Robert McConnell (loyalist)
Encyclopedia
Robert William McConnell (c.1944 – 5 April 1976), was a Northern Irish loyalist
who allegedly carried out or was an accomplice to a number of sectarian attacks and killings, although he never faced any charges or convictions. McConnell served as a corporal in the 2nd Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment
(UDR), and was a suspected member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
In 1993, Yorkshire Television
broadcast a programme The Hidden Hand: the Forgotten Massacre, and the narrator named McConnell as a member of one of the two UVF bomb teams that perpetrated three car bomb attacks
in Dublin on 17 May 1974, which killed 26 people. The programme also linked him to British Military Intelligence and Captain Robert Nairac
, stating that McConnell and key figures from the bombing unit were controlled before and after the bombings by Nairac. RUC Special Patrol Group
(SPG) officer John Weir
alleged that McConnell had been part of the UVF unit that shot leading Provisional IRA
man John Francis Green
to death in January 1975. Weir also alleged that McConnell had been one of the gunmen in the Reavey family shootings
, as well as having had a key role in the bomb and gun attack against Donnelly's Bar the previous month. These were part of a series of sectarian attacks and killings that were carried out by the group of loyalist extremists known as the "Glenanne gang
", of which McConnell was a member. This gang comprised rogue elements of the RUC
, SPG, regular army
, UDR
, and the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade
, which from 1975 to the early 1990s was commanded by Robin "the Jackal" Jackson
. Jackson was also implicated by the Hidden Hand in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and he was reportedly involved in the Green assassination.
McConnell was shot to death outside his home by the IRA. FAIR
, the organisation set up to represent Protestant and unionist
victims of republican
violence, have named McConnell as one of its victims. McConnell's nephew Brian McConnell is an active member of FAIR. Weir maintained in his affidavit that was published in the Barron Report (which was the findings of the official investigation into the 1974 car bombings commissioned by Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron
), that McConnell had been set up by British Military Intelligence. According to Weir, whose information came from a republican informer, now deceased, Military Intelligence passed on vital information about McConnell to the IRA, who then ordered his killing.
McConnell was born in Northern Ireland in about 1944 and grew up in a Church of Ireland
family. He later served as a part-time member of the 2nd Battalion UDR
, holding the rank of corporal. This battalion, due to its location and patrol territory in the hazardous South Armagh
area known as "bandit country", suffered the highest casualty rate of the entire regiment. He was also a member of the Orange Order's Cladybeg Faith Defenders LOL (Loyal orange lodge) 305b, Newtownhamilton
District, and a Sir Knight in the Guiding Star Royal Black Preceptory No.1133; he held the office of Preceptory Lecturer at the time of his death. The Orange Order and Royal Black Preceptory are both Protestant fraternal societies. McConnell attended St. John's Church of Ireland in Newtownhamilton, where he was also a church worker.
At some time prior to 1974, he allegedly joined the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade
which was led by Billy Hanna
until the latter's fatal shooting on 27 July 1975, when the suspected gunman, Robin Jackson
, assumed command. This unit was part of the Glenanne gang
, the group of loyalist
extremists and rogue members of the security forces who operated from a farm in Glenanne, County Armagh
which was owned by RUC reserve officer James Mitchell
. The farm was used as a UVF
arms dump and bomb-making site. The gang carried out their sectarian attacks against the Catholic nationalist
and republican
community primarily in the County Armagh and Mid-Ulster area, but also ventured south on several occasions when they hit targets in the Republic. The 1993 Yorkshire Television programme The Hidden Hand: the Forgotten Massacre named McConnell along with UVF brigadier Billy Hanna, Harris Boyle
, and "the Jackal"
as having planned and carried out the 1974 Dublin car bombings. Three cars containing explosives detonated minutes apart from one another during Friday evening rush hour
in the city centre that left 26 people dead and close to 300 wounded. No warnings had been given before the bombs went off; they had been so well constructed that one hundred per cent of each bomb exploded upon detonation. The narrator added that McConnell was controlled before and after the bombings by Military Intelligence Liaison officer Robert Nairac
of 14th Intelligence Company. John Weir
confirmed that he worked with the Special Air Service
and the "intelligence boys". A former friend of McConnell's claimed that British soldiers "used to call at Robert's house for him after he had finished his normal duties and he often crossed the border with them". Former British soldier and psychological warfare
operative Major Colin Wallace
said he was told in 1974 that McConnell, along with Robin Jackson, was an RUC Special Branch
agent. This allegation was confirmed in a letter written by Wallace to a colleague dated 14 August 1975.
in November 1974, resulting in the fatal injury of Thomas McNamee. Weir also alleged that he was one of the accomplices in the killing of high-ranking IRA member John Francis Green outside Castleblaney in the Irish Republic on 10 January 1975. Green was shot six times in the head at close range by a group of gunmen who had burst through the front door of the "safe" house where he was staying; the UVF later claimed responsibility for the attack in the June 1975 edition of their journal Combat. Weir claimed that Robert Nairac also took part in Green's shooting with the following statement:
supporters at a bogus vehicle checkpoint set up in the Cortamlet Road at the townland
of Altnamachin, near Tullyvallen close to the Irish Republic border. At about 11.30pm, Colm McCartney (aged 22) and Sean Farmer (aged 32), both from Derry
, were returning home from the Derry versus Dublin All-Ireland semi-final football match
at Croke Park
in Dublin when the patrol stopped the car they were travelling in. Upon their discovery that the two men inside were Catholics, the UVF gunmen ordered them out of the car and a short distance away turned their guns on Farmer, killing him instantly. McCartney attempted to escape on foot, but his pursuers caught up with him and he was also fatally gunned down. McCartney and Farmer had been shot four times and six times respectively. McConnell was wearing his British Army uniform at the time the attack occurred. A local resident who had been in the vicinity walking his dog saw the stopped vehicle; he then heard the sounds of gunfire, someone running along the road, a male voice shouting "stop, stop", which was then followed by "wild screaming" and another series of gunshots. He also saw another car drive away from the scene afterwards. Less than an hour before the shootings, a three-man RUC patrol in an unmarked car had been stopped by the same UVF unit after one one soldier had waved a red torch in a circular motion indicating that it was a military vehicle checkpoint. Another soldier was lying in a ditch with a rifle. The RUC immediately suspected that it was a bogus checkpoint despite the men having worn full military combat uniforms. After the RUC men were passed through the checkpoint, they requested by radio, clarification as to whether there were any authorised regular Army or UDR checkpoints in the area that night, and received the confirmation that there were none. Although the RUC patrol reported the unauthorised checkpoint to the Army and requested their help in investigating the incident, no action had been taken. The killings were claimed by the Protestant Action Force, one of the cover names used by the Glenanne gang. The fake vehicle checkpoint manned UVF men in full British Army uniform was the same modus operandi which the UVF had employed when they waylaid the Miami Showband
— a popular Irish cabaret band — the previous month at Buskhill, County Down
, however McConnell was not implicated in that incident.
On 19 December 1975, a car pulled up outside Donnelly's Bar
in Silverbridge, County Armagh. Members of the Glenanne gang got out and launched a bomb and machine-gun attack against the pub's patrons, hitting those inside as well as outside the premises. A total of three people were killed, including the proprietor's 14 year-old son, Michael, who was struck in the head by flying shrapnel after one of the gang tossed a bomb inside the pub's interior shouting: "Happy Christmas, you Fenian
bastards". Six other people were seriosly injured including a woman who was shot in the head. Weir named McConnell as having carried out the attack together with RUC SPG Officer Laurence McClure, and several other men. The Pat Finucane Centre
commissioned an international panel of inquiry to investigate allegations of collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces regarding a series of sectarian attacks against the Catholic nationalist and republican community. This panel, headed by Professor Douglass Cassel of Northwestern University School of Law
, stated in its report that James Mitchell's housekeeper, Sarah Elizabeth "Lily" Shields, who had provided the gang's getaway car, named McConnell as having been one of the perpetrators. McClure, the driver of the getaway car — a blue Lada — confirmed this. He and Shields had played the part of a "courting couple" inside the car as the attack was being carried out by the other gang members. McClure and Shields were later charged with withholding information in relation to the pub killings. Following the attack, McConnell and some of the others then regrouped at the Glenanne farm. James Mitchell later stated that McConnell had been a visitor to his farmhouse that same evening before and after the Silverbridge incident. McClure claimed that he encountered McConnell several days afterwards, and McConnell had allegedly said to McClure: "That was a good job the other night", which McClure had understood to have been an allusion to Silverbridge. The gang claimed the attack using another of their cover names, the Red Hand Commandos
. According to Weir's affidavit, the pub was specifically chosen in retaliation for the killing of an RUC reserve constable who it was believed had been detained at Donnelly's Bar subsequent to his kidnapping by the IRA.
, County Armagh. The gunmen entered the Reavey home by the key which had been accidentally left in the door and opened fire on three brothers who watching television at the time, killing John and Brian outright, and wounding another, Anthony. The other members of the large family had previously gone out leaving the three brothers on their own. The getaway car on this occasion had been driven by James Mitchell with Lily Shields having accompanied him. Twenty minutes later at Ballydougan
, another group led by Robin Jackson broke into the O'Dowd home killing three family members. Before succumbing to a brain hemorrhage shortly afterwards on 30 January, 17-year-old Anthony Reavey had given a description of the leading gunman which was said to have fit that of McConnell.As McConnell and the other gunmen were wearing balaclava hoods throughout the attack, this must be taken into consideration regarding the reliability of Anthony Reavey's description The man Anthony Reavey had described was 5"11, aged about 25 or 26,McConnell was about 31 or 32 years old at the time of the Reavey attack on 4 January 1976 wearing a black woollen balaclava
hood, green anorak, and dark trousers; he was carrying a submachine gun. Ballistics tests show that the Sterling submachine gun
used in the Reavey shootings was the same as that used in the Donnelly's Bar attack at Silverbridge.
The Reavey and O'Dowd killings provoked the South Armagh Republican Action Force
to retaliate the following evening by shooting ten Protestant workmen to death
after ambushing their minibus outside Kingsmill
. The Glenanne gang had decided to avenge this attack by killing at least 30 schoolchildren and their teacher at St Lawrence O'Toole Primary School in Belleeks. It was suggested that the gang member who proposed the idea was a UDR officer with ties to British Military Intelligence who was later shot dead by the IRA. McConnell's name, however, was not mentioned in this context. The plan was aborted at the last minute by the UVF's Brigade Staff (Belfast leadership), who deemed it "morally unacceptable" and feared such an attack against small children would lead to a civil war.
McConnell was later accused by Weir of planting a car bomb that blew up outside the Three Star Inn, a pub in Castleblaney's main street, which killed one man, Patrick Mone on 7 March 1976. The explosives used had been stored at the Glenanne farm.
, a cover name for the Provisional IRA.
According to author and journalist Joe Tiernan, the hitman in McConnell's killing was Peter Cleary
, a Staff Officer in the 1st Battalion of the IRA's South Armagh Brigade
. The three-man IRA unit hid in the bushes and when McConnell appeared, Cleary shot him twice in the head. Cleary himself was killed by the SAS 10 days later. McConnell was 32 years old and off-duty at the time of his death. His funeral was attended by NIO
representatives of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
, Merlyn Rees, the UDR's Commander Mervyn McCord and Colonel Commandant John Anderson
. At the service, McConnell was summed up as a man who worked "ceaselessly for peace".
Statements made by Weir in his affidavit allege that McConnell had been set up by British Military Intelligence. Packy Reel, a (now deceased) Republican informer from Dorsey, County Armagh told Weir that Captain Nairac had apprised him of McConnell's involvement in the Donnelly Bar attack. McConnell had been subsequently executed by the IRA after they received confidential information about him from Intelligence who, through Captain Nairac, had attempted to infiltrate the IRA. Tiernan suggested that after Robin Jackson, McConnell was one of the Glenanne gang's leading assassins in 1975 and early 1976, having been directly responsible for many sectarian attacks in South Armagh as well as counties Monaghan and Louth.
McConnell's nephew Brian, who joined FAIR (Families Acting for Innocent Relatives), a Markethill
-based group set up to represent the Protestant and Unionist victims of republican violence, admitted that his uncle "liaised" between the UVF and British special forces. FAIR has attracted much acrimonious criticism due to its listing Robert McConnell as an "innocent" victim of republican violence in light of the multiple sectarian killings he allegedly carried out. However, according to journalist Susan McKay of the Irish Times, "Robert may have murdered the Reaveys, but to his family he was the man who looked after his sick brother and disabled sister".
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
who allegedly carried out or was an accomplice to a number of sectarian attacks and killings, although he never faced any charges or convictions. McConnell served as a corporal in the 2nd Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment
2nd Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment
2nd Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment was amalgamated in 1991 with the 11th Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment to form the 2nd/11th Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment....
(UDR), and was a suspected member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
In 1993, Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
broadcast a programme The Hidden Hand: the Forgotten Massacre, and the narrator named McConnell as a member of one of the two UVF bomb teams that perpetrated three car bomb attacks
Dublin and Monaghan Bombings
The Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974 were a series of car bombings in Dublin and Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. The attacks killed 33 civilians and wounded almost 300 – the highest number of casualties in any single day during the conflict known as The Troubles.A loyalist...
in Dublin on 17 May 1974, which killed 26 people. The programme also linked him to British Military Intelligence and Captain Robert Nairac
Robert Nairac
Captain Robert Laurence Nairac GC was a British Army officer who was abducted from a pub in south County Armagh during an undercover operation and killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on his fourth tour of duty in Northern Ireland as a Military Intelligence Liaison Officer...
, stating that McConnell and key figures from the bombing unit were controlled before and after the bombings by Nairac. RUC Special Patrol Group
Special Patrol Group (RUC)
The Special Patrol Group in the Royal Ulster Constabulary was a police unit tasked with counter terrorism. Each SPG had 30 members. Many of the SPG units were accused of collusion with the illegal paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force, particularly the actions of a unit based in Armagh.-A...
(SPG) officer John Weir
John Weir (loyalist)
John Oliver Weir , is an Ulster loyalist born in the Republic of Ireland. He served as an officer in Northern Ireland's Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group , and was a volunteer in the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force...
alleged that McConnell had been part of the UVF unit that shot leading Provisional IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
man John Francis Green
John Francis Green
John Francis Green , was a leading member of the North Armagh Brigade of the Provisional IRA, holding the rank of Staff Captain and Intelligence Officer. He was killed in a farmhouse outside Castleblayney, County Monaghan, by members of the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force...
to death in January 1975. Weir also alleged that McConnell had been one of the gunmen in the Reavey family shootings
Reavey and O'Dowd killings
The Reavey and O'Dowd killings took place on 4 January 1976 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Volunteers from the Ulster Volunteer Force , a loyalist paramilitary group, shot dead five Catholic civilians – two from the Reavey family and three from the O'Dowd family – in two co-ordinated attacks....
, as well as having had a key role in the bomb and gun attack against Donnelly's Bar the previous month. These were part of a series of sectarian attacks and killings that were carried out by the group of loyalist extremists known as the "Glenanne gang
Glenanne gang
The Glenanne gang was a name given, since 2003, to a loose alliance of Northern Irish loyalist extremists who carried out sectarian killings and bomb attacks in the 1970s against the Irish Catholic and Irish nationalist community. Most of its attacks took place in the area of County Armagh and mid...
", of which McConnell was a member. This gang comprised rogue elements of the RUC
RUC
RUC may refer to: or Coimbra University Radio, a Portuguese university station* Rapid Update Cycle, an atmospheric prediction system* Renmin University of China* Roskilde University or Roskilde Universitetscenter...
, SPG, regular army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, UDR
UDR
UDR may refer to:*Ulster Defence Regiment*União Democrática Ruralista , a Brazilian right-wing association of farmers*Union des Démocrates pour la République, French political party*Union for Democracy and the Republic , Chadian political party...
, and the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurgan and Portadown areas. Subsequent leaders of the...
, which from 1975 to the early 1990s was commanded by Robin "the Jackal" Jackson
Robin Jackson
Robert John "Robin" Jackson, known as the Jackal was a Northern Irish loyalist who held the rank of brigadier in the Ulster Volunteer Force during the period of violent religious and political conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.From his home in the small village of Donaghcloney,...
. Jackson was also implicated by the Hidden Hand in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and he was reportedly involved in the Green assassination.
McConnell was shot to death outside his home by the IRA. FAIR
Families Acting for Innocent Relatives
Families Acting for Innocent Relatives is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1998 in South Armagh, Northern Ireland. It describes itself as a "non-sectarian, non-political organisation" that works "in the interests of the innocent victims of terrorism in South Armagh."-Leadership:FAIR is...
, the organisation set up to represent Protestant and unionist
Unionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...
victims of republican
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
violence, have named McConnell as one of its victims. McConnell's nephew Brian McConnell is an active member of FAIR. Weir maintained in his affidavit that was published in the Barron Report (which was the findings of the official investigation into the 1974 car bombings commissioned by Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron
Henry Barron
Henry Barron was an Irish judge. He sat on the Irish Supreme Court from 1997 until his retirement in 2000. He was the first Jew to hold this position....
), that McConnell had been set up by British Military Intelligence. According to Weir, whose information came from a republican informer, now deceased, Military Intelligence passed on vital information about McConnell to the IRA, who then ordered his killing.
Glenanne gang and Dublin car bombings
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
family. He later served as a part-time member of the 2nd Battalion UDR
2nd Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment
2nd Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment was amalgamated in 1991 with the 11th Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment to form the 2nd/11th Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment....
, holding the rank of corporal. This battalion, due to its location and patrol territory in the hazardous South Armagh
South Armagh
South Armagh can refer to:*The southern part of County Armagh*South Armagh *South Armagh...
area known as "bandit country", suffered the highest casualty rate of the entire regiment. He was also a member of the Orange Order's Cladybeg Faith Defenders LOL (Loyal orange lodge) 305b, Newtownhamilton
Newtownhamilton
Newtownhamilton is a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Tullyvallan and the barony of Upper Fews. It is part of the Newry and Mourne District Council area...
District, and a Sir Knight in the Guiding Star Royal Black Preceptory No.1133; he held the office of Preceptory Lecturer at the time of his death. The Orange Order and Royal Black Preceptory are both Protestant fraternal societies. McConnell attended St. John's Church of Ireland in Newtownhamilton, where he was also a church worker.
At some time prior to 1974, he allegedly joined the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurgan and Portadown areas. Subsequent leaders of the...
which was led by Billy Hanna
Billy Hanna
William Henry Wilson "Billy" Hanna MM was a high-ranking Northern Irish loyalist who founded and led the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force until he was killed, allegedly by Robin Jackson, who took over command of the brigade.According to RUC Special Patrol Group officer John Weir,...
until the latter's fatal shooting on 27 July 1975, when the suspected gunman, Robin Jackson
Robin Jackson
Robert John "Robin" Jackson, known as the Jackal was a Northern Irish loyalist who held the rank of brigadier in the Ulster Volunteer Force during the period of violent religious and political conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.From his home in the small village of Donaghcloney,...
, assumed command. This unit was part of the Glenanne gang
Glenanne gang
The Glenanne gang was a name given, since 2003, to a loose alliance of Northern Irish loyalist extremists who carried out sectarian killings and bomb attacks in the 1970s against the Irish Catholic and Irish nationalist community. Most of its attacks took place in the area of County Armagh and mid...
, the group of loyalist
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
extremists and rogue members of the security forces who operated from a farm in Glenanne, County Armagh
County Armagh
-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
which was owned by RUC reserve officer James Mitchell
James Mitchell
-Arts, entertainment, and sports :*James Mitchell , American actor who played Palmer Cortlandt on All My Children*James Mitchell , American athlete who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics...
. The farm was used as a UVF
UVF
UVF can refer to*The Ulster Volunteers started in 1912 and organised as the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1913*The Ulster Volunteer Force - a paramilitary organisation established in 1966, not linked to the 1913 UVF...
arms dump and bomb-making site. The gang carried out their sectarian attacks against the Catholic nationalist
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
and republican
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
community primarily in the County Armagh and Mid-Ulster area, but also ventured south on several occasions when they hit targets in the Republic. The 1993 Yorkshire Television programme The Hidden Hand: the Forgotten Massacre named McConnell along with UVF brigadier Billy Hanna, Harris Boyle
Harris Boyle
Harris Boyle was a Ulster Defence Regiment soldier and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Volunteer Force , a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary organisation. Boyle was implicated in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings which left a total of 33 people dead...
, and "the Jackal"
Robin Jackson
Robert John "Robin" Jackson, known as the Jackal was a Northern Irish loyalist who held the rank of brigadier in the Ulster Volunteer Force during the period of violent religious and political conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.From his home in the small village of Donaghcloney,...
as having planned and carried out the 1974 Dublin car bombings. Three cars containing explosives detonated minutes apart from one another during Friday evening rush hour
Rush hour
A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening, the times during when the most people commute...
in the city centre that left 26 people dead and close to 300 wounded. No warnings had been given before the bombs went off; they had been so well constructed that one hundred per cent of each bomb exploded upon detonation. The narrator added that McConnell was controlled before and after the bombings by Military Intelligence Liaison officer Robert Nairac
Robert Nairac
Captain Robert Laurence Nairac GC was a British Army officer who was abducted from a pub in south County Armagh during an undercover operation and killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on his fourth tour of duty in Northern Ireland as a Military Intelligence Liaison Officer...
of 14th Intelligence Company. John Weir
John Weir (loyalist)
John Oliver Weir , is an Ulster loyalist born in the Republic of Ireland. He served as an officer in Northern Ireland's Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group , and was a volunteer in the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force...
confirmed that he worked with the Special Air Service
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
and the "intelligence boys". A former friend of McConnell's claimed that British soldiers "used to call at Robert's house for him after he had finished his normal duties and he often crossed the border with them". Former British soldier and psychological warfare
Psychological warfare
Psychological warfare , or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations , have been known by many other names or terms, including Psy Ops, Political Warfare, “Hearts and Minds,” and Propaganda...
operative Major Colin Wallace
Colin Wallace
John Colin Wallace is a former British soldier and psychological warfare operative who was one of the members of the 'Clockwork Orange' project, which is alleged to have been an attempt to smear a number of British politicians in the early 1970s.-Early life:...
said he was told in 1974 that McConnell, along with Robin Jackson, was an RUC Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
agent. This allegation was confirmed in a letter written by Wallace to a colleague dated 14 August 1975.
John Francis Green killing
McConnell is named by Weir to have been involved in a gun and bomb attack against a pub in CrossmaglenCrossmaglen
Crossmaglen or Crosmaglen is a village and townland in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,459 people in the 2001 Census and is the largest village in south Armagh...
in November 1974, resulting in the fatal injury of Thomas McNamee. Weir also alleged that he was one of the accomplices in the killing of high-ranking IRA member John Francis Green outside Castleblaney in the Irish Republic on 10 January 1975. Green was shot six times in the head at close range by a group of gunmen who had burst through the front door of the "safe" house where he was staying; the UVF later claimed responsibility for the attack in the June 1975 edition of their journal Combat. Weir claimed that Robert Nairac also took part in Green's shooting with the following statement:
"The men who did that shooting were Robert McConnell, Robin Jackson, and I would be almost certain, Harris Boyle who was killed in the Miami attackMiami Showband killingsThe Miami Showband killings was a paramilitary attack at Buskhill, County Down, Northern Ireland, in the early morning of 31 July 1975. It left five people dead at the hands of Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen, including three members of The Miami Showband...
. What I am absolutely certain of is that Robert McConnell, Robert McConnell knew that area really, really well. Robin Jackson was with him. I was later told that Nairac was with them. I was told by...a UVF man, he was very close to Jackson and operated with him. Jackson told [him] that Nairac was with them.
Altnamachin and Silverbridge attacks
On 24 August 1975, McConnell was alleged by Weir to have been part of a UVF patrol that ambushed two Gaelic FootballGaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
supporters at a bogus vehicle checkpoint set up in the Cortamlet Road at the townland
Townland
A townland or bally is a small geographical division of land used in Ireland. The townland system is of Gaelic origin—most townlands are believed to pre-date the Norman invasion and most have names derived from the Irish language...
of Altnamachin, near Tullyvallen close to the Irish Republic border. At about 11.30pm, Colm McCartney (aged 22) and Sean Farmer (aged 32), both from Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
, were returning home from the Derry versus Dublin All-Ireland semi-final football match
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 1975
-Leinster Senior Football Championship:-Munster Senior Football Championship:-Ulster Senior Football Championship:-Semi-Finals:-All-Ireland Final:...
at Croke Park
Croke Park
Croke Park in Dublin is the principal stadium and headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association , Ireland's biggest sporting organisation...
in Dublin when the patrol stopped the car they were travelling in. Upon their discovery that the two men inside were Catholics, the UVF gunmen ordered them out of the car and a short distance away turned their guns on Farmer, killing him instantly. McCartney attempted to escape on foot, but his pursuers caught up with him and he was also fatally gunned down. McCartney and Farmer had been shot four times and six times respectively. McConnell was wearing his British Army uniform at the time the attack occurred. A local resident who had been in the vicinity walking his dog saw the stopped vehicle; he then heard the sounds of gunfire, someone running along the road, a male voice shouting "stop, stop", which was then followed by "wild screaming" and another series of gunshots. He also saw another car drive away from the scene afterwards. Less than an hour before the shootings, a three-man RUC patrol in an unmarked car had been stopped by the same UVF unit after one one soldier had waved a red torch in a circular motion indicating that it was a military vehicle checkpoint. Another soldier was lying in a ditch with a rifle. The RUC immediately suspected that it was a bogus checkpoint despite the men having worn full military combat uniforms. After the RUC men were passed through the checkpoint, they requested by radio, clarification as to whether there were any authorised regular Army or UDR checkpoints in the area that night, and received the confirmation that there were none. Although the RUC patrol reported the unauthorised checkpoint to the Army and requested their help in investigating the incident, no action had been taken. The killings were claimed by the Protestant Action Force, one of the cover names used by the Glenanne gang. The fake vehicle checkpoint manned UVF men in full British Army uniform was the same modus operandi which the UVF had employed when they waylaid the Miami Showband
Miami Showband killings
The Miami Showband killings was a paramilitary attack at Buskhill, County Down, Northern Ireland, in the early morning of 31 July 1975. It left five people dead at the hands of Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen, including three members of The Miami Showband...
— a popular Irish cabaret band — the previous month at Buskhill, County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
, however McConnell was not implicated in that incident.
On 19 December 1975, a car pulled up outside Donnelly's Bar
The Troubles in Silverbridge
The Troubles in Silverbridge recounts incidents during, and the effects of, The Troubles in Silverbridge, County Armagh, Northern Ireland.Incidents in Silverbridge during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities:-1975:...
in Silverbridge, County Armagh. Members of the Glenanne gang got out and launched a bomb and machine-gun attack against the pub's patrons, hitting those inside as well as outside the premises. A total of three people were killed, including the proprietor's 14 year-old son, Michael, who was struck in the head by flying shrapnel after one of the gang tossed a bomb inside the pub's interior shouting: "Happy Christmas, you Fenian
Fenian
The Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...
bastards". Six other people were seriosly injured including a woman who was shot in the head. Weir named McConnell as having carried out the attack together with RUC SPG Officer Laurence McClure, and several other men. The Pat Finucane Centre
Pat Finucane Centre
The Pat Finucane Centre is a human rights advocacy and lobbying entity in Northern Ireland. Named in honour of murdered solicitor Pat Finucane, it operates advice centres in Derry and Newry, dealing mainly with complaints from nationalists and republicans...
commissioned an international panel of inquiry to investigate allegations of collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces regarding a series of sectarian attacks against the Catholic nationalist and republican community. This panel, headed by Professor Douglass Cassel of Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
, stated in its report that James Mitchell's housekeeper, Sarah Elizabeth "Lily" Shields, who had provided the gang's getaway car, named McConnell as having been one of the perpetrators. McClure, the driver of the getaway car — a blue Lada — confirmed this. He and Shields had played the part of a "courting couple" inside the car as the attack was being carried out by the other gang members. McClure and Shields were later charged with withholding information in relation to the pub killings. Following the attack, McConnell and some of the others then regrouped at the Glenanne farm. James Mitchell later stated that McConnell had been a visitor to his farmhouse that same evening before and after the Silverbridge incident. McClure claimed that he encountered McConnell several days afterwards, and McConnell had allegedly said to McClure: "That was a good job the other night", which McClure had understood to have been an allusion to Silverbridge. The gang claimed the attack using another of their cover names, the Red Hand Commandos
Red Hand Commandos
The Red Hand Commando is a small loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, which is closely linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force...
. According to Weir's affidavit, the pub was specifically chosen in retaliation for the killing of an RUC reserve constable who it was believed had been detained at Donnelly's Bar subsequent to his kidnapping by the IRA.
Reavey family shootings
The Glenanne gang carried out a co-ordinated attack against two Catholic families on 4 January 1976 which left a total of five men dead, and one injured. Robert McConnell purportedly led the first masked UVF unit at WhitecrossWhitecross
Whitecross is a Christian metal band that formed in 1985 in Waukegan, IL releasing their first recording in the year 1987. Their early albums, which often invite comparisons to Ratt, are laced with fast, technical guitar work. In 1994, bandleader, primary songwriter and producer Rex Carroll split...
, County Armagh. The gunmen entered the Reavey home by the key which had been accidentally left in the door and opened fire on three brothers who watching television at the time, killing John and Brian outright, and wounding another, Anthony. The other members of the large family had previously gone out leaving the three brothers on their own. The getaway car on this occasion had been driven by James Mitchell with Lily Shields having accompanied him. Twenty minutes later at Ballydougan
Ballydougan
Ballydugan or Ballydougan is a townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies on the County Armagh–County Down border, between Lurgan and Gilford...
, another group led by Robin Jackson broke into the O'Dowd home killing three family members. Before succumbing to a brain hemorrhage shortly afterwards on 30 January, 17-year-old Anthony Reavey had given a description of the leading gunman which was said to have fit that of McConnell.As McConnell and the other gunmen were wearing balaclava hoods throughout the attack, this must be taken into consideration regarding the reliability of Anthony Reavey's description The man Anthony Reavey had described was 5"11, aged about 25 or 26,McConnell was about 31 or 32 years old at the time of the Reavey attack on 4 January 1976 wearing a black woollen balaclava
Balaclava
A balaclava , also known as a balaclava helmet or ski mask, is a form of cloth headgear that covers the whole head, exposing only part of the face. Often only the eyes or eyes and mouth are left exposed...
hood, green anorak, and dark trousers; he was carrying a submachine gun. Ballistics tests show that the Sterling submachine gun
Sterling submachine gun
The Sterling submachine gun is a British submachine gun which was in service with the British Army from 1944 until 1994, when it was phased out with the introduction of the L85A1 assault rifle.-History:...
used in the Reavey shootings was the same as that used in the Donnelly's Bar attack at Silverbridge.
The Reavey and O'Dowd killings provoked the South Armagh Republican Action Force
South Armagh Republican Action Force
The South Armagh Republican Action Force was an alleged Irish republican paramilitary group that was active from 1975 to 1977 during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Its area of activity was mainly the southern part of County Armagh. According to writers such as Ed Moloney and Richard English, it...
to retaliate the following evening by shooting ten Protestant workmen to death
Kingsmill massacre
The Kingsmill massacre took place on 5 January 1976 near the village of Kingsmill in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Ten Protestant men were taken from a minibus and shot dead by a group calling itself the South Armagh Republican Action Force...
after ambushing their minibus outside Kingsmill
Kingsmill
Kingsmill is a name which has been used in James City County, Virginia since the mid-18th century. Initially the name of a plantation, in modern times, the name is attached to a geographic area which includes a large planned residential community, a resort complex, a theme park, a brewery, and a...
. The Glenanne gang had decided to avenge this attack by killing at least 30 schoolchildren and their teacher at St Lawrence O'Toole Primary School in Belleeks. It was suggested that the gang member who proposed the idea was a UDR officer with ties to British Military Intelligence who was later shot dead by the IRA. McConnell's name, however, was not mentioned in this context. The plan was aborted at the last minute by the UVF's Brigade Staff (Belfast leadership), who deemed it "morally unacceptable" and feared such an attack against small children would lead to a civil war.
McConnell was later accused by Weir of planting a car bomb that blew up outside the Three Star Inn, a pub in Castleblaney's main street, which killed one man, Patrick Mone on 7 March 1976. The explosives used had been stored at the Glenanne farm.
Death
McConnell was shot dead by the IRA, who waylaid him in his garden outside his home in Tullyvallen, near Newtownhamilton on 5 April 1976. In November 1977, an IRA volunteer Anthony McCooey was convicted of two counts of murder in respect of McConnell and another UDR soldier, Joseph McCullouch who was stabbed and had his throat cut whilst visiting his farm in Tullyvallen. McCooey was also convicted of driving the gunmen to the Tullyvallen Orange Hall on 1 September 1975 where five civilians were shot dead. The attack was claimed by the South Armagh Republican Action ForceSouth Armagh Republican Action Force
The South Armagh Republican Action Force was an alleged Irish republican paramilitary group that was active from 1975 to 1977 during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Its area of activity was mainly the southern part of County Armagh. According to writers such as Ed Moloney and Richard English, it...
, a cover name for the Provisional IRA.
According to author and journalist Joe Tiernan, the hitman in McConnell's killing was Peter Cleary
Peter Cleary
Peter Joseph Cleary was a Northern Ireland republican and a leading member of the 1st Battalion of the Provisional Irish Republican Army 's South Armagh Brigade. He held the rank of Staff Officer and served as the unit's treasurer...
, a Staff Officer in the 1st Battalion of the IRA's South Armagh Brigade
Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade
The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army operated during the Troubles in south County Armagh. It was organised into two battalions, one around Jonesborough and another around Crossmaglen. By the 1990s, the South Armagh Brigade was thought to consist of about 40 members,...
. The three-man IRA unit hid in the bushes and when McConnell appeared, Cleary shot him twice in the head. Cleary himself was killed by the SAS 10 days later. McConnell was 32 years old and off-duty at the time of his death. His funeral was attended by NIO
Northern Ireland Office
The Northern Ireland Office is a United Kingdom government department responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and is based in Northern Ireland at Stormont House.-Role:...
representatives of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, informally the Northern Ireland Secretary, is the principal secretary of state in the government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State is a Minister of the Crown who is accountable to the Parliament of...
, Merlyn Rees, the UDR's Commander Mervyn McCord and Colonel Commandant John Anderson
John Anderson (British Army officer)
General Sir John D'Arcy Anderson GBE KCB DSO was a British Army General who reached high office in the 1960s.-Military career:Anderson was commissioned into the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in 1929...
. At the service, McConnell was summed up as a man who worked "ceaselessly for peace".
Statements made by Weir in his affidavit allege that McConnell had been set up by British Military Intelligence. Packy Reel, a (now deceased) Republican informer from Dorsey, County Armagh told Weir that Captain Nairac had apprised him of McConnell's involvement in the Donnelly Bar attack. McConnell had been subsequently executed by the IRA after they received confidential information about him from Intelligence who, through Captain Nairac, had attempted to infiltrate the IRA. Tiernan suggested that after Robin Jackson, McConnell was one of the Glenanne gang's leading assassins in 1975 and early 1976, having been directly responsible for many sectarian attacks in South Armagh as well as counties Monaghan and Louth.
McConnell's nephew Brian, who joined FAIR (Families Acting for Innocent Relatives), a Markethill
Markethill
Markethill is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 1,292 people. It sits at the southern side of Gosford Forest Park...
-based group set up to represent the Protestant and Unionist victims of republican violence, admitted that his uncle "liaised" between the UVF and British special forces. FAIR has attracted much acrimonious criticism due to its listing Robert McConnell as an "innocent" victim of republican violence in light of the multiple sectarian killings he allegedly carried out. However, according to journalist Susan McKay of the Irish Times, "Robert may have murdered the Reaveys, but to his family he was the man who looked after his sick brother and disabled sister".