I am going to revisit the killing of two drivers, and a passenger, who were shot dead 30 and 23 years ago today, respectively. I believe that both incidents are linked.
In one of my two articles about the IRA’s campaign against security contractors I wrote:
Mr Gibson was a leading charity worker for those in the North who had diabetes. He left behind a son, Peter, among other family and friends. Peter Gibson wrote movingly here about the murder of his father.
The day after Mr Gibson was killed, loyalists shot a Catholic taxi driver in the head. The driver survived the ordeal, which took place less than 100 yards from where Mr Gibson lived and died. The day after the attack on the taxi driver, the IRA carried out the notorious Shankill bombing.
On the 5th of December 1993, a UDA/UFF unit attacked a stationary taxi, driven by a man named John Todd. Todd was from a mixed marriage with a Protestant father, and the Belfast Newsletter reported that he worked at Short’s, working on aircraft, and “all his mates were Protestants.” Inside the vehicle with Todd was 15 year old Brian Duffy, who had been speaking to his father. Brian’s father witnessed the attack on the vehicle. The Newsletter reported “informed sources said the attack had shocked many people in the area for reports had been circulating of a ‘truce’ between the IRA and loyalist gunmen.”
John Todd had reportedly been threatened by loyalists around the time another Catholic taxi-driver, Kevin Flood, was murdered in 1991. A brave taxi-driver attempted to ram the UDA/UFF unit’s getaway car as they fled the scene.
UUP MP Cecil Walker condemned the murders, as did various left-wing and nationalist politicians, with Workers Party describing them as “sectarian savagery.”
Seven years to the day, late at night on the 5th December, 2000, Trevor Kell was working on his second night as a taxi driver, reportedly in order to buy Christmas presents for his wife and three children. He was shot dead by who were later described as “freelance” republicans, with guns belonging to the IRA. Crucially, this incident happened when there had been an international peace treaty that went well beyond a truce “between the IRA and loyalist gun-men.” So why was Trevor Kell attacked?
Mr Kell’s family believe that he was murdered in a case of mistaken identity, and that the actual target was Archie (brother of Johnny, and referred to as James in other articles) Adair. Archie Adair had been convicted of attempting to murder a Catholic man in a random sectarian attack in the early 90s, alongside the notorious Trevor Hinton, a rapist and murderer, convicted in relation to one of the most horrific incidents in the conflict. Archie Adair did indeed work for the same taxi firm as Trevor Kell, so this theory is plausible. IRA members, or indeed other republicans, would have a range of reasons to want to kill Adair.
Mr Kell was also member of the North Belfast UDA, and his name appears on a memorial plaque. A loyalist source said to me that his membership of the UDA “didn’t mean much: probably just a social thing” and, when I first wrote about Mr Kell’s killing (in a piece about Holy Cross) I wrote that “there is no suggestion that he was an active paramilitary.” However, I looked further into this at a later date. On the 17th August 2014, the Sunday Life reported that the man convicted of John Gibson’s murder, Robert Duffy, was "suspected of involvement in the sectarian murder of Protestant taxi driver Trevor Kell." The article also noted that Duffy’s “schoolboy brother was the random victim of sectarian murder.”
Whilst the IRA did carry out the sectarian murder of Protestant taxi-drivers, including on the very street Mr Kell was killed a quarter of a century earlier, they had not carried out a premediated, indisputably sectarian murder for some time. The last occasion I could find where a taxi-driver was killed by the IRA was 23rd October 1990, when a UVF man, William Aitken was shot dead.
Theories have emerged that suggest Trevor Kell’s killing wasn’t a straightforward sectarian murder. Firstly, there is Kell’s membership of the organisation that murdered “the number one suspect's brother. Secondly, there is the date the attack on Kell took place. Lastly, a republican source said to me that some in the IRA believed Kell was involved in the killing of John Todd and Brian Duffy.
A different republican source suggested that the targeting of young Brian Duffy was not “random” – it was, in fact, a targeted killing aimed at causing his brother, Robert Duffy who was on the run in the Republic for John Gibson’s murder, to cross into NI, and RUC jurisdiction, to attend his brother’s wake. Which did in fact happen.
I instinctively find it far-fetched to imagine Special Branch or a branch of the crown forces setting up a 15-year-old for murder, but I wouldn’t discount it out of hand. At one stage I would not have believed many things I now know to be true about many entities and personalities involved in the conflict. And maybe the UDA heard from their contacts that Robert Duffy was linked to John Gibson’s killing and wanted to attack his family. That’s entirely plausible. Equally plausible is that Robert Duffy, and/or others, wanted to kill a loyalist and knew that the firm Kell worked for, Circle Cabs, employed a lot of them.
What is true, though, is that the string of killings brought unbearable anguish and grief to large numbers of people.
Given that these incidents are relatively recent, I as ever hope to stimulate debate and discussion.
In one of my two articles about the IRA’s campaign against security contractors I wrote:
On the 21st October 1993, 51 year old John Gibson, a director of the company (Henry Bros.), became the fifth employee to be killed, shot dead at his home in Newtownabbey. In a statement published in the “War News” section of Republican News, the IRA said:
As a follow-up to last Thursday night’s execution of crown forces collaborator John Gibson, a company director for the Magherafelt building firm of Henry Brothers, the Belfast Brigade IRA are calling on the following companies and services to publicly withdraw their services from the crown forces:
Ashcroft Trailer Hire, Glengormley
Compass Catering New Forge Lane
Glover Crane Hire, Duncrue Street
BP Garage, Blacks Road
McNaughton and Blair, Boucher Road
We are aware that Henry brothers have taken control of a number of companies and quarries in and around the Belfast area over the past number of years. We are also aware that a number of individuals in the Stonyford/Lisburn areas are still working for Henry Brothers and the crown forces. We call on these people to cease their collaboration immediately or we will take action against them. We are determined that these people will not be allowed to make massive profits by supplying the crown forces with their means to oppress our people.
Mr Gibson was a leading charity worker for those in the North who had diabetes. He left behind a son, Peter, among other family and friends. Peter Gibson wrote movingly here about the murder of his father.
The day after Mr Gibson was killed, loyalists shot a Catholic taxi driver in the head. The driver survived the ordeal, which took place less than 100 yards from where Mr Gibson lived and died. The day after the attack on the taxi driver, the IRA carried out the notorious Shankill bombing.
On the 5th of December 1993, a UDA/UFF unit attacked a stationary taxi, driven by a man named John Todd. Todd was from a mixed marriage with a Protestant father, and the Belfast Newsletter reported that he worked at Short’s, working on aircraft, and “all his mates were Protestants.” Inside the vehicle with Todd was 15 year old Brian Duffy, who had been speaking to his father. Brian’s father witnessed the attack on the vehicle. The Newsletter reported “informed sources said the attack had shocked many people in the area for reports had been circulating of a ‘truce’ between the IRA and loyalist gunmen.”
John Todd had reportedly been threatened by loyalists around the time another Catholic taxi-driver, Kevin Flood, was murdered in 1991. A brave taxi-driver attempted to ram the UDA/UFF unit’s getaway car as they fled the scene.
UUP MP Cecil Walker condemned the murders, as did various left-wing and nationalist politicians, with Workers Party describing them as “sectarian savagery.”
Seven years to the day, late at night on the 5th December, 2000, Trevor Kell was working on his second night as a taxi driver, reportedly in order to buy Christmas presents for his wife and three children. He was shot dead by who were later described as “freelance” republicans, with guns belonging to the IRA. Crucially, this incident happened when there had been an international peace treaty that went well beyond a truce “between the IRA and loyalist gun-men.” So why was Trevor Kell attacked?
Mr Kell’s family believe that he was murdered in a case of mistaken identity, and that the actual target was Archie (brother of Johnny, and referred to as James in other articles) Adair. Archie Adair had been convicted of attempting to murder a Catholic man in a random sectarian attack in the early 90s, alongside the notorious Trevor Hinton, a rapist and murderer, convicted in relation to one of the most horrific incidents in the conflict. Archie Adair did indeed work for the same taxi firm as Trevor Kell, so this theory is plausible. IRA members, or indeed other republicans, would have a range of reasons to want to kill Adair.
Mr Kell was also member of the North Belfast UDA, and his name appears on a memorial plaque. A loyalist source said to me that his membership of the UDA “didn’t mean much: probably just a social thing” and, when I first wrote about Mr Kell’s killing (in a piece about Holy Cross) I wrote that “there is no suggestion that he was an active paramilitary.” However, I looked further into this at a later date. On the 17th August 2014, the Sunday Life reported that the man convicted of John Gibson’s murder, Robert Duffy, was "suspected of involvement in the sectarian murder of Protestant taxi driver Trevor Kell." The article also noted that Duffy’s “schoolboy brother was the random victim of sectarian murder.”
Whilst the IRA did carry out the sectarian murder of Protestant taxi-drivers, including on the very street Mr Kell was killed a quarter of a century earlier, they had not carried out a premediated, indisputably sectarian murder for some time. The last occasion I could find where a taxi-driver was killed by the IRA was 23rd October 1990, when a UVF man, William Aitken was shot dead.
Theories have emerged that suggest Trevor Kell’s killing wasn’t a straightforward sectarian murder. Firstly, there is Kell’s membership of the organisation that murdered “the number one suspect's brother. Secondly, there is the date the attack on Kell took place. Lastly, a republican source said to me that some in the IRA believed Kell was involved in the killing of John Todd and Brian Duffy.
A different republican source suggested that the targeting of young Brian Duffy was not “random” – it was, in fact, a targeted killing aimed at causing his brother, Robert Duffy who was on the run in the Republic for John Gibson’s murder, to cross into NI, and RUC jurisdiction, to attend his brother’s wake. Which did in fact happen.
I instinctively find it far-fetched to imagine Special Branch or a branch of the crown forces setting up a 15-year-old for murder, but I wouldn’t discount it out of hand. At one stage I would not have believed many things I now know to be true about many entities and personalities involved in the conflict. And maybe the UDA heard from their contacts that Robert Duffy was linked to John Gibson’s killing and wanted to attack his family. That’s entirely plausible. Equally plausible is that Robert Duffy, and/or others, wanted to kill a loyalist and knew that the firm Kell worked for, Circle Cabs, employed a lot of them.
What is true, though, is that the string of killings brought unbearable anguish and grief to large numbers of people.
Given that these incidents are relatively recent, I as ever hope to stimulate debate and discussion.
⏩ Brandon Sullivan is a middle aged, middle management, centre-left Belfast man. Would prefer people focused on the actual bad guys.
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