He had fallen off a coal lorry the day before his arrest and had sustained the injury as a result of the accident.
On the 24th June 1981 Vincent was abducted in the Lenadoon area of West Belfast by 3 IRA personnel not connected to Internal Security and bundled into a black taxi. He was driven into the Divis flats complex and handed over to the IRA's Internal Security Unit, or the 'Security team' as they were more commonly known within IRA circles.
On the 24th June 1981 Vincent was abducted in the Lenadoon area of West Belfast by 3 IRA personnel not connected to Internal Security and bundled into a black taxi. He was driven into the Divis flats complex and handed over to the IRA's Internal Security Unit, or the 'Security team' as they were more commonly known within IRA circles.
On this occasion the head of the ISU, the former Marine from the Special Boat Service (SBS), was not present nor was Freddie Scappatticci. Instead two other British agents within the ISU, known within the IRA as 'Burke and Hare', after the notorious 19th century Scottish body snatchers, were waiting for Vincent Robinson.
They proceeded to torture Robinson in a grotesque fashion for 2 days, finally smashing his skull in with a hammer, shooting him in the head, and then sending his body down a bin chute within Divis flats. Vincent Robinson died on 26th June 1981 at the age of 29, a married man with 2 young children.
However, as both men vacated the area in a vehicle they were stopped at an RUC /British Army checkpoint. As they were being checked an RUC officer noticed blood on the boots of one of the men and ordered both out of the car. Once out of the vehicle 'Burke' tried to explain that he worked in an abattoir ( slaughter house), hence the blood on his boots, but the RUC officer wasn't convinced. The cornered man then demanded to speak to the Commanding officer of the checkpoint and walked off with him. A few minutes later both men returned to the vehicle and were allowed to proceed from the murder scene.
'Burke' had a habit of pulling this trick and applied it before in late August 1979 when he accidentally drove into the scene of the ambush of 18 paratroopers at Narrow water, near Warrenpoint. An irate British paratrooper ordered him and another man out of their vehicle but 'Burke' demanded to speak to the Commanding officer and both men were allowed to proceed after the brief conversation. It would seem a quick call to the handler cleared up the mess.
'Burke', three months after the execution of Vincent Robinson was involved in the execution of Anthony Braniff, as it was 'Burke' and Freddie Scappatticci who went to get permission from Belfast Brigade to have Braniff executed.
In July 1986 an IRA Volunteer was abducted by the ISU in Belfast and driven across the border into County Roscommon. The ISU, which included ', Burke and Hare' and the former Marine from the SBS, tortured the Volunteer for 3 days in a house in Charlestown, burning him with cigarettes, beating him severely, water boarding him in a bath and hanging him upside down in a sleeping bag. For 3 days he wasn't allowed to go to the toilet, but had to shit in the sleeping bag, but he refused to admit anything that would incriminate him and was eventually dumped on a border road near Sligo. He was fortunate to have escaped with his life, while others weren't so fortunate.
In a stroke of luck for him, Brendan Hughes (The Dark) was released from Long Kesh in November 1986 and reported back to the IRA, and gained a senior position within GHQ Intelligence, which overseen the Internal Security Unit. Even prior to his release Brendan Hughes suspected that the British had targeted and successfully penetrated the ISU, so he had a jaundiced view of the unit, especially its head, the former Marine.
The following year he had successfully identified that the ISU was infiltrated by enemy agents posing as IRA personnel, and voiced his concern to a leadership figure, but was told he was 'paranoid' and ignored.
Nonetheless, after he was approached by the IRA Volunteer who had been tortured in County Roscommon Brendan convened a Court-martial and had both ' Burke and Hare' dismissed from the IRA with ignominy in 1987. The charges may have been 'brutality, cruelty, torture and disobeying Army orders', but a more sinister element to his thinking was ever present. However, both men were dismissed on a technicality rather than treachery. Despite Brendan's best efforts to clean out the rat infested Internal Security Unit, both men returned but in a lower capacity.
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| Seamus Kearney is a former Blanketman and author of No Greater Love - The Memoirs of Seamus Kearney. |
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