Matt Treacy ➤ ‘Her apparently friendly neighbour delivered masked & armed gunmen to her home’: 〰️ Inquiry into State collusion with Glennane Gang.


I knew a woman from around Ardboe in East Tyrone whose family narrowly missed being killed by the loyalist outfit now commonly referred to as the Glenanne Gang. They were fortunate to have been out of their farmhouse in the fields and outhouses when their apparently friendly bread man who was a part-time member of the Ulster Defence Regiment delivered two masked men carrying guns to their house in his van. She watched in disbelief and terror as they entered her home, and then, finding no-one at home, left.


British army officer, Captain Robert Nairac

It is estimated that this group murdered over 120 people. Almost all of them were randomly-selected Catholic civilians. According to the Cassel Report, Anne Cadwallader’s book Lethal Allies and Seán Murray’s recent documentary Unquiet Graves almost all of the murders involved serving members of the security forces. Now the terms of reference of a new inquiry, which should shed further light on that collusion, have been announced.

One of the leaders of the Glenanne Gang was Robin Jackson who was one of the organisers of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in 1974. He was also present at the murders of members of the Miami Showband. Persistent probing by one of the band members who was fortunate to survive, Stephen Travers, proved that there was what is sometimes commonly referred to as “state collusion.”

That term barely covers the level of direct involvement, given that the Miami Showband murders and other atrocities were directly organised by a serving British army officer, Captain Robert Nairac. So while the gang was nominally part of the Ulster Volunteer Force and used various nomenclatures to claim its actions it was effectively operating as part of a British intelligence plan to strike fear into the northern Catholic population.

The gang got its name from its main base which was a farm at Glenanne near Markethill in county Armagh. The farm was owned by James Mitchell who was a member of the RUC reserve. Most of its operations originated there. The level of protection of this place is perhaps indicated by the fact that in March 1974 two members of the SAS were shot dead by the RUC close to the farm. It would seem that the RUC may have believed that the SAS men were republicans and it is anyone’s guess what the SAS were up to.

A former RUC sergeant John Weir had been part of the gang but became an informer – if that even makes sense given the state’s co-operation with the gang. He passed on information that Mitchell and a Stewart Young had told him they had been involved in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, but no action was taken. Weir himself was sentenced for his part in one of the gang’s murders so did not receive the usual reward due to an informer. Weir claims he had been recruited into the gang by two other RUC officers. The Irish government’s report into the bombings, more of which anon, contains Weir’s testimony.

The Glenanne murders were redolent of the Peep O’Day Boys of the 1700s, a sectarian gang whose purpose was to randomly strike terror into uppity Taigs. It is not difficult to see why the Ku Klux Klan had such strong “Ulster Scots” roots nor why it was so virulently anti-Catholic as well as violently racist towards black people.

On January 4, 1976 the Glennane gang simultaneously killed three members of the Reavey family at Whitecross and three members of the O’Dowd family at Ballyduggan. That was the fate that had been planned for my friend’s family on the Lough shore.

Bertie Ahern established an inquiry into Dublin and Monaghan bombings under the direction of Justice Liam Hamilton but while it contains damning information regarding the involvement of the Glenanne Gang and its British state mentors, its conclusions are curiously ambiguous. While accepting that the gang had close connections to serving members of the security forces it claimed that it had been capable of carrying out its actions “without help from any section of the security forces in Northern Ireland.”

That, even on the inquiry’s own evidence, is clearly not true. Weir documents the entire chain of events which included members of the RUC, UDR and British army at every level. Indeed the quiescence of murderous loyalism since 1998 proved that they were incapable of maintaining a military campaign without state assistance. Now that same state rewards them by turning a blind eye to their criminal exploitation of working class Protestant communities in Belfast and elsewhere.

Perhaps the most damning part of the Hamilton report is the statement that: “The Garda investigation failed to make full use of the information it obtained. Certain lines of inquiry that could have been made [and] pursued in the jurisdiction were not pursued.” Furthermore, files on the Glenanne gang, and their British handlers, are missing. Garda Special Branch has files on the UVF dating back to 1966 and proceeding after the ceasefires, but none from 1974 and 1975.

That is quite incredible. It is also confirmation of the suspicions, and they are more than suspicions, that Garda Special Branch and perhaps the force in general was compromised by its connection to British intelligence. One suspects that the known involvement of Detective John McCoy, “The Badger”, in all that sordid business of the 1970s including the killing of John Francis Green in Monaghan is only the tip of the iceberg.

In November 2019, it was announced that former Bedfordshire Chief Constable Jon Boucher had been appointed by the British government to conduct an independent inquiry into the Glenanne Gang. That followed an admission by the Northern Ireland Chief Justice Declan Morgan that the families of the victims had not been given proper consideration, and a British Court of Appeal ruling that a full investigation should take place. A previous decision to establish a full independent police inquiry had been challenged by the former PSNI Chief Constable, Sir George Hamilton.

The Boucher inquiry has set up a website Operation Kenova which is seeking information from anyone who had contact with the Glenanne Gang. If it is a genuine and transparent inquiry it will shed a withering light on Britain’s secret war in the Six Counties. I hope my old friend knows of it, and that she passes on the name of her neighbour who was happy to have them all murdered. 

Matt Treacy has published a number of books including histories of the Republican Movement and of the Communist Party of Ireland.
He is currently working on a number of other books; His latest one is a novel entitled Houses of Pain. It is based on real events in the Dublin underworld. Houses of Pain is published by MTP and is currently available online as paperback and kindle while book shops remain closed.

Inquiry Into State Collusion With Glennane Gang

Matt Treacy ➤ ‘Her apparently friendly neighbour delivered masked & armed gunmen to her home’: 〰️ Inquiry into State collusion with Glennane Gang.


I knew a woman from around Ardboe in East Tyrone whose family narrowly missed being killed by the loyalist outfit now commonly referred to as the Glenanne Gang. They were fortunate to have been out of their farmhouse in the fields and outhouses when their apparently friendly bread man who was a part-time member of the Ulster Defence Regiment delivered two masked men carrying guns to their house in his van. She watched in disbelief and terror as they entered her home, and then, finding no-one at home, left.


British army officer, Captain Robert Nairac

It is estimated that this group murdered over 120 people. Almost all of them were randomly-selected Catholic civilians. According to the Cassel Report, Anne Cadwallader’s book Lethal Allies and Seán Murray’s recent documentary Unquiet Graves almost all of the murders involved serving members of the security forces. Now the terms of reference of a new inquiry, which should shed further light on that collusion, have been announced.

One of the leaders of the Glenanne Gang was Robin Jackson who was one of the organisers of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in 1974. He was also present at the murders of members of the Miami Showband. Persistent probing by one of the band members who was fortunate to survive, Stephen Travers, proved that there was what is sometimes commonly referred to as “state collusion.”

That term barely covers the level of direct involvement, given that the Miami Showband murders and other atrocities were directly organised by a serving British army officer, Captain Robert Nairac. So while the gang was nominally part of the Ulster Volunteer Force and used various nomenclatures to claim its actions it was effectively operating as part of a British intelligence plan to strike fear into the northern Catholic population.

The gang got its name from its main base which was a farm at Glenanne near Markethill in county Armagh. The farm was owned by James Mitchell who was a member of the RUC reserve. Most of its operations originated there. The level of protection of this place is perhaps indicated by the fact that in March 1974 two members of the SAS were shot dead by the RUC close to the farm. It would seem that the RUC may have believed that the SAS men were republicans and it is anyone’s guess what the SAS were up to.

A former RUC sergeant John Weir had been part of the gang but became an informer – if that even makes sense given the state’s co-operation with the gang. He passed on information that Mitchell and a Stewart Young had told him they had been involved in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, but no action was taken. Weir himself was sentenced for his part in one of the gang’s murders so did not receive the usual reward due to an informer. Weir claims he had been recruited into the gang by two other RUC officers. The Irish government’s report into the bombings, more of which anon, contains Weir’s testimony.

The Glenanne murders were redolent of the Peep O’Day Boys of the 1700s, a sectarian gang whose purpose was to randomly strike terror into uppity Taigs. It is not difficult to see why the Ku Klux Klan had such strong “Ulster Scots” roots nor why it was so virulently anti-Catholic as well as violently racist towards black people.

On January 4, 1976 the Glennane gang simultaneously killed three members of the Reavey family at Whitecross and three members of the O’Dowd family at Ballyduggan. That was the fate that had been planned for my friend’s family on the Lough shore.

Bertie Ahern established an inquiry into Dublin and Monaghan bombings under the direction of Justice Liam Hamilton but while it contains damning information regarding the involvement of the Glenanne Gang and its British state mentors, its conclusions are curiously ambiguous. While accepting that the gang had close connections to serving members of the security forces it claimed that it had been capable of carrying out its actions “without help from any section of the security forces in Northern Ireland.”

That, even on the inquiry’s own evidence, is clearly not true. Weir documents the entire chain of events which included members of the RUC, UDR and British army at every level. Indeed the quiescence of murderous loyalism since 1998 proved that they were incapable of maintaining a military campaign without state assistance. Now that same state rewards them by turning a blind eye to their criminal exploitation of working class Protestant communities in Belfast and elsewhere.

Perhaps the most damning part of the Hamilton report is the statement that: “The Garda investigation failed to make full use of the information it obtained. Certain lines of inquiry that could have been made [and] pursued in the jurisdiction were not pursued.” Furthermore, files on the Glenanne gang, and their British handlers, are missing. Garda Special Branch has files on the UVF dating back to 1966 and proceeding after the ceasefires, but none from 1974 and 1975.

That is quite incredible. It is also confirmation of the suspicions, and they are more than suspicions, that Garda Special Branch and perhaps the force in general was compromised by its connection to British intelligence. One suspects that the known involvement of Detective John McCoy, “The Badger”, in all that sordid business of the 1970s including the killing of John Francis Green in Monaghan is only the tip of the iceberg.

In November 2019, it was announced that former Bedfordshire Chief Constable Jon Boucher had been appointed by the British government to conduct an independent inquiry into the Glenanne Gang. That followed an admission by the Northern Ireland Chief Justice Declan Morgan that the families of the victims had not been given proper consideration, and a British Court of Appeal ruling that a full investigation should take place. A previous decision to establish a full independent police inquiry had been challenged by the former PSNI Chief Constable, Sir George Hamilton.

The Boucher inquiry has set up a website Operation Kenova which is seeking information from anyone who had contact with the Glenanne Gang. If it is a genuine and transparent inquiry it will shed a withering light on Britain’s secret war in the Six Counties. I hope my old friend knows of it, and that she passes on the name of her neighbour who was happy to have them all murdered. 

Matt Treacy has published a number of books including histories of the Republican Movement and of the Communist Party of Ireland.
He is currently working on a number of other books; His latest one is a novel entitled Houses of Pain. It is based on real events in the Dublin underworld. Houses of Pain is published by MTP and is currently available online as paperback and kindle while book shops remain closed.

13 comments:

  1. "Indeed the quiescence of murderous loyalism since 1998 proved that they were incapable of maintaining a military campaign without state assistance."

    Or they simply did as they always said they would and stopped when the Provos did. Loyalist actions were about revenge not an objective, though an objective appeared out of them.

    "Now that same state rewards them by turning a blind eye to their criminal exploitation of working class Protestant communities in Belfast and elsewhere."

    Totally agree with this and it's sickening.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sean Mallory says

    Steve R,

    The problem with Unionism is that it can’t accept its discrimination, sectarianism and bigotry ... it always looks to its victims as the excuse for its actions ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. unfortunately, unionism thinks the same of nationalism in terms of not accepting responsibility: they argue with no shortage of justification that the largest nationalist party in the North has failed to address the matter of culpability for unpardonable actions that its military wing was involved in, to this day failing to acknowledge what body was responsible for the war crimes at Kingsmill.
      The sectarian quagmire seems to be losing none of its suction by the look of things. Endless recrimination all round and not the slightest interest in reconciliation.
      The one constant is that no pessimist was ever proved wrong about the place.

      Delete
    2. The ever constant dreary steeples.

      Delete
    3. Henry Joy - was just chatting with Mallory earlier on offline on the very same sentiment. The collective self pity where the wail goes up that stones thrown in Belfast prompt 'look here humanity, and see another civil war Beirut or Warsaw ghetto in our own time.'

      Delete
    4. Thanks for the link AM, its a good and rational counter to all the underlying primal tribalism that unfortunately still exists; albeit in lesser quantity and intensity.



      If only more of those in the more marginalised sections of the North could come to understand that their leaders are exploiting these primal rousings and promoting divisiveness to feather their own individual nests rather than for any potential or common good.

      Alas, passion and reason, whilst both having their use, can’t exist simultaneously.

      Delete
  3. SteveR said
    "Or they simply did as they always said they would and stopped when the Provos did."

    Billy Hutchison claims "Loyalists had already decided they were going to call a ceasefire, it was a question of when." So I think this takes away from the reactionary argument loyalists constantly give as some sort of get out of jail card on the morality front.

    Loyalists are rarely consistent. Like boasting of collusion for years and now denying it, like in The Killing by Numbers pieces that the Quill ran.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Simon,

      What Loyalist denys collusion? I've seen it first hand. And when did Hutch say that?

      Delete
    2. Sean,

      Forgive me, I am not looking to justify past actions and I'm on record as saying that there was a great deal of sectarianism with the State in the past. And AM points out the reverse is also true. I'm vehemently opposed to violence or bigotry however.

      Delete
    3. SteveR,  sorry only seeing this now. Again apologies, it was in the blog It's Still Only Thursday titled "30 Questions Republicans Can’t (or Won’t) Answer About Alleged “Collusion”" where they claim Republican allegations throughout the Troubles about collusion was a smear which in anybody's book is a denial. They go on to ask Republicans 30 asinine questions about allegations of more widespread collusion as an attempt to deny it. Loyalists once rejoiced in their collusion now it's a "smear". 

      Hutchison was quoted in the BBC article "Remembering the loyalist ceasefire 20 years on" on the 28th August 2014. In fact he claims loyalists were going to call a ceasefire in the 80s but in 1994 were just trying to get the different parts of loyalism to agree a ceasefire before the IRA stole their thunder.

      You are telling me you can't see the contradiction between saying we only stopped because they stopped on the one hand and we were going to stop anyway on the other?

      I guess 20 years is a long time and political environments change from one in which "its purely retaliatory, we are up to our necks in collusion, look at the montages etc. and we rejoice in our sectarianism as this random killing will create pressure on the IRA to stop from within its own community and we only continue the killing because of IRA violence" is the tune to the latest one "we were planning to quit anyway, collusion was a smear, we weren't that sectarian really."

      Their duplicity is so extreme they are almost charicatures of themselves.

      Delete
  4. Simon,

    "Loyalists had already decided they were going to call a ceasefire, it was a question of when."

    A bit further on the article it says..

    "The difficulty for loyalists at the time was that it wasn't one homogeneous group, there were a number of groups that had to be brought together.



    Hutchison was quoted in the BBC article "Remembering the loyalist ceasefire 20 years on" on the 28th August 2014."There were internal arguments about whether there should be ceasefires or not, but people actually thought there should be."

    "You are telling me you can't see the contradiction between saying we only stopped because they stopped on the one hand and we were going to stop anyway on the other?"

    No, but Hutch explained it poorly, though he even said not all Loyalists agreed. Surely you can see the fact that Loyalists were not all aligned but tended very much to be area factions? Hutch appears to mean 'some' Loyalists wanted a ceasefire back in the 80's but not all agreed. That BBC article explains it better than the quote taken out of context.

    No serious Loyalist would deny collusion, that's just silly, and sectarianism was rampant so much so that it figured heavily into the strategy to put pressure on the Provos. How could it not? Given the attacks on ordinary Prods by the Provos? People can dress-up Teebane and the Shankill as whatever helps them sleep at night but for us they were nothing but sheer sectatrian attacks. No wonder Hutch had trouble convincing them, and especially after Murray sent Ervine that comm regarding "We'll stop hitting you but we want to keep hitting the Brits" which did nothing but confirm the mass murder events were working to the Loyalist leadership.


    ReplyDelete
  5. SteveR, funny how you left out that Hutchison, on the ceasefires "insisted that the loyalist groups were not dancing to the IRA's tune."


    If anybody is interested they can read the article itself and decide what is and what isn't "out of context".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True, and it was not purpose. Let them decide for themselves but that Killing By Numbers article is a load of shite.

      Delete