{"id":4480,"date":"2018-11-14T09:21:07","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T09:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=4480"},"modified":"2018-11-14T09:21:07","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T09:21:07","slug":"ballymurphy-inquest-claims-uvf-sniper-fired-at-civilians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=4480","title":{"rendered":"Ballymurphy inquest: Claims UVF sniper fired at civilians"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/ballymurphy.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-4481\" title=\"ballymurphy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/ballymurphy-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/ballymurphy-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/ballymurphy.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A claim has been repeated that a UVF sniper may have contributed to the deaths of some of the 10 people killed in Ballymurphy in 1971.<\/p>\n<p>The inquest into their deaths has heard of a so-called &#8220;Witness X&#8221;, otherwise known as an &#8220;interlocutor&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>They have provided further information to the coroner stating that a UVF sniper was active in the area at the time of some of the deaths.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The initial claim was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-northern-ireland-43975900\"> made in May of this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-northern-ireland-44983770\">Judge warns of Ballymurphy inquest &#8216;drift&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-northern-ireland-43975900\">UVF to say it shot Ballymurphy victims<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The alleged sniper, who was said to be using a Mauser rifle, is now deceased.<\/p>\n<p>The UVF information and statements provided by Witness X are now being checked and redacted.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear how much weight the Coroners Service will give to the UVF claims.<\/p>\n<h2>Who were the victims?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Father Hugh Mullan, 38, and Francis Quinn, 19, were shot in an area of open ground behind Springfield Park<\/li>\n<li>Daniel Teggart, 44, Joan Connolly, 44, Noel Phillips, 19 and Joseph Murphy, 41, were shot near the Henry Taggart Army base near Springfield Park<\/li>\n<li>John Laverty, 20, and Joseph Corr, 43, were shot at separate points at the top of Whiterock Road<\/li>\n<li>Edward Doherty, 31, was shot at the corner of Brittons Parade and Whiterock Road<\/li>\n<li>John McKerr, 49, was shot outside the old Corpus Christi Parish<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On Tuesday, statements given by the relatives of two of the victims &#8211; Fr Hugh Mullan and Frank Quinn &#8211; were read out at the inquest.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old priest, who was from Portaferry, County Down, and served a year in the Merchant Navy, had served in parishes in Belfast, County Antrim and County Down before coming to Ballymurphy.<\/p>\n<p>His brother, Patsy, said Hugh loved sailing on Strangford Lough and when he served in the Good Shepherd Convent in Belfast he would play guitar and sing to the children.<\/p>\n<p>He said that on the night of 9 August 1971, he heard that a priest had been shot in Ballymurphy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I knew it would be him,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When I was later told that he was dead, I phoned our doctor and asked him to come to be with my mother as I didn&#8217;t know how she would cope with this news. She was in a terrible state and had to be sedated.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fr Mullan&#8217;s cousin, Gabriel Ellison, said that as a child he had been sailing a toy boat off the slip in Portaferry when he fell into the water.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hughie ran out of his house and jumped in after me and pulled me out,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was surely gone only for his super actions, he was at QUB [Queen&#8217;s University Belfast] then and had learned life saving skills.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Frank Quinn was 19 and from west Belfast. While he had worked in a number of jobs after leaving school, his main one was a window cleaner.<\/p>\n<p>He married his wife, Ann, when he was 17 and they had a daughter, Angela, soon afterwards.<\/p>\n<p>Ann was pregnant with their second daughter Frances, when Mr Quinn was shot dead.<\/p>\n<p>Frank&#8217;s younger brother Pat recalled the moment his father came home from work and told the family that Frank had been shot.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I said &#8216;was he wounded? Was he wounded?&#8217; and he said &#8220;no, he&#8217;s dead&#8217;. Those three words changed me and my family&#8217;s lives forever.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Angela Sloan, Frank Quinn&#8217;s elder daughter, said growing up without her father was heart-breaking and that her mother never remarried &#8220;such was her love for my daddy&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He should have been there for us but all we had of him was pictures,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Daddy now has four amazing grandchildren and a little great grandson, Ronan. We were all robbed of his presence in our lives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Identifying witnesses<\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, witness statements have been requested from 127 potential military witnesses.<\/p>\n<p>Concern was expressed by barristers for some of the families that some ex-soldiers would not be cooperating with the inquest.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There is widespread and deep concern at what appears to be a boycott at what is a critical point in this inquest,&#8221; said John Mansfield QC.<\/p>\n<p>He urged the coroner to subpoena those former soldiers called to give evidence who were unwilling to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Work to identify witnesses who may be called to give oral evidence is continuing.<\/p>\n<p>There have been 32 new statements provided by civilian witnesses.<\/p>\n<p>Military witnesses will not be called to give evidence until after Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>Known by many as the Ballymurphy Massacre, the shootings of nine men and one woman took place over three days in August 1971.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, the Army said those killed were either IRA gunmen or caught in the crossfire between soldiers and gunmen.<\/p>\n<p>The families of victims said they believe the evidence produced during the inquests will show that their relatives were innocent and were targeted deliberately.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"Ballymurphy inquest: Claims UVF sniper fired at civilians\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A claim has been repeated that a UVF sniper may have contributed to the deaths of some of the 10 people killed in Ballymurphy in 1971. The inquest into their deaths has heard of a so-called &#8220;Witness X&#8221;, otherwise known &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=4480\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">&raquo;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"Ballymurphy inquest: Claims UVF sniper fired at civilians\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4482,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4480\/revisions\/4482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}