey Vernon Young AS TROOPS on parade rode past Hyde Park in 1982, the IRA were lying in wait, detonating a nail
bomb as the soldiers rode past. Four soldiers were killed. A second explosion under a bandstand in Regent’s Park killed a further seven soldiers from the Royal Green Jackets, who were performing, and wounded dozens more.
Gilbert ‘Danny’ McNamee was sentenced in 1987 to 25 years for building the radio-controlled bomb used in the Hyde Park attack. But he was released from prison in 1998 after his conviction was quashed. John Downey, an IRA terrorist, was charged over his involvement — but the case against him collapsed when it was revealed he was one of hundreds of IRA men granted so-called ‘get out of jail’ letters from Blair’s government, promising them immunity from prosecution. Nobody has ever been charged for the actual Regent’s Park bombing. Caroline Moreland A sINGle mother-of-three aged 34 and suffering from spinal cancer, she was last seen alive ironing in her Belfast kitchen as her children played in the living room. Just days before the IRA announced its 1994 ceasefire, she was abducted, tortured for two weeks and shot in the head. Her body was buried in a bog near County Fermanagh.
Horrifically, her grieving family were sent a recording of her after she had been ‘interrogated’ by IRA thugs, in which she was forced to confess she had betrayed the location of a rifle hidden by the IRA, charges her family dismiss as nonsense. Her daughter, shauna Moreland, has blamed the IRA for the murder, saying she wanted to ask Martin McGuinness whether he had ordered the killing.
‘If they don’t want to answer it, they just say they weren’t involved; they weren’t there,’ she said. ‘It’s not good enough for people any more.’ Nobody has been charged over the murder. Joseph Mulhern THe ‘Nutting squad’ was a bloodthirsty unit which rooted out alleged IRA informers. Twenty-two-year-old Joe Mulhern’s body was discovered shot in the head after he was abducted and forced to make a recording of his alleged crimes in a tape sent to his parents.
Clearly extracted under duress, the tape recording reveals the hideous nature of IRA show trials. ‘I’m a volunteer,’ says the terrified victim. ‘My name is Joseph Mulhern. I’ve been working for the special Branch.’ Nobody has ever been charged over his murder. Michael Morrison, Evelyn Baird and their daughter Michelle, seven MICHAel Morrison, his partner and their daughter were killed in an IRA bomb attack on Belfast’s shankill Road in October 1993.
The terrorists entered a fish and chip shop where they believed a group of their loyalist enemies were meeting and detonated their bomb prematurely, killing one of their own number and ten passers-by — including Michael Morrison and his family. Mr Morrison’s mother elizabeth Morrison, 81, failed in a legal bid to have the killers brought to justice when she discovered the suspected shankill Road bombers were among those granted immunity in a secret deal with Tony Blair. James Barker, 12, Samantha McFarland, 17, Lorraine Wilson, 15, and 20-month-old Breda Devine THe four children were among 29 people murdered, including two unborn babies, when the so-called Real IRA, which was opposed to the Blair peace agreement, bombed the High street in Omagh in August, 1998. More than 200 people were injured.
But although one IRA man was convicted of conspiracy to help the bombing, his sentence of 14 years was overturned on appeal. No one has faced criminal charges for the mass murder.
But, with the support of the Daily Mail, the families of these four youngest victims launched a civil case against the alleged bombers, whose names were widely known, and were awarded £1.6 million in damages. Sir Anthony Berry, Eric Taylor, Jean Shattock, Muriel Maclean, and Roberta Wakeham THe IRA planted a bomb inside Brighton’s Grand Hotel three weeks before the Conservative Party conference, planning to assassinate the British government.
Detonated at 2am on October 12, 1984, it killed five people and injured 34 more. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was not injured, and against police advice, she refused to cancel her speech to conference the next day.
Patrick Magee, an IRA member, was jailed for planting the bomb in a hotel room — but he was not acting alone. lord Tebbit, whose wife was paralysed in the bombing, has called for Magee to reveal who ‘procured and planned’ the attack with him, but his accomplices still remain unnamed. Magee remains the only person convicted. He was sentenced to eight life sentences and a minimum tariff of 35 years — but was freed early under terms of the Good Friday Agreement, after serving only 14 years. Ian Gow THe Tory MP was assassinated by a bomb planted under his vehicle outside his home in east sussex on July 30, 1990. The IRA claimed responsibility for the MP for eastbourne’s death because of his role in developing British policy on Northern Ireland. No one has ever been charged over his murder.