Another Bloody Chapter In an Endless Civil War, Volume 1 by Ken Wharton

Author:Ken Wharton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century
ISBN: 9781912174270
Publisher: Helion and Company
Published: 2016-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

SOUTH LONDONDERRY

Corporal ‘E’ UDR

On one occasion I was part of a foot patrol going through a village in South Derry. I tried the door handles of all the businesses as I walked up the street. I found the door open at one of the local bars. My patrol commander was not happy with this situation especially when he found that the back door was also open. We woke the bar manager and informed him about the situation. He of course promised to sack the bar staff for their security lapse.

At that time it was common practice for the PIRA to inform the business owners to leave the front and back doors open, in order to perform a ‘Shoot and Scoot’ attack on the army patrols. This was particularly true for attacks against mobile patrols. After the second Land Rover of the patrol passed, two gunmen would come out of the premises and kneel on the road to shoot off a full magazine between the two red taillights of the rear Land Rover. With at least three people in the back of the vehicle there was always the chance of a kill.

On the 11th, the first meeting of the new Inter-Governmental Conference established under the AIA was held. Hundreds of Protestant workers from a number of firms in Belfast staged walk-outs and marched to Maryfield, where the Anglo-Irish Secretariat was based. There were several violent and bloody clashes between the protestors and the police, which left 38 RUC officers requiring hospital treatment. Six days later, all 15 Unionist MPs in the House of Commons resigned their seats in protest at the agreement. Their avowed intention was to bring about 15 Parliamentary by-elections and political chaos in the Province.

On the 11th of December, 1980 (see Chapter 12, An Agony Continued same author), the INLA killed a part-time UDR soldier Private Hartley Colin Quinn, who worked for a printing company close to the Divis/Falls area. A car pulled up alongside him, containing Gerard ‘Dr Death’ Steenson and Gerard ‘Sparky’ Barkley, and allegedly, Harry Kirkpatrick. The gunmen fired 10 shots at the UDR soldier and he died very shortly afterwards. In February 1983, Kirkpatrick was arrested on multiple charges, including the murder of two police officers and three soldiers. During his time on remand, he agreed to turn ‘supergrass’ and implicated 25 other INLA/IRSP members, all of whom went to trial in 1985. On the 26th October, 1983, Barkley was himself killed; his murderer was none other than Dominic ‘Mad Dog’ McGlinchey and Mrs ‘Mad Dog’ his wife, Mary was on hand to help dispose of his body. [See An Agony Continued by the same author.]

Whilst Kirkpatrick was in protective custody, the INLA kidnapped his wife Elizabeth, in order to pressurise him into not continuing with his evidence against them; kidnapping of an informer’s loved ones was an oft-repeated tactic of paramilitaries during the troubles. Shortly afterwards, they kidnapped his sister and his stepfather too, all of whom were later released unharmed. Despite the kidnap, Kirkpatrick persisted and several INLA/ IRSP members were sought by the RUC.

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