Fighting For The Truth

Daniel Bradley continues his quest for truth in the case of his brother Seamus, slain by the British Army in 1972.

It was in 2015 I met Martin McGuinness and his wife in the Garage restaurant at the back of the quay, and I asked him to speak to people as I sought witnesses for Seamus’s inquest.

Seamus was a volunteer as was Robbie and Gerry and they were devoted to the freedom of Ireland. Robbie was killed Jan 13th 1972 by an army saracen, and they claimed that it was an accident and no one could prove different.

Six months later Seamus was shot and captured at 4.20am on the 31st July 1972. There is no doubt in my mind that British intelligence had information on Seamus and it was given by a top IRA officer, someone that Seamus knew and trusted - not knowing that he was going to be betrayed by this person.

When Seamus was asked to swear in he was told to give his English name, James Oliver Bradley so that the informer could use this information to his handlers. As well as giving his name, he also needed a photograph to give to his handler. At exactly 4.20 am Seamus ran down Bishops field to protect others including his comrades, to be shot twice and then taken prisoner.

When captured Seamus was taken to Blighs lane as he had been identified by the photograph to be a member of the IRA. Due to the ballistics report I can confirm that Seamus was stripped naked and shot a further three times at close range. He was badly beaten and tortured. The pain rendered him unconscious.

At approx. 5.20am the hospital was phoned to come and collect an injured youth, at St Peters school. Seamus was then placed in the back of a Saracen and on the way to St Peters school Seamus came conscious and jumped out of the Saracen. He had an army strap of a rifle around his neck and strangled. When the Saracen entered St Peters a medical officer confirmed that Seamus was dead and also confirmed bullet holes in Seamus jeans. As Seamus had been naked when shot the other times the medical officer would not have seen those wounds. Seamus was then taken to Altnagelvin where the cover up began, saying that Seamus had been up a tree when shot.

Myself and others seen Seamus fall in Bishops field. Sadly no one but myself came forward to make statements. Seamus gave his life to protect others that night and its sad that no one came forward. Sadder still, I asked his commanding officer to help me. I was told to go Creggan after receiving a phone call and was met by 2 IRA men and was told The IRA hasn’t gone away you know. Their threat didn’t bother me and once again I knocked on Martin McGuinness’s door and told him i had names: “can I use them?” his answer was “no.”

Between the police, MI5, and the IRA they tried very hard to stop me investigating my brothers case, and now I have the right as a true republican to challenge the Provisional IRA about where their loyalty lies. Because from where I am standing all they see is money and power and communicating with the British government. The British have a motto Divide and Conquer. In 1969 the true republicans were the Official IRA. So, the British government needed the official IRA to be destroyed. After Operation Motorman in 1972 the Official IRA lost its power to the Provisional IRA, and as we can see through history the Provisional IRA was full of informers and MI5 were deeply involved with those informers.

Maybe the real republican of the Provisional IRA should look at these photographs of Vol. Seamus Bradley and ask the question: what were M Mc G and G A hiding when I challenged them about Operation Motorman?

Daniel Bradley is a Derry justice campaigner.