http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09wfrk0
This is how Maguire describes his current job in Belfast working for Sinn Fein/IRA again.
This is one of those who were sentenced to 79 years in prison for the murder of the two Army corporals 30 years ago. He was released many years ago under the corrupt Good Friday Agreement that was promoted by Tony Blair and Mo Mowlem.
Officer tells of
frantic bid to save corporals
RUC officers from west Belfast mobile support unit apprehending two men
later convicted of murdering corporals Derek Wood and David Howes.'The
dramatic scene was captured by a press photographer on the Andersonstown
Road minutes after the horrific murders on March 19, 1988.
RUC officers from west Belfast mobile support unit apprehending two men
later convicted of murdering corporals Derek Wood and David Howes.'The
dramatic scene was captured by a press photographer on the Andersonstown
Road minutes after the horrific murders on March 19, 1988.
MARK RAINEY
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Published: 18:32 Tuesday 19 March 2013
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TWENTY-FIVE years after RUC officers ignored orders in an attempt to
rescue two abducted Army corporals, a former constable has spoken for
the first time of his role in the incident.
The officer – then a member of the mobile support unit in west Belfast –
was on duty at Woodbourne RUC Station while the funeral of IRA man
Kevin Brady was taking place in nearby Andersonstown. Brady had been
shot and killed by Michael Stone at an IRA funeral in Milltown cemetery
three days earlier.
Speaking candidly to the News Letter, the ex-RUC constable revealed how
he listened in horror as radio transmissions reported the mourners’
abduction of two men from their car close to Casement Park GAA ground.
As the drama unfolded in a running commentary from an Army helicopter
over the scene, the Woodbourne-based officers immediately prepared to
crew their vehicles. Within minutes, it had become clear that the two,
as yet unknown, men were in mortal danger.
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However, the ex-officer claimed they were ordered not to leave the
station by senior commanders.
“When we tried to crew up we were told: ‘You’re going nowhere,’” he
said.
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Risking dismissal for disobeying direct orders, the rebellious officers
raced along the Andersonstown Road in two Land Rovers, along with a Land
Rover of military escort.
The former member of the specialist mobile support unit — known as The
Blues — said the “duty to protect life” came before their orders as
tensions reached boiling point at Woodbourne.
On the way to Casement Park, they encountered a black taxi making off
from the scene and arrested two men later convicted of the soldiers’
murders.
The ex-RUC constable (pictured above kneeling over one of those
arrested) said: “Coming down in the truck (Land Rover), I looked out the
side porthole and said ‘stop the truck, there’s [Alex] Murphy in the
back of a black taxi.’
“We pulled it over, and I mean literally banged it over to the side of
the road. The black taxi itself was the one that had the corporals in it
and was taken away by Murphy and [Harry] Maguire.”
Harry Maguire and Alex Murphy were jailed for life for the murder of the
two corporals. They were released under the terms of the Good Friday
Agreement in 1998.
The former officer, who does not wished to be named, said he felt angry,
even now, as he recalled how the dramatic police response began with
the overheard radio transmissions.
“We had been listening on the radio [at Woodbourne] and could hear them
saying ‘they’ve taken them out of the car, and now they’re stripping
them, and they’re now going into Casement Park’.
“The next thing we heard was that they’d been thrown over the wall and
it was at that point we turned round to our sergeant but he said: ‘Guys,
I can’t go anywhere yet.’”
As the constables from The Blues ignored orders and raced out to their
Land Rovers, they encountered a more senior officer on the stairs of the
station who ordered them back, according to the constable.
“He said to us: ‘You’re going nowhere.’ Those were his exact words.”
The initially hesitant sergeant was to follow his men out of the station
when he realised they weren’t for turning back.
Commenting on the encounter with the black taxi, the constable said: “It
was ourselves who got them at the time otherwise they were gone. We
then drove that taxi back to Springfield Parade for SOCO (Scene of Crime
Officer).”
The former officer, who gave evidence at the trial of Murphy and
Maguire, said he faced no penalty for his disobedience but felt the
truth of what he called “police indecision” on the day of the murders
was suppressed.
“There are things about what happened that absolutely haunt me to this
day. But at the time we (The Blues) got all the images from the
heli-teli and literally hunted them down. We ended up identifying about
30 of those involved in the murders over the period of about a month.
That gave us some satisfaction at least,” he said.
“We are still angry about what happened. There’s so much guilt on our
minds too. If we had gone when we wanted to go at first ... we would
have been there in minutes. We probably wasted about eight or nine
minutes in all waiting on permission.”
Dramatic images of The Blues officers arresting Murphy and Maguire on
the Andersonstown Road were captured by a photographer from the Today
newspaper and appeared in the national press the following day.
Read more at: https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/officer-tells-of-frantic-bid-to-save-corporals-1-4912475
Read more at: https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/officer-tells-of-frantic-bid-to-save-corporals-1-4912475
2 comments:
"BEWARE OF THE MONSTER WITH MANY HEADS"
It even showed the soldiers being shot dead. Harrowing. The BBC were very soft on the IRA.
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