LAST week the family of Loughlin Maginn settled a case against the British Ministry of Defence and the PSNI over his murder by the UDA in August 1989. While it had been widely accepted for the previous 20 years that collusion between the British Army, RUC and unionist paramilitaries was an integral part of Britain’s dirty war in Ireland it was the murder of Pat Finucane in February 1989 and then of Loughlin Maginn in August that year which focused significant attention on this practice and confirmed that collusion was a matter of administrative practice.
HUNDREDS of people attended the Time for Truth rally on Sunday to oppose the British Government’s Legacy Bill – commonly referred to as the Bill of Shame.
THIS Saturday will mark 50 years from the horrific events of the summer evening of July 9, 1972, when British soldiers shot and killed two adults and three children in the Springhill/Westrock area. Those killed included 38-year-Old Paddy Butler, who died after he was hit by the bullet that killed Father Noel Fitzpatrick,who was trying to help the wounded and dying. Martin Dudley (19) was shot in the back of the head by a second British Army sniper and seriously wounded as he got out of a car. 17-year-old John Dougal was shot dead and his friend Brian Pettigrew was seriously injured as they tried to assist Martin Dudley. 13-year-old Margaret Gargan was shot dead by another British Army sniper. And 15-year-old David McCaffrey was shot dead as he tried to pull Fr Fitzpatrick and Paddy Butler out of the line of fire. As in the case of the Ballymurphy Massacre case and that of Bloody Sunday just six months earlier, the British lied about the circumstances surrounding the Springhill/Westro