{"id":1474,"date":"2013-03-15T11:10:36","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T11:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1474"},"modified":"2013-03-15T11:10:36","modified_gmt":"2013-03-15T11:10:36","slug":"billy-miller-30th-anniversary-of-unlawful-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1474","title":{"rendered":"Billy Miller: 30th Anniversary of Unlawful Killing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not Worthy of a Mention?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Belfast–Wednesday 16th<\/sup> March 1983<\/strong> was an overcast early spring day.\u00a0 It couldn\u2019t be classed as an ordinary day because no such thing existed in Belfast or Northern Ireland in those fearful times.\u00a0 The Provisional IRA showed no sign of letting up in their murderous campaign.\u00a0 The Loyalist war went on unabated as \"\"<\/a>well with and we witnessed a shift\u2014away from random sectarian targets to more selected objectives.\u00a0 Politically there was a seismic change taking place particularly within the Nationalist camp and most notably Sinn Fein.\u00a0 In the wake of the failure of the Hunger strikes two years previously a mammoth effort was being made by Adams and Co to ensure domination of nationalist voters for that party.\u00a0 As usual Unionism was fractured and the political future for the country seemed to perpetually driving into dead ends.\u00a0 A week previously the SDLP had proposed a New Ireland Forum..just the latest in the clutching at straws scenario that abounded then.<\/p>\n

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\nIn the midst of the ongoing terrorist war a new and sinister development was emerging.\u00a0 The previous winter\u2014in fact during November and December 1982 events were unfolding that would ultimately lead to the Stalker Inquiry of May 1984 but would leave ramifications that are still part of Northern Ireland fabric today.\u00a0 In three separate incidents in those months the RUC\u2014under whatever guise\u2014shot and killed a total of 6 Catholic males\u2014all in County Armagh. \u00a0The first 3 were IRA members but unarmed\u2014the next was a young man shot dead, with an accomplice wounded whilst visiting an IRA arms dump\u2014whilst the third incident was perhaps the one we remember most.\u00a0 Two INLA men Seamus Grew and Roddy Carroll were ambushed and shot dead at an RUC checkpoint in South Armagh.\u00a0 The man believed to be the intended victim\u2014Dominic McGlinchey was not in the car when it was attacked.\u00a0 Many of us back then may not have given these incidents much thought or indeed agreed with the police actions believing that the only good terrorist is a dead one.\u00a0 We also have great difficulty coming to terms with inquiries into such matters and feel that there is no need for them.\u00a0 In these cases the attitude is..if they weren\u2019t up to something they wouldn\u2019t have been shot.\u00a0 Too easy and too simple.<\/strong>
\nBilly Millar<\/strong> and Bobby Morton<\/strong> were two experienced Ulster Volunteers based in Donegall Pass.\u00a0 Bobby a true character, was much older that Billy who was then 26 years old.\u00a0 On this particular morning both men along with a driver were sitting in a parked car in Elmwood Avenue, a busy street in the University area.\u00a0 Without warning the driver suddenly got out of the car and ran off.\u00a0 Before either Bobby or Billy could react they were struck from behind<\/strong> by a fusillade of bullets.\u00a0 Billy Miller was a back seat passenger and took the full brunt of the callous attack.\u00a0 He received multiple bullet wounds and died almost instantly.\u00a0 Bobby Morton who occupied the front passenger seat was also hit by a number of rounds and severely wounded. \u00a0He would be subsequently charged \u2013somewhat ludicrously under the prevailing circumstances, with attempted murder and be sentenced to fourteen years in Long Kesh. Their RUC killers would surely have finished Bobby off within seconds as they made their way up to the vehicle only for several witnesses to appear immediately.\u00a0 The man who ran for his life has never been seen or heard off again.\u00a0 Unlike the previous shoot to kill cases very little was said about the murder of Billy Miller.\u00a0 It goes without saying that 30 years ago we wouldn\u2019t have expected mainstream politicians to highlight the case of a UVF man even if they thought that it was a mirror image of the South Armagh assassinations. Because the reality is that those same politicians boorishly categorised Ulster Volunteers with Irish Republican terrorists.\u00a0 Many still do.
\nAlthough both shot men were armed, the guns and gloves they had were actually found underneath their respective seats.\u00a0 If the police were acting on intelligence\u2014say from the driver\u2014they may not have known this detail, but the plain truth is that heavily armed and highly trained police surrounding a static car would have had little difficulty in arresting Bobby and Billy.\u00a0 The police would have been well aware\u2014knowing that they were Protestants\u2014of the policy of Ulster Volunteers not engaging with the military or police if faced with arrest.\u00a0 The RUC were out to do a job on both men that day and partly succeeded, foiled of total success only because of the appearance of witnesses.\u00a0 The shootings in Armagh months previously were conducted in isolated areas, devoid of witnesses, save for one man wounded in the attack at the IRA arms dump.\u00a0 For many reasons this case has been left unattended for 30 years.\u00a0 Loyalism has always been critical of the instigation of inquiries into\u2014as they see it\u2014virtually \u201ceverything\u201d.\u00a0 They regard them as a waste of money and as unnecessary.\u00a0 Certainly in many ways inquiries seem to have the capacity to divide and in many ways to seemingly stall the peace process.\u00a0 But the truth is that republicans will continually call for inquiries where they feel they need and in most cases these requests will be granted.\u00a0 In light of this do we not owe it to the family and indeed the memory of Billy Miller to ascertain why the police callously murdered him that day 30 years ago tomorrow?\u00a0 Booby Morton is an elderly man in extremely poor health at present.\u00a0 For a number of years he has been confined to a nursing home after suffering a near fatal stroke.\u00a0 Unfortunately he can offer no coherent facts to help us understand what happened in Elmwood Avenue all those years ago as he is incapable of speech.\u00a0 A couple of months before Billy\u2019s death he had been detained\u2014not for the first time\u2014by the RUC in Ladas Drive.\u00a0 On his release after a week\u2019s questioning he was stopped by a senior detective who told him..\u201d The next time I see you, you will be dead\u201d. Very prophetic words.<\/strong>
\nIn a land of many injustices the case of Billy Miller is a tiny almost invisible one.\u00a0 That is to some.\u00a0 It shouldn\u2019t be to us.\u00a0 We owe it to him to find out the truth.<\/p>\n

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