Northern Ireland

Collusion talk to take place in Co Armagh

Anne Cadwallader will speak about the issue of collusion
Anne Cadwallader will speak about the issue of collusion Anne Cadwallader will speak about the issue of collusion

LOYALIST and security force collusion will be discussed at an event in Mid Ulster next week.

The presentation and discussion in Portadown has been organised by the Pat Finucane Centre and will be addressed by Anne Cadwallader, who wrote the book Lethal Allies, and Margaret Urwin of Justice for the Forgotten, who published A State in Denial last year.

Both books examine links between British state organisations and loyalist paramilitary groups.

Ms Cadwallader will talk about several murders carried out in the Portadown area, including a UVF gun attack at a darts club near Bleary in April 1975 that claimed the lives of three Catholic men.

Joe Toman (48), Brendan O'Hara (38) and John Feeney (45) all died in the attack which is believed to have involved loyalist killer Robin Jackson, who was a member of the notorious Glenanne Gang.

In a recent interview with The Irish News, former gang member and ex-RUC man John Weir claimed Jackson may have been involved in the murder of more than 100 people.

The Bleary attack took place just weeks after the UVF murdered mother-of-10 Dorothy Trainor (52) as she walked through a Portadown park.

Her husband was also injured in the attack.

Three days later Catholic man Martin McVeigh (22) was shot dead in the town.

The event ‘British Collusion in Ireland - A Hidden Agenda, State/Loyalist Collusion’ will take place on Wednesday September 20 at Drumcree Community Centre, Ashgrove Road, Portadown at 7.30pm.