News

Family of Brendan 'Ruby' Davison reject claims made in memoir

The family of Brendan 'Ruby' Davison reject claims made in author Martin Dillon's new memoir
The family of Brendan 'Ruby' Davison reject claims made in author Martin Dillon's new memoir The family of Brendan 'Ruby' Davison reject claims made in author Martin Dillon's new memoir

THE family of murdered IRA man Brendan 'Ruby' Davison have rejected claims made in a recently published book, saying many of the events he has been linked occurred while he was in prison.

Davison, from the Markets area of south Belfast, was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries dressed as RUC men in July 1988.

The UVF who claimed the attack, blamed him for assassinating one of its members, Robert 'Squeak' Seymour a month earlier.

At 33, he had already spend more than a decade in jail prior to his murder, after he was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1971 for shooting at a British army patrol.

Within months of being released in 1980, he was arrested again on the word of IRA 'supergrass' Kevin McGrady but was released after serving more than two years on remand.

In Crossing The Line, a book about his time working as a crime reporter in Belfast, journalist Martin Dillon repeats allegations made after Davison's death that he had been working a police informer.

The family dispute this pointing to the length of time he spent in prison and allegations of collusion linked to his murder.

Davison, whose nephew Gerard 'Jock' Davison was murdered in the Markets in May 2015, had survived a previous loyalist attempt on his life just months before he was killed.

The Davison family - who point out that his name was incorrectly spelt as Davidson in the book - say they were not contacted by the author to check any details with them prior to publication.

In a statement the family said: "This seems to us to be repeating old information that amounts to little more than tittle tattle about a dead man who can't challenge or question it in any way."

Crossing the Line author Martin Dillon however told the Irish News he stands over information contained in the book which is a personal memoir about his time working as a journalist in Northern Ireland.