November 28 2011
Good morning everyone.
On behalf of my family I’d like to thank you for your presence here this morning as we gather to bear public witness on behalf of my brother, Sean Ruddy.
Sean was shot dead in Newry along with his two companions, Robert Anderson and Thomas McLoughlin, on Saturday night, 23 October, 1971.
Within hours of the shooting, the basic facts were known to us:
On his way home from a public house and on the spur of the moment he made a half-hearted attempt to snatch some money from two barmen as they made a deposit in the night safe of a bank on Hill St.
As they ran off up the street, soldiers watching from the roof of Woolworths shot them dead.
We have lived with this knowledge for forty years now.
The report of the Historical Enquiries Team which we publish today confirms what we as a family have always known: my brother, the son of a British soldier who was a veteran of Dunkirk, was murdered by members of the British Army.
The HET took over four years to produce this report. It is a record of their investigation. It tells the story of the killings and provides important new information about the circumstances surrounding them.
The HET report reveals that the soldiers were sent out to intercept IRA men. Indeed, the information suggests that the soldiers were there for one purpose: to kill people.
As soon as Sean and his companions drew adverse attention to themselves outside the bank, they were sentenced to death.
In the immediate aftermath of the killings, this town erupted into days of rioting as scores of young men gave vent to their sense of outrage.
I am aware that this event, like the killings in Derry on Bloody Sunday, propelled some young men to join the ranks of those engaged in violence.
For my own part, I stood for election and served this town as a District Councillor, and in time became Chairman of Newry and Mourne Council.
But the tragic loss of our young brother has been a shadow in the life of our family for forty years. Indeed, today, I am conscious of my brother, Pat, who raised Sean’s case with the HET but did not live to see this day.
It is our hope now that this report, which confirms that our brother Sean and his two companions were needlessly and ruthlessly killed, will help us finally to come to terms with this tragedy.
This report reminds us that a great darkness came upon this town and it suffered years of senseless violence.
We are glad that today the people of Newry live in better times. May this always be a place of peace.
END.