In Huddersfield, Yorkshire during the 1970s a number of women were brutally murdered by an unknown psychopath. By May 1978, nine women had been stabbed to death by the man who had become known as ‘the Yorkshire Ripper’.
When the ninth woman was murdered, a guilt-ridden British soldier who had been in the Argyll and Sutherland regiment of the British army in 1972, made a phone-call to the police in Huddersfield. This British soldier, who still remains anonymous, said that he believed there was a lot in common between the Yorkshire murders and the killing of the two farmers in Fermanagh in 1972 by members of his regiment.
The British soldier told the police that while on duty in the north of Ireland in 1972 with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders he had witnessed the stabbing to death of two Fermanagh farmers. He said that he believed that the Yorkshire women were stabbed in a similar way by soldiers belonging to the Argyll and Sutherland regiment then based in Catterick. He named one of the soldiers, Sergeant Hathaway, as one of the leaders involved in the killing of the two Newtownbutler farmers.
In order to help police with their inquiries into the Yorkshire killings and to ease his conscience he went to a daily newspaper and then to a police station. The soldiers named by this ‘concerned’ British soldier were arrested by Scottish police and questioned about the Yorkshire killings and also about the brutal murder of the two farmers in Fermanagh.
It soon became clear to the police that none of the British soldiers questioned were connected to the Yorkshire killings but some confessed to being involved in the killing of the two Fermanagh farmers.
It was on 23 October 1973 that the two farmers were brutally murdered in a farmyard near Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh by members of the Scottish regiment.
Michael Naan who owned the farm was 35 years of age, a Catholic who lived in the townland of Mullinahinch a few miles from Newtownbutler, all his life. Michael was active in the Fermanagh Civil Rights protests in 1969-70.
It is most likely that local RUC and UDR personnel provided the British army with information about Michael Naan. They also knew the truth about the murders but chose to remain silent.
Some days before October 23, 1972, British soldiers belonging to the Argyll and Sutherland regiment based in Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh, were flown by helicopter to Newtownbutler in County Fermanagh to carry out the execution of Civil Rights activist Michael Naan.
Andrew Murray, 25 years, was a neighbour of Michael’s who happened to be in the farmyard with Michael when the British army death squad arrived on the scene. He was not known to be involved in the Civil Rights movement. He too was stabbed to death presumably because he saw too much.
The initial reaction in the media to the brutal murders of Naan and Murray was to suggest that the killings were carried out by local Protestants connected to the UDR in retaliation for the killing just a day earlier of Colin Bell, a part time soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment(UDR).
The British propaganda machine and the media claimed that the two Catholic farmers were most likely killed by local Protestants associated with the UDR and that pitchforks were used in the killings. The murders of Naan and Murray became known as ‘the pitchfork murders.’ This narrative prevailed for many years.
The truth about the identity of the killers came to light six years later in 1978 after one of the soldiers believed that the man responsible for the murders in Yorkshire was the same man involved in the murders of the Fermanagh farmers.
The Informant was so disgusted with the murders of the nine women in Huddersfield that he reported his suspicion to the police. When nothing happened he phoned the police again and added the name of Corporal John Byrne as another soldier involved in the killing of Naan and Murray.
When nothing happened on this occasion he went to the Sunday Mail in Glasgow with his story which they published on 17th December 1978. He was referred to as Mr A in the report. The police were forced to take action.
Mr A was interviewed by the police in Glasgow who then contacted the RUC and British army police with the new information. RUC detectives interviewed Hathaway and Byrne but got nowhere. They then sought to interview another member of the Argylls who was named as present at the killing of Naan and Murray. Ian Chestnut had left the Army and was working on an oil rig in the North sea. The RUC interviewed him when he returned to Aberdeen.
Other names emerged during further inquiries – Second Lieutenant Andrew Snowball, and John Brennan McGuire. These were interviewed by RUC detectives and all denied having anything to do with the Naan /Murray killings.
The RUC and British army detectives then went to Germany to interview Sergeant Hathaway. After at first denying any knowledge of the killings, he eventually broke and confessed his part in the killing of Michael Naan and Andrew Murray. However, he did not sign the confession.
When the case came to court in January 1981, he pleaded ‘not guilty’ as did Byrne and Chestnut. Snowball eventually confessed that he had covered up for the soldiers who murdered Naan and Murray ‘for the good of the army and the regiment.’
The man in charge of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders in the north at the time was a Major MacKenzie. He too was interviewed and the transcript of these interviews shows a man who failed to answer important questions. MacKenzie tried to absolve himself from responsibility saying nobody had told him about the killings. Yet it emerged that he was the one who ordered the soldiers responsible to go to Crom Castle near Newtownbutler after the murders for refreshments.
When they came for trial in Belfast Crown court Hathaway and Byrne pleaded guilty and were given life sentences. Chestnut was charged with manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison two of which he had already spent on remand. He later changed his name and left Scotland.
Though McGuire was present at the murder of Naan and Murray he was never charged. Major MacKenzie, and all the others involved in the killings and subsequent cover-up were never charged or tried. They were believed to be well connected to British establishment figures.
Not much is known about how long those convicted served in prison or what happened to the others afterwards.
Were it not for the soldier with a guilty conscience the truth about the brutal murders of Michael Naan and Andrew Murray might never have been known.
The police did eventually track down the Yorkshire Ripper. He was a local psychopath named Peter Sutliffe. He was arrested in 1981 and convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980. He received 20 concurrent life sentences. He died in custody in 2020.
Even though the soldiers from the Argylls who murdered the Fermanagh farmers, Michael Naan and Andrew Murray, were not responsible for the Yorkshire murders, we may never have known the truth about who was really responsible but for the guilty conscience of one British soldier who thought he knew the identity of the “Yorkshire Ripper”.
There never was a proper police (RUC) investigation into the murders. A senior police officer, at the time, was obstructed from carrying out a full investigation. A new and full Inquiry into the murders and the subsequent cover-up must be held.
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