They had killed many Catholics together and they trusted each other implicitly," said our source. The band is remembered in the song "The Miami" by English folk singer-songwriter Jez Lowe on his album Jack Commons Anthem. Millionen hochwertiger Bilder, Videos und Musiktracks warten auf Sie. [34], Thomas Crozier recounted that on the night of the killings, he had driven to the grounds of a school in Lurgan where he had picked up two men. He was charged with the Miami Showband murders, the attempted murder of Stephen Travers, and the murder of Patrick Falls in 1974. Site of the massacre; a commemorative plaque shows where the band's minibus was parked in the lay-by. 14 December 2011. [4][22][74] In his book The Dirty War, Martin Dillon adamantly dismissed the allegation that Nairac had been present. [18] A typical Irish showband was based on the popular six- or seven-member dance band. [43], Ballistic evidence indicates that the 10-member gang took at least six guns with them on the attack. Director Stuart Sender Writers Jeff Zimbalist Michael Zimbalist Stars Stephen Travers Bertie Ahern 2023 Getty Images. Bei kommerzieller Verwendung sowie fr verkaufsfrdernde Zwecke kontaktieren Sie bitte Ihr. Date: 12th November 1941 Means: Assassinated. [83] Journalists Kevin Dowling and Liam Collins in the Irish Independent however, suggested in their respective articles that Jackson had been the leader of the unit. [22] He presently resides near Craigavon. "Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, Sub-Committee on the Barron Report", "The Miami Showband Massacre, 1975: A Survivor's Search for the Truth", "Miami Showband Massacre: Involvement of UVF Man Robin Jackson". Despite his conversion to Christianity, Somerville remained virulently anti-Catholic and he strongly opposed the Good Friday Agreement. [5] This move made loyalists apprehensive and suspicious that a secret accord was being conducted between the British government and the IRA, and that Northern Ireland's Protestants would be "sold out". He was unimpressed by the UVF men he met in the loyalist stronghold. They had seven number one records on the Irish singles chart . The gunman turned him round, punched him hard in the back and pushed him on the shoulder back into the line-up. [94][95], A mural and memorial plaque to Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville is in the Killycomain Estate in Portadown, where Boyle had lived. Three band members were shot dead by loyalist gunmen. [93], A monument dedicated to the dead Miami Showband members was unveiled at a ceremony at Parnell Square North, Dublin, on 10 December 2007. The murder of singer Fran O'Toole . But our investigations this week revealed that shortly before he died, Jackson sent for self-confessed loyalist gunrunner Willie Frazer, also now deceased. [4][21], The jocular mood of the gunmen abruptly ceased. As Maguire continued ahead, up the by-pass toward Newry, he noticed a blue Triumph 2000 pulling-out from where it had been parked in a lay-by. [53] In a letter to the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Bombing of Kay's Tavern dated 22 February 2004, the Northern Ireland Office stated that: "The PSNI have confirmed that a 9mm Luger pistol was ballistically traced both to the murder of John Francis Green and to the Miami Showband murders. [18][27] The unsuspecting band members got out and were politely told to line up facing the ditch at the rear of the minibus with their hands on their heads. Assuming it was a legitimate checkpoint, McCoy informed the others inside the minibus of a military checkpoint up ahead and pulled in at the lay-by as directed by the armed men. [97] Irish Times diarist, Frank McNally, summed up the massacre as "an incident that encapsulated all the madness of the time". [65] Earlier that night, three RUC officers in an unmarked car had been stopped at a checkpoint but allowed through. Aged 70, he died of cancer of the kidney. [80] The same panel revealed that about six weeks before the attack, Thomas Crozier, Jackson and the latter's brother-in-law Samuel Fulton Neill, were arrested for the possession of four shotguns. Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville were given UVF paramilitary funerals conducted by Free Presbyterian minister William McCrea, a Democratic Unionist Party politician. When they agreed he placed it on the ground, opened its case and then went back into line; however this time he stood first in the line-up closest to the minibus when previously he had been third. [36], Des McAlea and Stephen Travers heard two of the gunmen rummaging in the back of the minibus, where they both kept their respective instruments. The scene of the Miami Showband killings in County Down, Northern Ireland, on 31 July 1975. While the Miami is synonymous, for many, with the atrocity, the musical tells the whole story of the band, Lynch says, from when it re-formed in 1967, and Fran O'Toole and Des Lee first joined . But he quit when the Troubles erupted on the streets of Belfast and Derry in the autumn of 1969. The mother of the late singer-rapper Aaron Carter released photos of the scene of his death Wednesday, calling for a "real . The Miami Showband massacre in 1975, had a devastating effect on the showband and live music scene. And six years later - seconds before he was handed four life sentences - his voice boomed across the courtroom: "I'm being sent to prison because I wouldn't become an informer like the rest of them," he yelled at the trial judge. "IRA 'responsible' for killings blamed on loyalists", "Decision as to the admissibility of Application no. His leadership was endorsed by the UVF's leader Gusty Spence. Some wounds are a deep red, with blood vessels clearly visible; others expose underlying tissue. The Luger was destroyed by the RUC on 28 August 1978. John Somerville was born in 1940 into a respectable small farming family from outside Moygashel, Co Tyrone. . [9] According to authors Paul Larkin and Martin Dillon, Jackson was accompanied by Harris Boyle when he killed Hanna. He also provides other alibis for Nairac precluding his presence at the scenes of both the John Francis Green killing and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. [28][45] The RUC's investigative unit, the Assassination or "A" Squad of detectives, was set up to investigate the crime and to discover the identities of the UVF gunmen who perpetrated the killings. The plaque describes them as having been "killed in action". [23], According to the Irish Times, at the height of Irish showbands' popularity (from the 1950s to the 1970s), up to as many as 700 bands travelled to venues all over Ireland on a nightly basis.[24]. In late 1974, the Miami Showband's song "Clap Your Hands and Stomp Your Feet" (featuring O'Toole on lead vocals) reached no. Five people were killed, including three members of The Miami Showband, who were then one of Ireland's most popular cabaret bands. The conflict in Northern Ireland, known as "the Troubles", began in the late 1960s. "Des Lee"), 24, Catholic, from Belfast; bassist Stephen Travers, 24, Catholic, from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary; and drummer Ray Millar, Protestant, from Antrim. [34][81][82] The panel stated that it was unclear why Crozier, Jackson and Neill were not in police custody at the time the Miami Showband killings took place. The dead bombers were named by the UVF, in a statement issued within 12 hours of the attack. Former serving Secret Intelligence Service agent Captain Fred Holroyd, and others, suggested that Nairac had organised the attack in co-operation with Robin Jackson and the Mid-Ulster UVF. I was told by a source close to "Mr. A" and another loyalist hitman that Nairac was not present at either murder [Miami Showband and John Francis Green]. Both men had pleaded for their lives before they were shot; one had cried out, "Please don't shoot me don't kill me". Can you step out of the van for a few minutes and we'll just do a check". [30][32], McCoy, son of the Orange Order's Grand Master for County Tyrone,[33] had close relatives in the security forces; his brother-in-law was a former member of the B Specials which had been disbanded in 1970. But two other UVF men, Thomas Crozier and James McDowell - both soldiers in the UDR - were jailed for life. Following the explosion pandemonium broke out among the remaining gunmen; shouting obscenities, they started shooting the dazed band members, who had all been blown down into the field below the level of the road from the force of the blast. [59] Two days later, Portadown disc jockey Norman "Mooch" Kerr, aged 28,[60] was shot dead by the IRA as he packed up his equipment after a show at the Camrick Bar in Armagh. [4][18][28][29] As Crozier took down the information, a car pulled up and another uniformed man appeared on the scene. He was one of the men taken in by the RUC in August 1975 and questioned as a suspect in the killings, but was released without charge. Laat uw merk op authentieke wijze groeien door uw merkcontent te delen met de makers van het internet. "The cops showed John a bag containing a human arm with a Mid-Ulster UVF tattoo on it. But it went nowhere when a senior RUC officer advised the UVF leader to lie low for a while. [21] He was replaced by Johnny Brown, who in turn was replaced by Dave Monks until Stephen Travers eventually became the band's permanent bass player. Somerville said: "I'm not going to make excuses for my past. Notorious loyalist serial killer Robin Jackson. [76] Retired diplomat Alistair Kerr wrote a biography of Nairac entitled "Betrayal: the Murder of Robert Nairac" published in 2015, which offers documentary evidence that clears Nairac of having been at Buskhill overseeing the attack. ", And he insisted: "The Lord has forgiven me.". Over the following month, there were two similar attacks in the area. Brian McCoy was the first to die, having been hit in the back and neck by nine rounds from a 9mm Luger pistol in the initial volley of gunfire. Survivors and relatives of those murdered in the Miami Showband massacre are to receive nearly 1.5m (1.75m) in total damages to settle claims over . Free shipping for many products! Ray Millar, the band's drummer, was not with them as he had chosen to go to his home town of Antrim to spend the night with his parents. O'Toole and McCoy were both married; each had two children. [46][49] In 1993, Boyle was named by The Hidden Hand programme as one of the Dublin car bombers. Despite severe burns sustained in the Miami attack, a month later Jackson was soon back on a murder mission with his trusted fellow killer John Somerville. [96], In a report on Nairac's alleged involvement in the massacre, published in the Sunday Mirror newspaper on 16 May 1999, Colin Wills called the ambush "one of the worst atrocities in the 30-year history of the Troubles". Her brothers Seamus and Michael also died in the attack, which was later claimed by the Protestant Action Force, a cover name for the Mid-Ulster UVF. [48] Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville were UDR soldiers as well as holding the rank of major and lieutenant, respectively, in the UVF. [31] Travers described McCoy as a "sophisticated, father-type figure. He was released in 1998. [79], Another persistent allegation is the direct involvement of Mid-Ulster UVF leader Robin Jackson, a native of Donaghmore, County Down, 1.5 miles (2.4km) away from Buskhill. Aaron Carter's mom releases shocking pictures of his 'death scene' bathroom in desperate bid to get cops to probe his death as a crime despite coroner saying it was an accidental drugs overdose It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland. [17] Five Catholic civilians were shot; passenger Joseph Toland was killed outright and driver James Marks died of his wounds in January 1976. Griffin based her theory on the nine bullets that were fired from a Luger into McCoy's body and that Jackson's fingerprints were found on the silencer used for a Luger. [55] Although ballistic testing had linked the Luger (for which the silencer had been specifically made) to the Miami Showband attack, Jackson was never questioned about the killings after his fingerprints had been discovered on the silencer, and the Miami inquiry team were never informed about these developments. In photographs of the Miami Showband in the 1970s he is a slim and beautiful young man in blue denim , bright-eyed and brimming with fun and music and confidence in himself and in the future.. There are also allegations that British military intelligence agents were involved. The UVF maintains regular border patrols due to the continued activity of the Provisional IRA. December 29, 2022 by Corinne Sullivan. [35], Out of sight of the band members, two of the gunmen placed a ten-pound (4.5kg) time bomb that was inside a briefcase under the driver's seat of the minibus. He believed it was based on the erroneous linkage of Nairac to the earlier murder of IRA man John Francis Green in County Monaghan the same pistol was used in both attacks. 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Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actions, "Sunningdale pushed hardliners into fatal outrages in 1974", "Events: Dublin and Monaghan Bombs Chronology of Events", "Collusion in the South Armagh / Mid Ulster Area in the mid-1970s", "All About the Miami Showband (19611996)", "The Miami Band Lined Up Against the Van. [25] As McCoy rolled down the window and produced his driving licence, gunmen came up to the minibus and one of them said in a Northern Irish accent, "Goodnight, fellas. One of these men, Lance-Corporal Thomas Raymond Crozier (aged 25, a painting contractor from Lurgan) of C Company, 11th Battalion UDR was charged with the Miami killings. Verzamel, beheer en geef commentaar bij uw bestanden. He refused to name his accomplices, as he felt that to do so would put the lives of his family in danger. [4], The killings shocked both Northern Ireland and Ireland and put a serious strain on Anglo-Irish relations. [53] The judge, by sentencing McDowell and Crozier to 35 years imprisonment each, had handed down the longest life sentences in the history of Northern Ireland; he commented that "killings like the Miami Showband must be stopped". Two of the gunmen were attempting to plant a time bomb on the vehicle, when it prematurely exploded and killed them. A child of Northern Ireland's Troubles recalls that fateful night when The Miami Showband was ambushed by the Ulster Volunteer Force on this day in 1975. [92], Travers also visited the home of Thomas Crozier, hoping to meet with him but the latter did not come to the door. I passed out when the explosion happened and that was when I lost the gun, the glasses, and a UDR beret. The band was travelling home to Dublin late at night after a performance in Banbridge. [66] RUC officer John Weir claims that UDR corporal and alleged UVF member Robert McConnell was involved in the attack. It was released under the heading Ulster Central Intelligence Agency Miami Showband Incident Report:[20][48][42]. [53] It was believed he had been betrayed to the RUC by a member of the gang. The Miami Showband killings (also called the Miami Showband Massacre) was an attack by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group, on 31 July 1975. [20], Bassist Stephen Travers was seriously wounded by a dum-dum bullet which had struck him when the gunmen had first begun shooting. The scene of the Miami Showband Killings on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland, 31st July 1975. "A hundred of your men haven't done what I've done," he told a UVF leader. Browse 25,406 crime scene photos stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. [20] He survived by pretending he was dead, as he lay beside the body of McCoy. [2], The UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade operated mainly around the Portadown and Lurgan areas. UVF killer Wesley Somerville who died in the attack. "[54] In May 1976, Robin Jackson's fingerprints were discovered on the metal barrel of a home-made silencer constructed for a Luger. [36] Dillon opined that another reason the UVF decided to target the Miami Showband was because Irish nationalists held them in high regard; to attack the band was to strike the nationalists indirectly. Jackson had assumed command of the Mid-Ulster UVF just a few days before the Miami Showband attack, after allegedly shooting Hanna dead outside his home in Lurgan on 27 July 1975. Using self-loading rifles and sub-machine guns, the patrol shot back, killing three of their attackers and wounding another. It was . [37][38] This might have resulted in the Irish authorities enforcing tighter controls over the border, thus restricting IRA operations. It comprised elements of the British security forces who, together with the UVF, carried out sectarian killings in the Mid-Ulster/County Armagh area. According to former Intelligence Corps agent Captain Fred Holroyd, the killings were organised by British intelligence officer Robert Nairac, together with the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade and its commander Robin "the Jackal" Jackson. Among the large crowd he spotted Billy McCaughey, a former police sergeant and convicted killer who had named his UVF accomplices to investigating detectives. [30][39], When the device was tilted on its side,[30] clumsy soldering on the clock used as a timer caused the bomb to explode prematurely, blowing the minibus apart and killing UVF men Harris Boyle (aged 22, a telephone wireman from Portadown) and Wesley Somerville (aged 34, a textile worker from Moygashel) instantly. It was his brother Wesley's arm," said the source. Driven by a personal tragedy, a pianist-turned-lawyer navigates the complex world of divorce fighting for his clients to win by any means necessary. [22], At least four of the gunmen were soldiers from the UDR. Pinnwnde sind ideal zum Speichern von Bildern und Videoclips. [69], A third person, former UDR soldier John James Somerville (aged 37, a lorry-helper and the brother of Wesley), was arrested following an RUC raid in Dungannon on 26 September 1980. By 1975, they had gained a large following, playing to crowds of people in dance halls and ballrooms across the island. He served in C Company, 11th Battalion UDR. They were: lead vocalist and keyboard player Fran O'Toole, 28, Catholic; guitarist Anthony (Tony) Geraghty, 24, Catholic, from Dublin; trumpeter Brian McCoy, 32, Protestant, from Caledon, County Tyrone; saxophonist Des McAlea (a.k.a. In his flat - which few people visited - Somerville kept a large photograph of Robin Jackson on the wall of his living room. They were both present when the Miami Showband bomb exploded, but the shootings which followed seconds later - including the slaughter of Fran O'Toole - were mainly the work of John Somerville. [44], McDowell's statement of admission was published in David McKittrick's book Lost Lives:[44]. She furthermore opined that Jackson was the man Travers saw kicking McCoy's body to make sure he was dead. But as the death toll mounted, so did Somerville's drinking. [4] The band had no overt interest in politics nor in the religious beliefs of the people who made up their audience. Five people were killed, including three members of The Miami Showband, who were one of Ireland's most popular cabaret bands. The scene of The Miami Showband Massacre A UVF patrol led by Major Boyle was suspicious of two vehicles, a minibus and a car parked near the border.
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