We, the families of the McGurk’s Bar bombing on 4th December 1971, wish to honour the memory of those who died and all the many others who were injured. They are always in our thoughts and prayers.
They were innocent victims whose memory was besmirched for many years by the slur that they were bombers.
We are relieved that today their memories are vindicated
The Police Ombudsman has upheld complaints made against the RUC by the families. We broadly welcome those findings, particularly that there was investigative bias by the RUC, but disagree with his finding that there was no collusion.
Before going any further, we state that although the bombing took place nearly forty years ago, we all still live every day with the pain and loss inflicted on us. That pain was exacerbated by a deliberate lie, created in the aftermath of their horrific deaths, that our loved ones had been responsible for the explosion. The so-called IRA "own goal" theory added intolerable insult to our unbearable injury and grief.
The families had made complaints in four main areas. In three of these four areas their complaints have been upheld.
THE FIRST COMPLAINT CONCERNS THE RUC INVESTIGATION:
The Ombudsman’s damning verdict on the RUC is:
The Ombudsman’s report amounts to a damning indictment of the RUC investigation in the aftermath of the bombing. That investigation was based on a lie – against all the evidence - that republicans were behind the bombing. There was a complete failure by investigating officers, amounting to wilful incompetence, to carry out inquiries on the ground, such as door-to-door enquires.
The Ombudsman’s report can find no explanation why successive Chief Constables failed to put the record straight. It also damns the RUC investigation following the 1978 conviction of the only perpetrator so far brought to justice, UVF man Robert Campbell. The RUC then failed to arrest and question four other named UVF suspects, even when intelligence became available suggesting they had acted alongside Campbell. Instead of the true perpetrators being brought before the courts, the tragedy at McGurk’s was used to justify the internment of two uninvolved republicans. Those who died and were injured along with their families deserve justice.
THE NEXT COMPLAINT CONCERNED BRIEFINGS TO THE UNIONIST GOVERNMENT
The then Stormont Prime Minister, Brian Faulkner, told the British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling at a meeting in London two days after the bombing that our loved ones died because an IRA bomb in transit had detonated prematurely. Even more hurtful is the revelation that Faulkner had asked the RUC to check the backgrounds of those who had been murdered – the presumption being that they had been involved in the bombing.
The following day, even as we were burying our dead, John Taylor, then Minister for Home Affairs (who has refused to meet with the Police Ombudsman) repeated the ‘own goal’ myth at Stormont. Taylor even had the audacity to advise our shocked and grieving community "to think twice before they accept the type of propaganda" that was "being fed to them". If he had any decency he would have apologised long ago.
The Police Ombudsman concludes that these deeply hurtful, baseless, biased and misleading briefings came directly from the RUC.
THE NEXT COMPLAINT CONCERS INFORMATION IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
The "own goal" theory was widely reported in the media.
Erroneous RUC and British Army internal briefing documents, including mythical accounts of wanted IRA men being in the bar, found their way into supposed quality British newspapers including "The Times" and "The Guardian". As the Ombudsman concluded, ‘inaccurate briefings attributed to police officers and reported in the media contributed to the erosion of confidence of bereaved families and survivors in the investigation.’ There are lessons here for today’s media, both here in Ireland and abroad, about taking any official briefings at face value.
The RUC perversely attributed the McGurk’s Bar bombing to the IRA in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary:
We believe that all of the above, taken as a whole, amounts to evidence of collusive behaviour by the RUC.
It amounted to corrupt practice and obstruction of justice.
It is disappointing that the Ombudsman does not agree.
The UVF bomb on the night of December 4th 1971 was a horrific and lasting tragedy for all of us. We lost mothers, fathers, brothers, sons, daughters, grandfathers, grandmothers, good neighbours and friends. Those who were injured have also had to live with horrific consequences and the lies told about them. The lie that smeared the good names of the dead and injured immediately afterwards, and which was spread by the RUC, British Army and leading Stormont politicians, compounded that tragedy and exculpated the guilty.
This journey has been a painful one for all of us but a dark cloud has been lifted.
Less than eight weeks after McGurk’s Bar, we watched in horror as fellow citizens were mown down on the streets of Derry on Bloody Sunday. There too the dead were blamed and a lie went around the world.
An official lie.
Our dead were forgotten in the torrent of events that then took place.
Last year, on June 15th, we watched with joy and solidarity as the 14 Bloody Sunday dead were declared innocent and the families were vindicated before the eyes of the world. This report conclusively and officially confirms
James Francis Cromie (13 years old) - INNOCENT
Maria McGurk (14 years old) - INNOCENT
Edward Laurence Kane (29 years old) - INNOCENT Robert
Charles Spotswood (38 years old) - INNOCENT
Elizabeth Philomena McGurk (46 years old) - INNOCENT
Thomas Kane (48 years old) - INNOCENT
John Colton (49 years old) - INNOCENT
David Milligan (53 years old) - INNOCENT
Kathleen Irvine (53 years old) - INNOCENT
Thomas McLaughlin (55 years old) - INNOCENT
Sarah Keenan (58 years old) - INNOCENT
James Patrick Smyth (58 years old) - INNOCENT
Francis Bradley (63 years old) - INNOCENT
Edward Keenan (69 years old) – INNOCENT
and Phillip Garry (73 years old) - INNOCENT
… and all those who were injured –INNOCENT Their only crime was their faith.