He was unimpressed by the UVF men he met in the loyalist stronghold. Das Getty Images Design ist eine eingetragene Marke von Getty Images. At no time did this new soldier speak to any of the band members nor did he directly address Crozier. The scene of The Miami Showband Massacre It was his brother Wesley's arm," said the source. I only came into it because of my UDR connection and the fact that I had a uniform. [94][95], A mural and memorial plaque to Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville is in the Killycomain Estate in Portadown, where Boyle had lived. When asked to comment about the report, Des McAlea replied: "It's been a long time but we've got justice at last". [19] In early 1973, Billy MacDonald (a.k.a. I got them with dum-dums". [4] The band had no overt interest in politics nor in the religious beliefs of the people who made up their audience. It has been suggested that the bomb was meant to explode en route, so that the victim band members would appear to be Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb-smugglers and stricter security measures would be established at the border. Organisieren, kontrollieren, verteilen und messen Sie alle Ihre digitalen Inhalte. The band is remembered in the song "The Miami" by English folk singer-songwriter Jez Lowe on his album Jack Commons Anthem. In a report published in the Sunday Mirror in 1999, Colin Wills called the Miami Showband attack "one of the worst atrocities in the 30-year history of the Troubles". One of these men, Lance-Corporal Thomas Raymond Crozier (aged 25, a painting contractor from Lurgan) of C Company, 11th Battalion UDR was charged with the Miami killings. His leadership was endorsed by the UVF's leader Gusty Spence. The six-strong group were one of the biggest acts on the Irish music scene throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Survivors Stephen Travers and Des McAlea were both present at the unveiling, as was the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who made a tribute. In 1978, he became a born-again Christian. She also thinks that had everything gone to plan once the bomb was planted in the van McCoy would have been instructed to drive through Newry where the bomb would have gone off and the UVF could then afterwards portray the Miami Showband as IRA members on a mission to blow up the local RUC barracks. Hurled in opposite directions, they were both decapitated and their bodies dismembered. [56], Within 12 hours of the attack, the UVF's Brigade Staff (Belfast leadership based on the Shankill Road) issued a statement. Jane Carter says late son received many threats prior to his death. [46][49] In 1993, Boyle was named by The Hidden Hand programme as one of the Dublin car bombers. [9] According to authors Paul Larkin and Martin Dillon, Jackson was accompanied by Harris Boyle when he killed Hanna. He also provides other alibis for Nairac precluding his presence at the scenes of both the John Francis Green killing and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Viewing autopsy photographs of her battered body in court on Tuesday, she became teary and asked to take a break. It was . [22] Saxophone player Des McAlea, who had been standing closest to the minibus, was hit by its door when it was blown off in the explosion, but was not badly wounded. Brian McCoy was the first to die, having been hit in the back and neck by nine rounds from a 9mm Luger pistol in the initial volley of gunfire. Miljoenen beelden, videos en muzikale opties van hoge kwaliteit wachten op u. Maak gebruik van de wereldwijde schaalgrootte, data-gedreven inzichten en het netwerk van meer dan 340.000 makers van Getty Images om voor uw merk exclusieve content te creren. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland. Lightly built and standing less than 5ft 7in, he wasn't a stereotypical loyalist killer. [33], A stamp was issued in Ireland on 22 September 2010 commemorating the Miami Showband. It had been blown off his torso when the bomb prematurely exploded as a result of static electricity. [22] Near the junction with Buskhill Road they were flagged down by armed men dressed in British Army uniforms waving a red torch in a circular motion. He lay hidden in thick undergrowth, face down, undetected by the gunmen. O'Toole was noted for his good looks and popularity with female fans,[20] and was described by the Miami Showband's former bass guitarist, Paul Ashford, as having been the "greatest soul singer" in Ireland. [53] The judge, by sentencing McDowell and Crozier to 35 years imprisonment each, had handed down the longest life sentences in the history of Northern Ireland; he commented that "killings like the Miami Showband must be stopped". 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[18][22] Meanwhile, two other gunmen at the front of the minibus were placing the briefcase containing the bomb under the driver's seat. [35], Out of sight of the band members, two of the gunmen placed a ten-pound (4.5kg) time bomb that was inside a briefcase under the driver's seat of the minibus. [18] More uniformed men appeared from out of the darkness, their guns pointed at the minibus. [63] The IRA has denied responsibility. O'Toole and McCoy were both married; each had two children. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland. [18][27] The unsuspecting band members got out and were politely told to line up facing the ditch at the rear of the minibus with their hands on their heads. Chris Hudson, a former intermediary between the government of Ireland and the UVF, whose role was crucial to the Northern Ireland peace process. 10th December, 2014. [clarification needed] James McDowell lives in Lurgan, and John James Somerville became an evangelical minister in Belfast. However, Martin Dillon alleged that the bomb was meant to go off in the Irish Republic. [55] Both the silencer and pistol which was later established to have been the same one used in the Miami Showband killings were found by the security forces at the home of Edward Sinclair. The RUC suggested the IRA had meant to attack a police minibus in revenge for the Miami killings, but had mistakenly attacked a civilian minibus instead. It is obvious, therefore, that the UVF patrol was justified in taking the action it did and that the killing of the three Showband members should be regarded as justifiable homicide. Updated / Monday, 13 Dec 2021 22:28. No one coerced me. After meeting a new woman, Somerville settled on the Shankill and for a while he worked in the Harland and Wolff shipyard. Both men had pleaded for their lives before they were shot; one had cried out, "Please don't shoot me don't kill me". By the mid-1980s, the showbands had lost their appeal for the Irish public; although The Miami Showband, albeit with a series of different line-ups, did not disband until 1986. They were: lead vocalist and keyboard player Fran O'Toole, 28, Catholic; guitarist Anthony (Tony) Geraghty, 24, Catholic, from Dublin; trumpeter Brian McCoy, 32, Protestant, from Caledon, County Tyrone; saxophonist Des McAlea (a.k.a. [47] The UVF gunmen had worn green UDR berets, whereas the other man's had been lighter in colour. [58] He was later shot dead in Portadown on 25 January 1976, allegedly by Jackson for having informed the RUC about Thomas Crozier's participation in the attack. "The arm belonged to John's brother Wesley, who was killed in the Miami explosion. [35] Dillon also opined in God and the Gun: The Church and Irish Terrorism that the dead bombers, Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, had actually led the UVF gang at Buskhill. "Kevin Myers: The Miami Showband massacre was one of the most depraved massacres of the Troubles". He was given a total of four life sentences (three for the murders of the Miami Showband members and one for the Falls murder) on 9 November 1981; he had pleaded not guilty. [46] Some time after the attack, RUC officers questioned Stephen Travers at Dublin Castle. Irish Times diarist Frank McNally summed up the massacre as "an incident that encapsulated all the madness of the time". Two serving UDR soldiers and one former UDR soldier were found guilty of the murders and received life sentences; they were released in 1998. When three young musicians lost their lives on 31 July 1975, the heart was torn out of Ireland's showband community. [19] The Irish Times reported that on the night following the attack, the British ambassador Sir Arthur Galsworthy was summoned to hear the Government of Ireland's strong feelings regarding the murder of the three band members. But along with his friend Jackson, he helped build the UVF in mid-Ulster. (Part of the Independent Newspapers Ireland/NLI Collection) (Photo by Independent News and Media/Getty Images), 3928x2594px (33,26 x 21,96 cm) - 300 dpi - 5 MB. [30][32], McCoy, son of the Orange Order's Grand Master for County Tyrone,[33] had close relatives in the security forces; his brother-in-law was a former member of the B Specials which had been disbanded in 1970. [81] Martin Dillon maintained in The Dirty War that the Miami Showband attack was planned weeks before at a house in Portadown, and the person in charge of the overall operation was a former UDR man, whom Dillon referred to for legal reasons as "Mr. View On One Page Photo 22 of 51 ADVERTISEMENT () Start Slideshow . The attack was carried out by. [22], According to Peter Taylor, the Provisional IRA's gun and bomb attack on the loyalist Bayardo Bar in Belfast's Shankill Road on 13 August was in retaliation for the Miami Showband ambush. The murder of singer Fran O'Toole . [69] Stephen Travers decried: "We believe the only conclusion possible arising from the HET report is that one of the most prolific loyalist murderers of the conflict was an RUC Special Branch agent and was involved in the Miami Showband attack". [19], In 1994, Eric Smyth, a former UDR member and the husband of Brian McCoy's sister, Sheila, was killed by the IRA. The scene of the Miami Showband Killings on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland, 31st July 1975.
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