State Violence and Collusion Timeline 1976
Events related to state violence and collusion in Northern Ireland in 1976.
January
- 4 - Three members of the Reavey family are killed in a UVF gun attack on their home at Whitecross, Co. Armagh. Ten minutes later, three members of O'Dowd family are killed in another UVF gun attack at their home at Ballyduggan, Co. Armagh, fifteen miles away. The Sunday Independent claimed in 1993 that the Reavey attacks were carried out by Robert McConnell and planned by Robin Jackson.[1] The Sunday Tribune claimed in January 2011, "The three gunmen who entered the Reaveys' house were Robert McConnell, a UDR member later killed by the IRA; RUC officer James Mitchell who died two years ago; and another RUC man who is still alive and can't be named for legal reasons. The getaway car was driven by Mitchell's young female lover."[2] The Pat Finucane Centre has linked both attacks to the Glennane Gang.[3] The gang's involvement in the Reavey killings was confirmed by the Historical Enquiries Team in 2010.[4]
- 5 - Ten Protestant workmen are killed by the IRA in the Kingsmills Massacre, thought to be an act of retaliation for the O'Dowd and Reavey killings.[5]
March
- 8 - Attack on Tully's Bar, Belleek, Co. Armagh. Attributed by the Pat Finucane Centre to the Glennane Gang.[3]
Notes
- ↑ David McKittrick, Seamus Kelters, Brian Feeney, Chris Thornton and David McVea, Lost Lives, Mainstream Publishing, p.609.
- ↑ Suzanne breen, 'In south Armagh there was no UVF - it was the RUC in a different uniform'; After 35 years, the truth about the triple murder of the Reavey brothers by the UVF's Glenanne gang is coming to light. Suzanne Breen reports on a horrific 24 hours of sectarian murders, Sunday Tribune, 2 January 2011.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Collusion in the south Armagh - mid Ulster area in the mid-1970's, Pat Finucane Centre, accessed 19 June 2012.
- ↑ Brónagh Murphy, Call for public apology after HET report exonerates Reavey family, The Examiner (Crossmaglen), 25 May 2010.
- ↑ David McKittrick, Seamus Kelters, Brian Feeney, Chris Thornton and David McVea, Lost Lives, Mainstream Publishing, p.611.
