Brandon Sullivan ✍ digs into the British state's Dirty War in the North.

The SAS Claim a Kill

TPQ’s Anthony McIntyre (AM) published an account of meeting Clive Fairweather at a conference on prison reform in Edinburgh. The Independent wrote an obituary for Fairweather in 2012, noting that his “previous SAS operations – in the Middle East and Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles – had been dangerous but discreet.” AM continued:

He also dismissed the notion that the SAS were not in the North from 1969, advising me to pay no heed to the Harold Wilson claims in 1976 that he had sent the SAS in for the first time after the Kingsmill massacre. I had never heeded it in any case but it was useful to have Wilson’s sleight of hand confirmed by such a well-placed source. Surprisingly he told me that one of the regiment’s first kills was a loyalist believed to be Captain Black of the UDA/UFF, confronted on the stairs of his home by SAS soldiers. When I inquired of him if that was because of Black’s role in targeting Catholics, I got the by now familiar blunt response. “Nothing as sophisticated as that. They killed him because they could.

I discussed the shooting of Captain Black with various people who have an academic, historical, or personal interest in the conflict. To many students of the conflict, Captain Black is synonymous with UFF man John White, who served life for the barbaric murders of SDLP Senator Paddy Wilson and his friend, Irene Andrews. Of course, Captain Black, like the IRA’s P O’Neill, has probably been used by many different people in claiming killings, bombings, and other paramilitary operations. So who might Clive Fairweather been referring to? I thought it might have been UDA Brigadier Tommy Herron, or his brother-in-law, Michael Wilson, but I simply wasn’t sure.

Recently, I made contact with a military historian, let’s call him Angus, and discussed AM’s article. I asked if he knew the identity of the Captain Black referred to by Fairweather. Angus immediately said that he was familiar with the operation, and had military logs and other documents for me to look at. This I did, and also looked into the newspaper archive. What I found was perplexing. I’ll start with information that is available in contemporaneous media, including a long story by Vincent Browne. Several people (Ian Paisley Sr, Kennedy Lindsay, Colin Wallace) who took an interest in this case have been, in different ways and for different reasons, discredited or looked upon suspiciously. I will include anything that they say only if it can be verified elsewhere.

Sergeant Black

The man named as Captain Black of the UFF by Clive Fairweather is, I believe, Sergeant William Black of the UDR. Vincent Browne of the Sunday Independent (24/02/74) reported that he was born around 1934, and at the time of the attempts on his life, he was married with three children, a fitter at Short Brothers, and a member of the Plymouth Brethren (PB). I find his membership of the PB significant, for reasons that I will go into later.

Black was “sick of seeing bombs going off and people being blown to bits” and decided that joining the UDR was the right thing to do. Browne reported that he was a “conscientious” recruit, putting in more hours and committing to more training than the average UDR man. With existing military experience, he gained promotion and became a non-commissioned officer. As well as a life of military discipline, he led what was described as a “strict” life on account of his membership of the PB.

Things started to get complicated in Black’s life when he was injured in an accidental shooting incident on a farm: a child discharged a shotgun, which hit his shoulder. He was in hospital for a month, and off UDR work for a further four months. During this time, for the first time in his life, he claimed welfare, in the form of National Assistance. The UDR offered him administrative duties, but Black was concerned that these could affect his welfare money, so opted not to do them. The Black family were living in the mixed Suffolk estate, and it was at their family home, in August 1972, that an incident happened that changed their lives.

Whatever You Say, Say Nothing

William Black’s wife woke him up late one night, on 18th August 1972, having witnessed three young men with long hair break into a car opposite their house, and then likewise break into a van, which they began to roll away. Having called the police, but watching the men rolling the van further away, Black decided to challenge the thieves, who he assumed were IRA members. Although he had a .22 rifle with him, this was the action of a brave man. He challenged the men stealing the van, ordering them to halt – but doing so from a concealed position. The men began to run, one of them drawing a pistol, but unsure of where the challenge came from. Suddenly, a BMW car drove towards the men, two of whom got in, whilst another one fumbled the door handle and fell, unable to get into the car taking his partners-in-crime away. William Black fired rounds at the BMW’s wheels, and then pointed his weapon at the man who didn’t get away, who by this stage shouted that he was “security” and that he could show his identity card. At this stage the RUC arrived. Black got dressed (he had been asleep when this incident started) and went to meet them. As he did so, the BMW returned, collected their last man, and made to escape. Astonishingly, a single RUC man got into the BMW, disarmed all four occupants, and apprehended what would later turn out to be an MRF unit in action.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

As Vincent Browne reported:

At the request of the police, Mr Black went along with them to the Army post. When they arrived, Mr Black noticed the three men who had been pushing the van had wigs in their hands and were talking casually with the soldiers. When they saw Mr Black, they roundly cursed and abused him for interfering, and though no specific threats were made, it was clear that they were very angry, and Mr Black realised that they were angry at him for their intervention.

Black realised that they were not members of the IRA, but of the British Army. A captain of the resident regiment, the Royal Fusiliers, told Black that he had stumbled upon undercover activity, and that “certain things had to be done … of this nature.” An unimpressed Black replied that:

I'm out of my bed two and three night a week patrolling roadways and lying in hedges to stop people from robbing and stealing, and now I find out that the Army is doing it.

Black also pointed out to the officer that, because of the undercover activity, everyone in the mixed area he lived would now know that he was a UDR man, with a weapon.

Vincent Browne again:

Once the Captain heard that Black was in the UDR, his attitude changed markedly from being conciliatory to imperious. He pointed out to Black that has a members of Her Majesty's Forces, he was subject to the Official Secrets Act. Therefore, under the threat of strict penalty, he must not talk to anyone about what he had seen. Then significantly he said: 'certain vehicles are known and accepted in certain areas, and when we want to go into those areas we sometimes have to get our hands on those vehicles.'

It makes sense that undercover soldiers would wish to use vehicles familiar to those in close knit communities under constant attack from assailants in strange vehicles. In the course of researching other articles for TPQ, I have read about a number of men shot dead because their vehicles were presumed to have been used for paramilitary purposes. In some cases, but not all, the dead man was supposedly seen in the vehicle. Nevertheless, any armed group commandeering a civilian vehicle for military/paramilitary purposes put the owner in danger; sometimes grave and fatal danger. Other men have been shot dead having purchased vehicles previously owned by paramilitaries or members of the security forces.

The van stolen by the soldiers belonged to a man named Sean McNamee, and he and it were often seen around Suffolk and Andersontown in the course of Sean’s working life. An RUC Sergeant who discussed the theft of McNamee’s van with him assured him that it was taken away “to be checked out.” Bravely, McNamee challenged this, remonstrating that that idea was nonsense. Vincent Browne again:

The sergeant made an attempt at a reply saying that the army had their own reasons for doing these things. McNamee remarked that were it not for the UDR man there would probably have been another "mysterious assassination in Andersontown that night."


Incredibly, the would-be car thieves again returned to the Suffolk area to steal a vehicle, this time successfully, but were again witnessed by Mrs Black, who again called the RUC. It is worth noting that whilst these MRF men were busying themselves stealing cars from civilians in a mixed area of Belfast, the UDA’s Albert Baker murdered a Catholic, Philip Fay, and the IRA killed two soldiers in separate incidents in West Belfast. One cannot help wondering if these resources could have been better deployed elsewhere. Or, perhaps, the car theft was to be part of the MRF response to the IRA’s killing of soldiers – a “mysterious assassination.”

The RUC confirmed that four men were arrested for stealing another vehicle, but not charged, and that a vehicle was indeed stolen in that area, as witnessed by Mrs Black.

The Targeting of Sgt Black Begins

Vincent Browne again:

Two weeks after the theft incident, a knock came to his door around 2am. Mr Black went toward the hall door and for some intuitive reason he asked who was there. At the same time he stepped into the adjacent doorway of his sitting room. As he did so a shot was fired through the wooden door at chest height. As a policeman said to him later that night, had he been standing behind the front door, he would have been killed.

The IRA not only didn’t claim responsibility for this action, they released a statement categorically denying it. Browne notes that a number of UDR, and prison, staff lived in and around that area, and the IRA had no track record of attacking any of them.

An official RUC report, dated 5th February 1974 confirmed the shot through the door, and goes on to say:

While the Black family resided at this address they received several threatening phone calls and at least four threatening letters. The Intelligence Officer, 1st Cheshire Regiment based at Garnock Hill, was informed with a view to giving some protection to Mr Black.

An official note of a meeting held between the Secretary of State (Francis Pym) and representatives of the DUP and VUPP (Vanguard) in Stormont Castle on 20 January 1974 confirmed what Vincent Browne reported, and also a second incident that occurred in September 1973:

[William] Black's son had by this time joined the RUC. He was at the time a cadet in Enniskillen Training Centre. During September 1973 he was home for a weekend's leave. While home, he was walking along Black's Road [near the family home]. A car passed and shot at him twice. He was in civilian clothes.

I have not been able to get independent verification on the incident with William Black’s son, and the RUC could “neither confirm or deny” that there was evidence for the incident having taken place.

William Black’s trouble had just started. In the next part, I’ll look into more RUC and military files to describe the incident that I think Clive Fairweather alluded to when speaking to AM.

Part Two to follow . . . 

⏩ Brandon Sullivan is a middle aged, middle management, centre-left Belfast man. Would prefer people focused on the actual bad guys. 

Killing Captain Black? - The Curious Case Of The UDR Sergeant Targeted By The MRF/SAS: Part One

Brandon Sullivan ✍ digs into the British state's Dirty War in the North.

The SAS Claim a Kill

TPQ’s Anthony McIntyre (AM) published an account of meeting Clive Fairweather at a conference on prison reform in Edinburgh. The Independent wrote an obituary for Fairweather in 2012, noting that his “previous SAS operations – in the Middle East and Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles – had been dangerous but discreet.” AM continued:

He also dismissed the notion that the SAS were not in the North from 1969, advising me to pay no heed to the Harold Wilson claims in 1976 that he had sent the SAS in for the first time after the Kingsmill massacre. I had never heeded it in any case but it was useful to have Wilson’s sleight of hand confirmed by such a well-placed source. Surprisingly he told me that one of the regiment’s first kills was a loyalist believed to be Captain Black of the UDA/UFF, confronted on the stairs of his home by SAS soldiers. When I inquired of him if that was because of Black’s role in targeting Catholics, I got the by now familiar blunt response. “Nothing as sophisticated as that. They killed him because they could.

I discussed the shooting of Captain Black with various people who have an academic, historical, or personal interest in the conflict. To many students of the conflict, Captain Black is synonymous with UFF man John White, who served life for the barbaric murders of SDLP Senator Paddy Wilson and his friend, Irene Andrews. Of course, Captain Black, like the IRA’s P O’Neill, has probably been used by many different people in claiming killings, bombings, and other paramilitary operations. So who might Clive Fairweather been referring to? I thought it might have been UDA Brigadier Tommy Herron, or his brother-in-law, Michael Wilson, but I simply wasn’t sure.

Recently, I made contact with a military historian, let’s call him Angus, and discussed AM’s article. I asked if he knew the identity of the Captain Black referred to by Fairweather. Angus immediately said that he was familiar with the operation, and had military logs and other documents for me to look at. This I did, and also looked into the newspaper archive. What I found was perplexing. I’ll start with information that is available in contemporaneous media, including a long story by Vincent Browne. Several people (Ian Paisley Sr, Kennedy Lindsay, Colin Wallace) who took an interest in this case have been, in different ways and for different reasons, discredited or looked upon suspiciously. I will include anything that they say only if it can be verified elsewhere.

Sergeant Black

The man named as Captain Black of the UFF by Clive Fairweather is, I believe, Sergeant William Black of the UDR. Vincent Browne of the Sunday Independent (24/02/74) reported that he was born around 1934, and at the time of the attempts on his life, he was married with three children, a fitter at Short Brothers, and a member of the Plymouth Brethren (PB). I find his membership of the PB significant, for reasons that I will go into later.

Black was “sick of seeing bombs going off and people being blown to bits” and decided that joining the UDR was the right thing to do. Browne reported that he was a “conscientious” recruit, putting in more hours and committing to more training than the average UDR man. With existing military experience, he gained promotion and became a non-commissioned officer. As well as a life of military discipline, he led what was described as a “strict” life on account of his membership of the PB.

Things started to get complicated in Black’s life when he was injured in an accidental shooting incident on a farm: a child discharged a shotgun, which hit his shoulder. He was in hospital for a month, and off UDR work for a further four months. During this time, for the first time in his life, he claimed welfare, in the form of National Assistance. The UDR offered him administrative duties, but Black was concerned that these could affect his welfare money, so opted not to do them. The Black family were living in the mixed Suffolk estate, and it was at their family home, in August 1972, that an incident happened that changed their lives.

Whatever You Say, Say Nothing

William Black’s wife woke him up late one night, on 18th August 1972, having witnessed three young men with long hair break into a car opposite their house, and then likewise break into a van, which they began to roll away. Having called the police, but watching the men rolling the van further away, Black decided to challenge the thieves, who he assumed were IRA members. Although he had a .22 rifle with him, this was the action of a brave man. He challenged the men stealing the van, ordering them to halt – but doing so from a concealed position. The men began to run, one of them drawing a pistol, but unsure of where the challenge came from. Suddenly, a BMW car drove towards the men, two of whom got in, whilst another one fumbled the door handle and fell, unable to get into the car taking his partners-in-crime away. William Black fired rounds at the BMW’s wheels, and then pointed his weapon at the man who didn’t get away, who by this stage shouted that he was “security” and that he could show his identity card. At this stage the RUC arrived. Black got dressed (he had been asleep when this incident started) and went to meet them. As he did so, the BMW returned, collected their last man, and made to escape. Astonishingly, a single RUC man got into the BMW, disarmed all four occupants, and apprehended what would later turn out to be an MRF unit in action.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

As Vincent Browne reported:

At the request of the police, Mr Black went along with them to the Army post. When they arrived, Mr Black noticed the three men who had been pushing the van had wigs in their hands and were talking casually with the soldiers. When they saw Mr Black, they roundly cursed and abused him for interfering, and though no specific threats were made, it was clear that they were very angry, and Mr Black realised that they were angry at him for their intervention.

Black realised that they were not members of the IRA, but of the British Army. A captain of the resident regiment, the Royal Fusiliers, told Black that he had stumbled upon undercover activity, and that “certain things had to be done … of this nature.” An unimpressed Black replied that:

I'm out of my bed two and three night a week patrolling roadways and lying in hedges to stop people from robbing and stealing, and now I find out that the Army is doing it.

Black also pointed out to the officer that, because of the undercover activity, everyone in the mixed area he lived would now know that he was a UDR man, with a weapon.

Vincent Browne again:

Once the Captain heard that Black was in the UDR, his attitude changed markedly from being conciliatory to imperious. He pointed out to Black that has a members of Her Majesty's Forces, he was subject to the Official Secrets Act. Therefore, under the threat of strict penalty, he must not talk to anyone about what he had seen. Then significantly he said: 'certain vehicles are known and accepted in certain areas, and when we want to go into those areas we sometimes have to get our hands on those vehicles.'

It makes sense that undercover soldiers would wish to use vehicles familiar to those in close knit communities under constant attack from assailants in strange vehicles. In the course of researching other articles for TPQ, I have read about a number of men shot dead because their vehicles were presumed to have been used for paramilitary purposes. In some cases, but not all, the dead man was supposedly seen in the vehicle. Nevertheless, any armed group commandeering a civilian vehicle for military/paramilitary purposes put the owner in danger; sometimes grave and fatal danger. Other men have been shot dead having purchased vehicles previously owned by paramilitaries or members of the security forces.

The van stolen by the soldiers belonged to a man named Sean McNamee, and he and it were often seen around Suffolk and Andersontown in the course of Sean’s working life. An RUC Sergeant who discussed the theft of McNamee’s van with him assured him that it was taken away “to be checked out.” Bravely, McNamee challenged this, remonstrating that that idea was nonsense. Vincent Browne again:

The sergeant made an attempt at a reply saying that the army had their own reasons for doing these things. McNamee remarked that were it not for the UDR man there would probably have been another "mysterious assassination in Andersontown that night."


Incredibly, the would-be car thieves again returned to the Suffolk area to steal a vehicle, this time successfully, but were again witnessed by Mrs Black, who again called the RUC. It is worth noting that whilst these MRF men were busying themselves stealing cars from civilians in a mixed area of Belfast, the UDA’s Albert Baker murdered a Catholic, Philip Fay, and the IRA killed two soldiers in separate incidents in West Belfast. One cannot help wondering if these resources could have been better deployed elsewhere. Or, perhaps, the car theft was to be part of the MRF response to the IRA’s killing of soldiers – a “mysterious assassination.”

The RUC confirmed that four men were arrested for stealing another vehicle, but not charged, and that a vehicle was indeed stolen in that area, as witnessed by Mrs Black.

The Targeting of Sgt Black Begins

Vincent Browne again:

Two weeks after the theft incident, a knock came to his door around 2am. Mr Black went toward the hall door and for some intuitive reason he asked who was there. At the same time he stepped into the adjacent doorway of his sitting room. As he did so a shot was fired through the wooden door at chest height. As a policeman said to him later that night, had he been standing behind the front door, he would have been killed.

The IRA not only didn’t claim responsibility for this action, they released a statement categorically denying it. Browne notes that a number of UDR, and prison, staff lived in and around that area, and the IRA had no track record of attacking any of them.

An official RUC report, dated 5th February 1974 confirmed the shot through the door, and goes on to say:

While the Black family resided at this address they received several threatening phone calls and at least four threatening letters. The Intelligence Officer, 1st Cheshire Regiment based at Garnock Hill, was informed with a view to giving some protection to Mr Black.

An official note of a meeting held between the Secretary of State (Francis Pym) and representatives of the DUP and VUPP (Vanguard) in Stormont Castle on 20 January 1974 confirmed what Vincent Browne reported, and also a second incident that occurred in September 1973:

[William] Black's son had by this time joined the RUC. He was at the time a cadet in Enniskillen Training Centre. During September 1973 he was home for a weekend's leave. While home, he was walking along Black's Road [near the family home]. A car passed and shot at him twice. He was in civilian clothes.

I have not been able to get independent verification on the incident with William Black’s son, and the RUC could “neither confirm or deny” that there was evidence for the incident having taken place.

William Black’s trouble had just started. In the next part, I’ll look into more RUC and military files to describe the incident that I think Clive Fairweather alluded to when speaking to AM.

Part Two to follow . . . 

⏩ Brandon Sullivan is a middle aged, middle management, centre-left Belfast man. Would prefer people focused on the actual bad guys. 

6 comments:

  1. A very interesting peice outlining the sinister and, indeed, highly dangerous and toxic nature of British involvement in the six counties. A danger to both communities in the six counties, is the role of British undercover activity.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
  2. @ Caoimhin

    It gets worse.. A truly disturbing series of events.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A fine piece Brandon. It really does pose serious questions.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Two weeks after the theft incident, a knock came to his door around 2am. Mr Black went toward the hall door and for some intuitive reason he asked who was there. "

    Some intuitive reasoning there at 2am ffs..

    ReplyDelete
  5. @ Steve R

    I've had to edit a lot of stuff out to keep it to two readable articles. Mr Black had said to Vincent Browne that one of his sons was of an age to be going out and about till quite late, and so the door going wasn't too unusual an occurrence.

    If Peter (or any other ex-UDR men) is reading, I'd be curious to know if they've heard anything about this incident.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brandon,

      I was only having a laugh but understand what you mean. I'll ask about in my circles to see if anyone knows anything too.

      Delete