miami showband crime scene photos

[19] The Irish Times reported that on the night following the attack, the British ambassador Sir Arthur Galsworthy was summoned to hear the Government of Ireland's strong feelings regarding the murder of the three band members. Irish Times diarist Frank McNally summed up the massacre as "an incident that encapsulated all the madness of the time". [8] The brigade was described by author Don Mullan as one of the most ruthless units operating in the 1970s. On July 30, 1972, the final details. They had killed many Catholics together and they trusted each other implicitly," said our source. [20], Bassist Stephen Travers was seriously wounded by a dum-dum bullet which had struck him when the gunmen had first begun shooting. During that strike on 17 May, the UVF carried out the Dublin and Monaghan car bombings, which killed 33 civilians. Five people were killed, including three members of The Miami Showband, who were one of Ireland's most popular cabaret bands. Travers was not able to positively identify Nairac, from his photograph, as having been the man at Buskhill. These were held on 1 May 1975 and the United Ulster Unionist Council (UUUC), which had won 11 out of 12 Northern Irish seats in the February 1974 general election, won a majority again. [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. 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. When McCoy refused, Jackson then hatched his plan to murder McCoy and his bandmates in retaliation for what he viewed as having betrayed the loyalist cause, even macabrely choosing Buskhill as the ambush site due to its similarity to Bus-kill. Gaelic footballer brothers John Martin Reavey (24) and Brian (22) died at the scene, while 17-year-old Anthony died three weeks later. 5 languages The Miami Showband killings (also called the Miami Showband massacre) [1] was an attack on 31 July 1975 by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group. The attack was carried out by loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and took place while the group, a popular cabaret band, were travelling home to Dublin after a performance. [22] Saxophone player Des McAlea, who had been standing closest to the minibus, was hit by its door when it was blown off in the explosion, but was not badly wounded. He also survived by remaining silent, pretending he was dead. It was my own personal feelings and convictions at the time these things happened. [68] During the trial, Des McAlea had received death threats which made him fear for the safety of his family; this caused him to eventually leave Northern Ireland. "They also hoped he would one day take over the leadership of the organisation in mid-Ulster when Robin 'The Jackal' Jackson either stood down or was executed.". "Des Lee"), 24, Catholic, from Belfast; bassist Stephen Travers, 24, Catholic, from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary; and drummer Ray Millar, Protestant, from Antrim. [58] He was later shot dead in Portadown on 25 January 1976, allegedly by Jackson for having informed the RUC about Thomas Crozier's participation in the attack. [18] More uniformed men appeared from out of the darkness, their guns pointed at the minibus. [44] The independent panel of inquiry commissioned by the Pat Finucane Centre concluded that there was "credible evidence that the principal perpetrator [of the Miami Showband attack] was a man who was not prosecuted alleged RUC Special Branch agent Robin Jackson". Journalist Emily O'Reilly noted in the Sunday Tribune that none of the three men convicted of the massacre ever implicated Nairac in the attack or accused him of causing Boyle's death. A musician who survived the Miami showband massacre has, 40 years on, made an appeal to trace a young couple who helped him at the time. When three young musicians lost their lives on 31 July 1975, the heart was torn out of Ireland's showband community. Site of the massacre; a commemorative plaque shows where the band's minibus was parked in the lay-by. Lightly built and standing less than 5ft 7in, he wasn't a stereotypical loyalist killer. 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. He was unimpressed by the UVF men he met in the loyalist stronghold. [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. And nearer home, they carried out five operations in one day in the Moy and Stewartstown. [4] Despite the heavy gunfire, Tony Geraghty and Fran O'Toole attempted to carry a severely injured Stephen Travers to safety, but were unable to move him far. The UVF man, who identified himself only as "the Craftsman", apologised to Travers for the attack, and explained that the UVF gunmen shot the band because they "had panicked" that night. [27], After McCoy told them they were the Miami Showband, Thomas Crozier (who had a notebook) asked the band members for their names and addresses, while the others bantered with them about the success of their performance that night and playfully asking which one was Dickie Rock. "Robin Jackson and John Somerville had been very close friends since joining the Mid-Ulster UVF. Both men had pleaded for their lives before they were shot; one had cried out, "Please don't shoot me don't kill me". [51] An independent panel of inquiry commissioned by the Pat Finucane Centre has established that among the weapons actually used in the killings were two Sterling submachine guns and a 9mm Luger pistol serial no. According to RT, "Their families were in deep mourning and Ireland mourned with them". [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. Crime Scene Photos The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office released graphics images this week, taken in the aftermath of 27-year-old Christian Obumseli's death. Griffin suggests that McCoy, who originally came from Caledon, County Tyrone, and had strong UDR and Orange Order family connections, was possibly approached at some stage by Jackson with a view of securing his help in carrying out UVF attacks in the Irish Republic. A". He subsequently stated they refused to accept his description of the different-coloured beret worn by the soldier with the English accent. Note: Initially it was believed that the bomb had been placed in the rear of the minibus and that the closure of the door had triggered the blast. [4][22] McAlea made his way up the embankment to the main road where he hitched a lift to alert the RUC at their barracks in Newry. "Kevin Myers: The Miami Showband massacre was one of the most depraved massacres of the Troubles". Director Stuart Sender Writers Jeff Zimbalist Michael Zimbalist Stars Stephen Travers Bertie Ahern [4] The band had no overt interest in politics nor in the religious beliefs of the people who made up their audience. Five members of the Dublin-based band were travelling home after a performance at the Castle Ballroom in Banbridge, County Down, on Thursday 31 July 1975. Then They Were Coldly Murdered", "An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland: 1975", "Sub-Committee on the Barron Report 26September 2006 Public Hearings on the Barron Report". In 2005, Somerville attended a ceremony in Portadown honouring his dead brother Wesley. "ReMastered: The Miami Showband . When asked to comment about the report, Des McAlea replied: "It's been a long time but we've got justice at last". But along with his friend Jackson, he helped build the UVF in mid-Ulster. Despite his conversion to Christianity, Somerville remained virulently anti-Catholic and he strongly opposed the Good Friday Agreement. [37] They had hoped to embarrass the Government of Ireland, as well as to draw attention to its level of control of the border. [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. U 4. There was very little planning. Twenty minutes before - in what was clearly a co-ordinated operation - another loyalist killer gang made up of police officers and UDR soldiers launched a murder attack on the Reavey family home in Whitecross. But it went nowhere when a senior RUC officer advised the UVF leader to lie low for a while. "After the explosion, the red mist came down and I went mad with a machine-gun," he once told a fellow loyalist prisoner. It had been travelling from Banbridge to Bleary with nine people on board; all were Catholics and most had been returning from a regular bingo session. 1.6K. [37][38] This might have resulted in the Irish authorities enforcing tighter controls over the border, thus restricting IRA operations. As they began to enter the vehicle, a bomb was detonated and both men were killed outright. It had been blown off his torso when the bomb prematurely exploded as a result of static electricity. [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. The scene of the Miami Showband killings in County Down, Northern Ireland, on 31 July 1975. Travers later recalled hearing one of the departing gunmen tell his comrade who had kicked McCoy's body to make sure he was not alive: "Come on, those bastards are dead. [46][49] In 1993, Boyle was named by The Hidden Hand programme as one of the Dublin car bombers. [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]. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland. [21][84], Former British soldier and writer Ken Wharton published in his book Wasted Years, Wasted Lives, Volume 1, an alternative theory that was suggested to him by loyalist paramilitarism researcher Jeanne Griffin; this was that the ambush was planned by Robin Jackson as an elaborate means of eliminating trumpet player Brian McCoy. Just after the arrival of this mysterious soldier, McCoy nudged Travers, who was standing beside him, and reassured him by saying "Don't worry Stephen, this is British Army". 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. The HET said the killings raised "disturbing questions about collusive and corrupt behaviour". [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. It is fronted by McAlea, who returned to Northern Ireland the same year after living in South Africa since about 1982. In late 1974, the Miami Showband's song "Clap Your Hands and Stomp Your Feet" (featuring O'Toole on lead vocals) reached no. 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. [50], The stolen Ford Escort belonged to a man from Portadown, who according to Captain Fred Holroyd, had links with one of the UVF bombers and David Alexander Mulholland the driver of the bomb car which had been left to explode in Parnell Street, Dublin, on 17 May 1974. [35] Regarding the soldier with the English accent, Dillon wrote:[75]. 1,453 Vintage Crime Scene Photos Premium High Res Photos Browse 1,453 vintage crime scene photos stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. [5] At Christmas 1974 the IRA declared a ceasefire, which theoretically lasted throughout most of 1975. The six-strong group were one of the biggest acts on the Irish music scene throughout the 1960s and 1970s. With Dublin-born singer [Jimmy Harte] as frontman followed by Dickie Rock as frontman, the Miami Showband underwent many personnel changes over the years. And after stopping GAA fans 22-year-old Colm McCartney and 32-year-old John Farmer, they shot them dead. The Historical Enquiries Team (HET), which was set up to investigate the more controversial Troubles-related deaths, released its report on the Miami Showband killings to the victims' families in December 2011. Optimieren Sie Ihren Workflow mit unserem erstklassigen Digitalen Asset Management System. 34575/04 by Sean McCartney against the United Kingdom: The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section)", "John Weir's Affadavit, Statement by John Weir 03.01.99", "On this day 15October: 1976: UDR men jailed for Showband killings", "Miami Showband massacre survivor shakes with anguish as he remembers his slain friends 40 years on", "Evidence clears Robert Nairac of murders he has been linked to: author", "MoD documents link Robert Nairac to Miami Showband massacre", "Statement of Miami Showband families and survivors in response to the findings of the Historical Enquiries Team into the murders of Anthony Geraghty, Brian McCoy and Francis O'Toole", "Day of 'The Jackal' has finally drawn to a close", "Robert Nairac in command at massacre says Miami guitarist", "Miami Showband Killer Dies at 70; UVF murderer Somerville found dead of cancer in his squalid flat", "Memorial to victims of Miami massacre to be unveiled in Dublin", "Miami Showband killings: Police tipoff helped suspect elude justice, says report", "Miami Showband massacre: HET raises collusion concerns", "Netflix fails to make sense of the Miami Showband Massacre", 'Remastered: The Miami Showband Massacre' On Netflix Unmasks a Conspiracy and False Flag Attack, Houses of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, "Interim Report on the Report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings [The Barron Report]", "Interim Report on the Report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Bombing of Kay's Tavern, Dundalk", Interim reports (more detail than final reports) of Irish parliamentary inquiries, Ceasefires of the Provisional IRA, UVF, UDA and RHC, Murders of Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine, Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Miami_Showband_killings&oldid=1142010371, Improvised explosive device bombings in Northern Ireland, People killed by security forces during The Troubles (Northern Ireland), Articles with dead external links from April 2012, Articles with dead external links from May 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from July 2020, Articles with dead external links from February 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 01:35.