The Trigger Men by Dillon Martin

Author:Dillon, Martin [Dillon, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Random House UK
Published: 2011-10-13T22:00:00+00:00

8

KILLERS IN THE FAMILY

Hugh Leonard Thompson Murphy was only seven years old when he extorted money from other pupils at the Argyll Primary School in West Belfast. When he needed back-up he threatened other kids that he would set his older brothers on them. The brothers, William, ten, and John, nine, were pupils at the same school. It was 1959 and the three boys were living in Percy Street, one of several long streets linking the Shankill and Falls districts. Their parents, William Murphy and Joyce, née Thompson, were vastly different personalities. Joyce was assertive and William, a dock labourer, was hardworking but maintained a low profile. They were Protestants yet their family name suggested they were Catholics and that adversely impacted on the parents and their sons. Percy Street was one of many homes they lived in because each time they settled in a Protestant neighbourhood, rumours surfaced that they were hiding Catholic origins. In particular, it was alleged William Murphy was connected to Murphy families in Sailor Town in the docks. Joyce had no such problem and came from a loyalist background. She was hard on the political issues and resented the Catholic slur. At Argyll Primary School, her sons had to live with jibes like ‘Murphy the Mick’, which was more often than not applied to her youngest boy, Hugh Leonard. The term ‘Mick’, intended to mean Catholic, was applied affectionately within the Irish Guards Regiment to indicate someone of Irish descent but in Belfast it was used in the same pejorative manner as ‘Taig’.

Hugh rarely called himself Hugh Murphy because he felt that was much too close to a Catholic-sounding name. He preferred to be called Lenny Murphy and that name stuck with him throughout his life. By the time he was 12, he was found guilty of burglary and larceny. He was attending a secondary school and continued to run extortion rackets by stealing other pupils’ meal tickets and selling them on at a reduced price. No one called him a ‘Taig’ because he had his own gang and could always call on the support of his brothers when faced with overwhelming odds. In 1968, he left school having made little effort to learn even though he was regarded as a pupil with above average intelligence. That assessment may have related more to his innate cunning and deviousness than any genuine intellectual ability. He was quickly back in trouble and received two years probation for theft. One of the determining features of his character was an intense hatred of Catholics, which he shared with his brothers. With John, he visited discos and bars in the Shankill area and showed all the tendencies of a teenager out of control.

In August 1969, Lenny and John Murphy, along with a person, to whom for legal reasons I shall subsequently refer as Mr A, were seen helping mobs burn Catholic homes in Percy Street and adjoining streets. Their role, though minor, had the effect of elevating their status as committed loyalists.

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