Formal Complaint About The RUC Investigation Into Claudy And The Role Of Sate Agents.

Statement made after a delegation made a formal complaint, to the PSNI, about  the failure of both the RUC and PSNI  to properly investigate the facts surrounding the Claudy Bombings.  They also called for the investigation into the use of state agents connected with it and other terrorist incidents.

“We are here today to demand that the Police Service of Northern Ireland properly investigate the the Claudy Bombings and those involved. The previous investigations, have been mere cover ups of the true facts surrounding the murders on that day, and the failure of the police to act against hose responsible led to the murder of a large number of other innocent victims in North Antrim and County Londonderry. These include the murder of policemen, UDR members and civilians at the hands of those responsible for Claudy. Those responsible include a number of state agents who were allowed to carry on with their terror campaign while having confessed to murder. They would less than a year later bomb Coleraine, this is why we have come here to make an official complaint.”

Concillor William Blair, David Nicholl – Ulster News – and Adrian Eakin stated that nothing short of the establishment of an independent inquiry, could help establish the truth about what happened that day – 31st July 1972 and the subsequent cover-ups.

Adrian Eakin ended by stating:

 “We want a public inquiry the same as the Bloody Sunday people got. At the end of the day, they lost relatives. They’ve got most of the answers.”

”

“Victims? Don’t be melodramatic.” Claudy Cover-up Unravelling

          The Cooper Confession

“Victims? Don’t be melodramatic.”

“Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, Old Man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, Old Man. Free of income tax – the only way you can save money nowadays.” 

Harry Lime, The Third Man

My first recollection of the Claudy Bombings was as a young boy looking at hunting scenes in a book.  Black and white photographs of a village decimated by bombs.  It was one of those times in life when you know something has changed you but you are not quite sure what.  I never knew that I would write about or meet some of those whose lives were as decimated as Claudy by the bombs that day.  It has been a life changing experience for me.

I have heard of grief and suffering that cannot be put into words, yet somehow the story has to be told.  It is not a story with any redeeming factors, there are no heroes that come to the rescue, there is no silver lining to Claudy’s cloud , there is no happy ever after, there is no waking form the nightmare of the Claudy story.  In fact, the more you dig, the more corruption and hatred spills out before you.  The story of Claudy is not a simple one, it is and intricate web that leads to the highest political offices in Stormont and Westminster.   It is one that shows that the police were willing to allow the bombers to go free for their own ends and that politicians and church leaders were willing to cover up the murder of children.  The most disturbing thing is that those behind Claudy were free to kill again and again.

The story of Claudy does not begin there and it does not end there.  It does not involve just one priest; it does not involve one village; it involves the systematic cover-up of a large number of murders which could have been prevented.  There have now been at least four investigations into Claudy, not one of them yielding any truth on the matter, yet every detail of what happened that day is known.

For just four months, Ulster News has been investigating the truth behind what happened on the 31^st July 1972, we have meet with relatives, locals, former security force members, ex republicans and investigators. What has been uncovered is earth shattering and exposes the cover-up and collusion on a vast scale.

During one of our meeting with former Claudy residents Ulster News brought a dossier on the facts about the bombing and those involved.  The document lists the involvement of around fifteen people: the drivers, the bomb makers and those who offered logistical support. These include both men and women.  It is interesting reading. With the dossier and the knowledge of the locals, as well as the relatives, a detailed picture of all that took place is being constructed for the first time.   Five or six of the number have stood in elections for Sinn Fein and at least five have served life sentences for other murders, one nicknamed “nail bomb” has become one of the wealthiest men in Ireland – every detail of those responsible is known, yet no convictions.  It is also known that one of the drivers started to work for RUC Special Branch just after Claudy and would one day lead the PIRA in South Derry.

The most perturbing aspect of the investigation was uncovering that the Chesney gang  was under constant security force surveillance for at least a seven month period prior to the attacks.  In December 1971, Chesney had ordered a bombing in Magherafelt, three young men would die as they tried to deliver the bomb.  The priest and his parochial house were put under watch.  Despite that, he and his murderous missions continued.  The house had become an arms dump, come headquarters but no action was forthcoming.   On five occasions, permission was sought to raid the house and arrest the occupants, each time this was refused. This has led to speculation that the priest was working for some intelligence agency. Ulster News has not come across any evidence of this.  But the uses of an SB block on the house suggests that something was going on that warranted their protection.

The area from where the three young men who died in the 1971 blast came from is important, the cars used to bomb Claudy were taken there.  More importantly, the cars used in the priest’s response to his move over the border, the copycat of Claudy, one year later, Coleraine, were taken in the area too.  Coleraine was chosen because there were those there who did not want Claudy to die. This was the priest’s warning.  Chesney despite his move continued to have an active role in murder as did the other Claudy killers, some helping to form the INLA.

During one discussion about the disappearance of the files into Claudy, one individual with an insight to such matters, who was not at the meeting and was, speaking off the record, said:

“the original file is well gone, a digitised copy will exist somewhere safe in North Down, but no one will ever see it.”

These were the issues that were discussed in the presents of a community worker and a unionist politician. Coming to the close of the meeting I asked had they ever contacted Ivan Cooper.  What was said was not complimentary.  Those present told us that Cooper knew exactly who was involved in the bombing and every detail of what they had did,  they went on to say that Cooper had evidence that could convicted those guilty of mass murder.  I left perplex, if that was the case, why had he not made a public statement or personally went to the police ombudsman?

I have learned never to assume anything in the search for the truth.  I have also learnt that for some reason Claudy frightens people, they don’t want to talk about the events of that Monday morning forty one years ago.  Most have the opinion that sleeping dogs should be left to their slumber but for some of those who have suffered because of it, this simply is not an option.  Two weeks ago the former PIRA publicity spokesman confirmed that they carried out the attack.  On Sunday Ivan Cooper, after forty years of silence, admitted one of the bombers, a former school teacher, confessed to him and that he took him to meet a senior RUC officer.  In the coming weeks we will continue to look at those who had license to kill in Claudy.  Grouse beating season has  begun.

IRA Admit Bombing After Forty Years

                                                    Victory for Ulster News

Danny Morrison, the architect of the “Ballot Box and Armalite”,  has admitted that the PIRA carried out the Massacre of Claudy.  After forty years of lies and deceit, the republican movement has now come clean.  The revelation coincides with Ulster News’ ongoing series which investigates the Claudy bombings.  In our next  article, we will look at those who carried it out; how it could have been stopped and how two of those who were involved in the massacre, both senior figures in the republican movement, escaped prosecution because of their connections to the intel services.

Operation Malison: Part Two, The Carnage.

Claudy Bombing

” An explosion too loud for your eardrums to bear

Young children squealing like pigs in the square

All faces chalk-white or streaked with bright red

And the glass, and the dust, and the terrible dead”

“For an old lady’s legs are blown off, and the head

Of a man’s hanging open, and still he’s not dead

He is shrieking for mercy while his son stands and stares

And stares, and then suddenly – quick – disappears”

“And Christ, little Katherine Eakin is dead

Mrs. McLaughlin is pierced through the head

Meanwhile to Dungiven the killers have gone”

At around 10.15  am,   the explosive filled car planted by the priest  Chesney detonated in front of McElhinney’s Bar and grocer’s, where Elizabeth (Tracy) McElhinney was at the petrol pumps, on the village Main Street.  This popular woman received the full force of the blast, as she was just two meters from the car bomb.  She had worked as the local village nurse and is said to have been at every birth and death in the previous decades.  She had loved life and to help others,  now she was dead.

One local old age pensioner sobbed as he recalled her and the goodness she showed to others:

“She was the nicest women on God’s earth and it didn’t matter who you were, she couldn’t do enough to help you. She didn’t deserve the like of that.  Ah Jesus, but it was a dirty thing they did this morning.”

Another would recall how she had cared for him after a car crash, “I had a car accident and it was Tracy McElhinney who nursed me back to life. I’ll never forget her for that.”

Across the street, a vibrant and beautiful nine year old girl was busy helping with chores at the family shop. Those with her, lives would soon change for ever; the pain unleashed that Monday morning would still be as fresh forty years on. Katherine Ekin was cleaning the windows of the shop when the bomb exploded. Her brother, Mark, who was playing on the bonnet of one of the car bombs just before it detonated, would state:

“There was an almighty bang and the next thing I knew was I was out on the street and when I turn round Katharine was lying on the foot path. She wasn’t moving at all”.

He would then state “everything that I knew of Claudy was gone.”

His mother would say later that she heard the bang and in the shock and confusion was screaming, she then said, “Then her grandfather came over and said ‘I was with her at the end’ I didn’t understand, the end of what?”. Merle Eakin would talk of never seeing her daughter married or grandchildren. Mark would say after her death that “she missed out on the life of her daughter.”

Pearl Donley related that all was normal, then, the carnage ripped through the village without warning. She was seated beside her husband in the front of their car, parked on Main Street, when a relative spotted them, Joseph McCloskey, and walked across the road to talk to them as his child was in the car with them. She tells of the monstrous wickedness as it unfolded:

“He was our brother-in-law and we had his little boy Emmett, who is only four, with us in the car.  Joe was standing at the car window chatting when there was a terrible bang.  He just disappeared.”

The husband of Pearl, Patrick, told of what happened to Joseph McCoskey, “He was blown across the street” and would go on to state “The blast catapulted me from the car but Pearl and I were lucky to escape with only cuts and bruises.”

The toddler Emmett escaped injury but the witnessing of his father’s horrific murder at such an early age most have been traumatic beyond comparison.

A local grocer, Terence Peoples, ran to the seat of the blast at McElhinney’s Bar, he recalled:

“People were squealing in terror.  A woman was in the street ablaze. It was terrible. I was afraid for the safety of my three children and ran home to get them clear before any more bombs went off.”

A Belfast police sergeant, who was on holiday in the village, Des Jones, watched as the mayhem was unleashed.  He told of how “There was panic and confusion everywhere” and would say “I could see people dead and mutilated”.

At the first bomb, three had been murdered; nine year old Kathryn Eakin, fifty nine year old Elizabeth McElhinney and Joseph McCloskey. Scores lay wounded and three more would die of critical injuries sustained in the first blast in the coming days. They were Rose McLaughlin, whose murder orphaned eight children, Patrick Connolly and Arthur Hone.

Des Jones

After the initial explosion, Des Jones’ experience on the streets of Belfast kicked in.  He started to move the people away from the blast area, while doing this he looked for vehicles that might contain further devices.  He would later say:

 “After the first explosion I searched the street in case more bombs were concealed in other cars.  I saw one car with a ten gallon milk churn inside. There were two wires leading an alarm clock and covered by a black coat. I tried to lift the bomb from the car but it was too heavy and I decided to leave it.  I then warned the people to get away from the spot.  Moments later the bomb went off.”

One local recounts that as he was about to enter the Post Office to collect  his pension when he heard the first bomb go off. He then told of how he was next to the premises when he heard: Get t’ll hell out of it. There’s another bomb.”  He said he then “ran as fast as he could”.  Only for Jones warning he would have, no doubt, be blown to bits.  Others were not as lucky.

Noel McFeily, a local said that:

“After the first explosion everyone rushed down the street towards the second car bomb. But Sergeant Jones shepherded them back and must have saved many lives by his action.”

As the warning was being shouted by Des Jones, a bomb detonated at the front of the Beaufort Hotel, those who had sought safety from the first bomb and the discovery of the device at the Post Office were caught in the 250 pound blast.  Three would die. One, William Temple, a sixteen year old from a neighbouring village, had been injured in the first blast but continued to work on as milkman’s helper.  He had just left the Beaufort Hotel, after leaving a milk order, where he had told its owner, Mrs Hamilton, of his lucky escape minutes before.  It was his first day of his first job.  He was blown to bits just outside as he still tried to deliver milk.

Two men who were sweeping the street but had stopped to help the injured died in the blast too: David Miller and James McClellend.  David Miller’s wife was having tea in the Beaufort with Mrs Hamilton when the explosion accrued.  Annie Miller had just sat down with her  friend, when the second blast devastated the street outside.  Both ran into the street  where carnage displayed its full horror.   The Claudy hotelier would later relate what awaited them on street. It is harrowing.  Annie Miller’s husband’s mangled and mutilated body lay on the road. “The only way Mrs Miller could identity him was by the buttons she had sewn on his coat that morning.” she would say. David Miller’s brother Gordon would say “we saw things that no one should ever have to see.”

Within seconds of the second deadly blast at the Beaufort, the third and final of the day went off at the front of the Post Office.  Due to the area being cleared no one died as a result.

A Fire brigade spokesman would say that the scene was one of absolute carnage:

“Bodies were badly mutilated and doctors and nurses and people were running with bandages from the chemist shop trying to attend the injured.  People were literally blown to bits.”

One villager would had fought in both World Wars, earning seven camping medals, related that the worst suffering he had ever saw was at Gallipoli.  He would say: “but you knew who your enemies were” he would go on and say “This is worse. I’ve seen nothing as cruel.

As those in Claudy cried and contemplated the day of horrific suffering that had visited their now broken community. Wicked men celebrated, happy in the death they had unleashed on an unsuspecting village.  The first warning was received after the first bomb went off.

That night Operation Motorman was a success.  McGuinness sent out orders that the youth of republican areas should continue to attack the army as they cleared the “No-go” areas.  McGuinness dress as a woman fled across the border while others fought his battles.  His poor showing in the defence of the “No-go” areas caused other provos to christen him the “actor”.  He meet with his close friend who had returned from bombing Claudy, the two travelled to McGuinness’ grandmother’s farm, in Illies region of Donegal, where they hid out together and celebrated the day’s success.

No one ever admitted to the terrible atrocity that took place in the sleepy village of Claudy, on the 31st July 1972.  Some senior members of the PIRA initially believed it was an attack carried out by a secret unit of the army to blacken republicans.  Why would anyone put three no warning car bombs in the Main Street of a mixed village, with no military?   This overshadowed the propaganda coup of the decade for them: large numbers of British troops invading republican areas.  Some asked questions, why did Derry not make a stand? Why had the PIRA commander fled leaving children to fight? But most importantly, why had he sent three large no-warning bombs to attack civilians – many Roman Catholic?  Many left the PIRA with these questions unanswered.

Within days of the triple bomb attack, the police were aware of the identities of those who had taken part and organised the massacre.  What would take place over the next six months would bring shame to the RUC, the Roman Catholic Church and the British Government, particularly the Conservative Party.  While those who murdered men, women and children continued unabated.  The Triple Cross of Ulster’s citizens took place in an interwoven web of dark intrigue, which would see those guilty of mass murder able to remain free, protected by church and state; some of those would reach the highest pinnacle of political life, while under that protection.  The True extent of the cover-up and collision by members of the British Conservative Party, the Roman Catholic Church and the RUC, in protecting PIRA murders, would only be released when those responsible could not face justice.

Next: the reaction and the collusion

Additional reporting by David Nicholl.