Northern Ireland

Grim period of Troubles killings 30 years ago recalled

Five people were killed in the Sean Graham Bookmakers on the Ormeau Road in February 1992
Five people were killed in the Sean Graham Bookmakers on the Ormeau Road in February 1992 Five people were killed in the Sean Graham Bookmakers on the Ormeau Road in February 1992

WHILE the Troubles threw up many dark days, one period this time 30 years ago stands out for the misery visited on dozens of families across the north.

January and February 1992 are remembered as a time of intense grief as death dominated the headlines.

While republican and loyalist ceasefires would be called two years later, for many in early 1992 peace appeared a long way off.

During a period of less than eight weeks, 32 people were killed in attacks involving republicans, loyalists and the security forces.

The majority of those who died were caught up in several mass killings.

The year began with the UVF murder of Catholic man Kevin McKearney (32) at his butcher's shop in Moy, Co Tyrone, on January 3.

His uncle Jack McKearney (69) also died three months later from injuries received during the gun attack.

In the following weeks four more people died before eight workmen were killed in an IRA explosion in Co Tyrone on January 17.

The men, who were all Protestants, died when a roadside bomb was detonated at Teebane Crossroads, on the main Cookstown to Omagh road, as they returned home from work.

Seven of the men, David Harkness (23), William Bleeks (35), Cecil Caldwell (37), Robert Dunceith (25), John McConnell (38), Nigel McKee (22) and Robert Irons (61), died instantly.

An eighth man, Oswald Gilchrist (44), died from his injuries several days later.

The victims had been working for Karl Construction and carrying out repairs at Lisanelly British army base in Omagh.

The firm was named after RUC constable Karl Blackbourne, who was shot dead by the IRA in Newry in 1986.

At the time the IRA was involved in a campaign against construction firms that carried out work for the security forces.

In the previous years other building companies had been targeted, including Henry Brothers, which is based in Magherafelt, Co Derry.

The IRA believed those killed at Teebane had been working for Henry Brothers.

There was further controversy when then Secretary of State Peter Brooke appeared on RTÉs Late Late Show on the night of the explosion.

After first offering his sympathies he went on to sing a rendition of My Darling Clementine, which sparked unionist fury.

In the aftermath of the attack then RUC Chief Constable Hugh Annesley attended the bomb scene and told the media he would be asking for more police and British soldiers.

In days immediately after the Teebane attack four people were killed, including three Catholics murdered by loyalists.

Just over two weeks later, on February 4, the cycle of death continued when RUC man Allen Moore (24) attacked Sinn Féin offices in Belfast, killing three people before turning a gun on himself.

Sinn Féin members Pat McBride (40) and Paddy Loughran (61) were shot dead at the offices on the Falls Road along with Michael O'Dwyer (21).

Moore later travelled to the shores of Lough Neagh at Ballinderry in Co Antrim and shot himself.

It later emerged that the RUC man, who was originally from Ballymena in Co Antrim, had left a suicide note and made two calls to colleagues admitting involvement in the Falls Road attack and telling them he "would be found by the water".

It also transpired that he had been detained a day before the gun attack by police after he fired shots over the grave of a dead colleague.

His police issue Ruger revolver was later confiscated.

Primitive bomb-making equipment was also found in Moore's bedroom and a senior RUC officer later told an inquest there was a "strong possibility" that he had been involved in three parcel bomb attacks between October and November 1991.

The day after the RUC man's murder spree, loyalist paramilitaries killed five Catholic men in one of the most notorious attacks carried out during the conflict.

The Sean Graham bookmakers massacre continues to cause controversy with collusion strongly suspected in the case.

A Police Ombudsman investigation, Operation Achille, focusing on the UDA attack and others is due to be published today.

Those who died were Peter Magee (18), James Kennedy (15), Christy Doherty (51), William McManus (54) and Jack Duffin (66).

Weapons used by the UDA gang are believed to have been smuggled into the north by loyalists in the late 1980s with the knowledge of British intelligence.

In 1994 two loyalists, Raymond Elder and Joe Bratty, were shot dead by the IRA on the Ormeau Road.

Elder had been charged with the bookmakers killings but the case was later dropped.

Both men were believed by nationalists to have been involved in the attack.

There was an angry reaction last year after Sean Graham's victim, Mark Sykes, who is also a brother-in-law of Peter Magee, was arrested during a family commemoration and led away in handcuffs.

On the same day as the bookmakers attack, IRA man Joseph McManus (21), a native of Sligo, was shot dead during a failed ambush on a part-time UDR member at Belleek near the border with Co Fermanagh and Co Donegal.

Less than two weeks later the British army shot dead four IRA members in Co Tyrone.

Kevin Barry O'Donnell (21), Sean O'Farrell (23), Peter Clancy (21) and Patrick Vincent (20) were shot dead in an SAS ambush in the grounds of St Patrick's Church in Clonoe, Co Tyrone, on February 16 1992.

The ambush took place minutes after an IRA gun attack on Coalisland RUC barracks.

The men's families believe they were the victims of a security force shoot-to-kill policy.

In remaining days of February, two more people were to lose their lives to the Troubles.

Protestant teenager Andrew Johnston was shot dead by the IPLO as he worked in a video shop in north Belfast on February 17.

The 17-year-old was a devout Christian and came from the Silverstream area.

A week later one of the most shocking murders of the Troubles took place when Catholic woman Anne Marie Smyth (26) was killed in a horrific attack.

The mother-of-two from Armagh was strangled and had her throat cut after being lured to a house party in east Belfast.

Her body was later found at Ballarat Street in the Ravenhill area.

Some of those involved in the murder were linked to the UVF.