A serial killer returns to the scene of his crimes. And he reveals astonishing new details about a loyalist murder campaign in the early 1990s. Along the road to mid-Ulster the Ulster Volunteer Force brought terror. The Troubles: A Secret History VI
As the Troubles entered their third decade, Northern Ireland seemed to be embroiled in a conflict without end … Everybody was a target. ibid.
Although they claimed to be fighting the IRA, few of their victims in the 1970s had any known republican connection … Most loyalists were simply targeting anyone perceived to be Catholic, and by doing so were terrorising a whole community. ibid.
The killings left the families paralysed with fear. ibid.
There is clear evidence police and soldiers were passing intelligence to the largest loyalist group the UDA. ibid.
At the end of August 1994 a motorcade wound its way across Belfast. For several hours that day the long trail of cars, full of Republican supporters, toured Catholic areas of the city, celebrating the announcement of an IRA ceasefire. The announcement was treated as a victory, but for all the noise it was difficult to know exactly what was being celebrated. Because after twenty-five years of fighting, the IRA had not achieved any of its war aims. The Troubles: A Secret History VII
By the start of the 1990s the Troubles had been going on for more than twenty years. More than three thousand people had been killed; thousands had been imprisoned. ibid.
Because the Army Council had the final say on IRA matters, it meant Adams and McGuinness were the dominant force in the IRA. ibid.
The British were better informed than most of the IRA’s rank and file. They remained focused on the arm struggles, believing bombs still carried the loudest message. ibid.
An ambiguity that always seemed to suit his [Adam’s] purposes ... Adams had to revolutionise Republican strategy. ibid.
Their return to violence was tactical … IRA bombers were now focused entirely on England. ibid.
Sinn Fein remained out of talks. ibid.
Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams were elected to parliament. ibid.
‘A new IRA ceasefire from midday tomorrow. And if it holds, Sinn Fein could be admitted to the Northern Ireland peace talks on September 15th.’ ibid. BBC news
Left many secrets in its wake. ibid.
You can have all the fucking lawyers you like but it’s not going to change a thing. We’ve got you. You’re finished. You’re done. Shadow Dancer 2012 starring Clive Owen & Andrea Riseborough & Aidan Gillen & Domhnall Gleeson & Brid Brennan & David Wilmot & Stuart Graham & Martin McCann et al, director James Marsh, Mac
You don’t represent us and you never have. ibid. IRA meeting
I said they’ll be no more killing. A Prayer for the Dying 1987 starring Bob Hoskins & Mickey Rourke & Liam Neeson & Alan Bates & Sammi Davis & Christopher Fulford & Leonard Termo & Camille Coduri & Maurice O'Connell et al, director Mike Hodges, Rourke
I never killed for money or favours. Never because I enjoyed it. ibid.
We are fundamentally alone. ibid.
‘I’ve just actually went through an order of, of an abduction. I actually work in the Northern Bank cash centre. They used me to rob it.’ Thirty million.’ Heist: The Northern Bank Robbery, BBC 2021, 911 call
2004: It was the biggest bank robbery in British history. Two families held hostage. A crime that shook politics in Northern Ireland to its core. ibid. caption
Who robbed them? Did the IRA carry it out? If the IRA did carry it out, did Martin McGuinness and Jerry Adams know about it? And they are at the heart of the Peace Process at this moment. ibid.
The Northern bank raid is among the biggest robberies of modern times, and yet so much of what happened is a mystery. ibid.
Internal bank CCTV captures the entire robbery unfolding. ibid.
6:28 p.m.: Chris returns to the bank for the real robbery to begin. ibid.
‘7 people have been arrested and more than £2 million seized: a possible connection with the Northern Bank Robbery just before Christmas … ‘A major [IRA] laundering operation.’ ibid.
Two members of the IRA are arrested in Cork. ibid.
March 2008: Three years after the robbery Ted Cunningham faced ten charges of money laundering. ibid.
January 2007: Two years after the robbery cases against two suspects collapse. ibid.
They couldn’t get any convictions: which is extraordinary when you think about this: the scale of it, the political significance of it, and the resources that the police put into this, and the huge vested interest they had in getting a conviction. ibid.
On 15th August 1998 Omagh in Northern Island was hit by one of the worst single atrocities ever to hit the province. A five hundred pound bomb exploded in a small market town on a busy Saturday afternoon. Twenty-nine people and two unborn children were murdered when an incorrect warning was given. Crimes that Shook Britain s3e2: Omagh Bombing, CI 2012
The Real IRA had claimed responsibility but no individuals were held accountable. ibid.
Why had such crucial evidence not been shared? ibid.
250 victims have been injured. ibid.
One man Colin Murphy is on trial. ibid.
The Ombudsman also found some of the Special Branch officers uncooperative. ibid.
Five years later his [Murphy] sentence would be quashed altogether. ibid.
The families sued those responsible. ibid.
Not one criminal conviction has yet been successful. ibid.
The community uprising was given the support of the IRA. Underworld: Dublin Gangland, 2011
I’d like what I did to be remembered. Peter Taylor, The MI5 Spy and the IRA: Operation Chiffon, spy, BBC 2023
The leadership of the IRA have decided there will be a complete cessation of military operations. ibid. news
A secret meeting takes place in Londonderry between the IRA and a mysterious MI5 officer. The officer was running a top secret MI5 operation codenamed Chiffon. ibid. Taylor
Culminated in the Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago. ibid.
For 25 years I’ve been trying to find this missing link. ibid.
Secrets talks with the IRA through the backchannel. ibid.
‘Oh the 80s hair! [beauty contest] … I was really a greenhorn. I had never been outside of Derry … I wasn’t me … Nobody knew that my brother was murdered … I survived the fucking troubles … Nothing’s going to beat me down …’ Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland I, BBC 2023
From the late 1960s Northern Ireland was torn apart by a violent conflict that would last for near 30 years. It was widely known as The Troubles. ibid. captions
‘We had a civil rights movement … peaceful demonstrations … housing, jobs and better conditions …’ ibid. Wee Bill
‘You knew deep down that something was going to happen.’ ibid. young lady
‘All our life and heritage is at stake … Romanism has controlled in this land for many centuries and Romanism has bread poverty and ignorance and priestcraft and superstition …’ ibid Paisley
August 1969: Battle of the Bogside: ‘All red. Houses blazing … There was whole streets being burned out by Protestant extremists …’ ibid.
‘The price of no solution is total destruction.’ ibid. politician
‘They had an enemy right in front of them in green uniform.’ ibid. witness
‘Your whole day was preoccupied with the riots.’ ibid.
‘They were angry and they were shouting and they were wrecking the place.’ ibid. young lady
‘That’s the only thing we had. Internment … They were not the right people …’ ibid.
‘I couldn’t believe how quickly my lovely city became divided. I really couldn’t. Everything died.’ Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland s1e2: Do Paramilitaries Lie Awake at Night?
‘You could even smell the bombs.’ ibid.
‘The whole tone of the war seemed to deteriorate after Bloody Friday.’ ibid.
‘Are you in favour of tar-and-feathering? ibid. TV interview of young women
‘And then the IRA took my mother away.’ ibid.
‘They built a ring of steel around the city centre.’ ibid.
‘The Troubles. That’s been our life from children. In the flick of a switch your life can change for ever.’ Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland s1e3: So Many Broken Hearts
1976 Maze Prison H Blocks: The government ruled on March 1st 1976 that terrorists committed of crimes after that date will no longer get special category status. news
‘From her on in every prisoner is a criminal. The Republican prisoners they refused to be criminalised. They refused to wear prison clothes. They refused to do prison work. And they were thrown in a cell and thrown a blanket.’ ibid.
‘You only got half an hour a month. You’re looking at a different man who is obsessed with his role in Republicanism … I hated going up … Women were left carrying the can.’ ibid. wife prison visitor
‘There are the first pictures to be taken of the protesters. ibid. TV news
March 1981: ‘A hunger strike. Well there was a huge list … Our job was to pick people who would die. As simple as that.’ ibid. dude
‘There was 100,000 people or something at Bobby Sands’ funeral. So much fear and anger and hopelessness.’ ibid. woman
‘There was quite a lot of murders during the hunger strike.’ ibid.
‘Our rulers will stop at nothing to attain their ends. They will continue to rule and rob until confronted by men who will stop at nothing …’ ibid. Republican mural
The IRA called off the Hunger Strike 3rd October 1981. Three days later the British government granted almost all of the prisoners’ demands but without any formal recognition of political status. The Hunger Strike paved the way for Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA to became a major force in politics. ibid. captions