I grew up in a home with parents and grandparents close by who had a habit of watching the clock and hearing the hands tick with obsession. I used to ask what their fascination was with the time, and when I got old enough to stomach the reality of it they informed me it was because for years the minutes in between could be the basis for the most horrific news. This was nationalist North Belfast, where young Catholic men and women were abducted, tortured and brutally murdered, by state-backed Loyalist death squads. Psychotic mercenaries who would opt to either enjoy a fish and chips or cut the throats of Irish men and women.
When the Black & Tans were sent to Ireland, one British Minister explained that their mission was “to put the fear of God into the Irish”. Likewise, when the Unionist Government at Stormont turned a blind eye to this Crown murder gang, there is little doubt they had the same inclinations in this blood-soaked episode. They viewed the systematic abduction and slaughter of Catholics as a process of “creative destruction” – to terrify the nationalist community into abandoning their campaign for both civil rights and self determination, as a means of fortifying their apartheid Orange state.
In North Belfast, Catholics feared crossing the door at all during the dark nights, even to go down to their local bar. Young people had little to no social life as a result. Bodies were regularly discovered dumped in alleys or waste ground, having been mutilated and hacked to pieces. There was something satanic about it all.
Word of mouth was a powerful thing back then. There was always a rumour that one of the Butchers, Robert “Basher” Bates, frequently sported a set of golf shoes, to stand on his victims with. Indeed, I have a relative who one night was walking through Millfield when a man standing next to a black taxi offered him a lift home. He looked and noticed two men in the back of the taxi and the individual standing next to it started to approach him when he happened to notice the footwear of said person. Afterwards, my relative made strict eye contact and then refused politely, authoritatively walking quickly over to Carrick Hill and away from this sordid hunting ground. When I was first told this, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It was terrifying to think that if that rumour had not gone around then I may not be here.
The fact remains though, that the utterly gruesome and obscene deaths of Mr. Morrisey, Francis Rice and others, did nothing by way of pressuring the RUC into apprehending this group of sadists. Baroness May Blood has candidly told of how everyone on the Shankill Road knew who the Butchers were and that the police were bound to have known their identities. Murphy in particular was known in Loyalist circles as being the “Super Prod” of the area, someone with such a strong detestation of Catholics that he could abduct and slay innocent pensioners due solely to their religion. It is most probable that the only reason the Butchers were eventually stopped was because the death toll among Protestants began to rise under them.
Anyone who has read Martin Dillon’s book on this subject will be aware of the accusation that some of the Butchers were linked to the security services. Murphy himself seemed to act with both an immunity and impunity at the same time. The presiding Judge in this case deemed the whole affair to be the biggest murder trial in UK legal history, sentencing all the Butchers except Murphy, to a record 2000 plus years behind bars.
All of this is thankfully behind us as a society, but we cannot forget that this was once a reality of daily life in this part of Ireland. For many victims and families, the truth about the Butchers and their crimes has gone ignored as an inconvenience for the state, whose apparatus was either complicit or willingly ignorant of these monstrosities. How anyone can read or research the grim details of life at this point and not come to the conclusion that to resist by force, as a means of defence, was morally justifiable is beyond me. There was no democracy or rule of law in this instance. And there remains little by way of accountability or redress into this blood-spattered episode of British collusion/terrorism in Ireland. We hear all too often about the importance of legacy inquests and the rights of victims, but come this election it’s about time we started to hear some prioritising of the Shankill Butchers case once and for all. This, alongside the bombing of McGurk’s Bar, were the two worst cases of mass slaughter in the entire conflict and it’s about time they got the attention they deserve.
Not to forget that Misters …Mr M, Mr N, Mr O have never been held to account, still out there.
On Murphy’s headstone reads the inscription,’here lies a solider’,he’s still regarded a hero,yes they moved about with impunity just as Adair was allowed too with his drug fuelled gang,it was a tactic the British would use time and again,Glenane gang…before that Albert Baker in East Belfast he was ex BA just like Nelson,yes the Catholic population paid an awful price,but Unionists won’t accept this and privately they agreed with what was going on.
I also think that allowing the Butchers murder spree to continue unabated was an attempt to get the Nationalist community to support the RUC I. e Support us in our “attempts”(sic) to apprehend the perpetrators.
This may seem like a quibble, but there was no Unionist Government to turn its back on the Shankill Butchers, Stormont having been wrapped up in 1972, three years before them. True, as I have written elsewhere, the Unionist Party was insensitive about sectarian killings of Catholics but wasn’t in any sense the state through most of that period.
Malachi, do you think it is insensitive for Theresa May to be still calling us terrorists as she did the other week in Stormont?
I am of the view that it was requested specifically by Nigel Dodd’s judging by his facial expressions when she said it and the way in which she did.
It was as if they had made some deal and he was making sure he got his request carried through.
There is as yet an unknown number of murders which could be linked back to state forces and their links to paramilitaries they managed.
It is being protected by the national security veto and to be calling anyone in Ireland terrorists while this continues I find very upsetting.
Am I being over sensitive as it makes my blood boil and harder against Britain being here?
The butchers had a method to their ‘madness’. All carefully fostered by ardent followers of General Kitsons handbook. The ‘jackal’,’King rat’, ‘mad dog’ etc were similar methods of madness. Don’t forget ginger baker set the trend for the butchers. Btw, he ‘left the Brit army'(cough cough) to join up with unionist violence. Come to think of it Brian Nelson allegedly done something similar. Coincidence?
Great price. Funny how the media, especially the Dublin media never cover these atrocities but they ask McGuinness if he goes to confession!!
The Dark Hughes became a friend of one of the butchers, said he was a victim too. Interesting.
Let me tell all, This what I’m writing in response to Jude’s article is very hard indeed. We here in Australia can only can only surmise what really happened to those who were murdered under those death squards. And everyone knows they took place under the very noses of Stormont and the British Government.and in fact sanctioned by them. Time doesn’t heal all wounds. They can never be healed until the truth rings out and those responsible brought to justice and history is righted to insure this cannot happen ever again. Jim Donovan.
Jim – thanks for comment – but it is Donal’s article, not mine…G’dye…