The weeks before March 15
A number of issues arise from the statements of local people in the North Lurgan area. Several people spoke of heavy security in the area in the weeks leading up to the murder. Troops were airlifted, probably from the Mahon Rd security base in Portadown, to fields near the Nelson home. The level of security activity, RUC, RIR and/or British Army was such that Rosemary Nelson herself mentioned it to a client and told a friend of her suspicions that troops were 'dug in' in the fields near the house. Another neighbour spoke of the helicopter coming "early in the morning…from 8am onwards…hovering overhead and then landed in Jim Mc Cann's field" on three consecutive Saturdays before March 15. This witness confirmed that helicopters were also landing in this field after 8pm at night "in the last few weeks" and actually visited Rosemary at home because "I was so concerned about it….I worried about it." Since March 15 another neighbour revisited this area and noted that there is a direct view of Rosemary's house from the field in question. A third witness tells of a strong searchlight sweeping the same field some four weeks before March 15 and said, "I got frightened because this was unusual. My first thought was it was the British Army but I wasn't sure." Others refer to "heavy security" and checkpoints near Mile House, a short distance away. A further witness observed 8-10 soldiers and one RUC man entering the field at a gate near Mile House. No vehicles were present. None of the local newspapers carry any reports during this period of incidents or investigations which might explain this level of activity.
Questions
Why the high level of security activity during this period and in particular what is the explanation for troops being airlifted to Jim Mc Cann's field towards the rear of Ashford Grange?
Were RIR personnel present in the helicopter ?
Were troops 'dug in' overnight in this area?
Witnesses were consistent in their view that there was a high level of security force activity throughout the Saturday and Sunday of the weekend in question. RIR patrols were seen in Kilwilke estate during the day and local people "couldn't understand why they were there because there was no trouble in the area."
According to the Lurgan Mail (18.3.1999) the RUC responded to a report of a suspect bag in front of a house on Victoria St at 6pm. A number of children threw stones, bottles and paint bombs at the patrol according to the report which said that the suspect bag had been removed before the arrival of the RUC. The person who removed the bag spoke to the PFC. If this was the result of a hoax no one in the area took it seriously. Nevertheless it would account for the presence of the helicopter overhead. It does not explain the checkpoints earlier in the day or the fact that the helicopter again appeared to drop troops in the field (Fox's Field) to the back and side of Tannaghmore Primary School also earlier in the day. The helicopter stayed above the area from 6pm (earliest report) until at least midnight.
Questions
Why the high level of security activity during Saturday March 13 ?
What is the explanation for troops being airlifted to Fox's Field near Tannaghmore Primary School during the day and the presence of the helicopter until 12 midnight ?
Were RIR personnel present in the helicopter ?
Were troops 'dug in' overnight in this area ?
By far the majority of witnesses who approached the PFC did so to raise their concerns about security activity on the day and night before the bomb exploded. As early as 10.45am massgoers remarked on the presence of a military helicopter above the area. One witness said that "it was directly above the Ashgrove area where I live close to Rosemary's house. This was unusual since the helicopter usually concentrated on the Kilwilke area." This continued with another resident stating that she was unable to sleep during the afternoon because of the constant drone of a helicopter. At 5pm a woman told us that on returning home she remarked on this to her husband and he replied that he had the impression while working in the garden that the helicopter was taking photographs because it was so low above the ground.
According to the Lurgan Mail (18.3.1999) the RUC were called to a suspect object outside a house in Lake St on the Sunday. Again the object had been removed before they arrived. This presumably would account for the presence of RUC landrovers parked in Lake St near the junction of Levin Rd at approximately 7.00pm. One had a spotlight shining along Levin Rd.
There was however considerable activity in the hours beforehand. Late Sunday afternoon a convoy of RUC landrovers were seen heading towards Lurgan by a woman who was then stopped at a checkpoint [1 RUC ? and a number of soldiers presumed to have been RIR] on the Annesborough Rd near the industrial estate of the same name. This route is the 'back road' from the motorway into the nationalist area of North Lurgan. Further along this road she encountered a number of army vehicles parked half way between the Mile House and the Ashgrove area where Rosemary lived. The parked vehicles were facing into town. This largely rural road is the most likely escape route used by the loyalists who planted the bomb later that night. A further checkpoint was reported at the same time near Tannaghmore School while a convoy of five RUC landrovers were seen turning from Lake St into Victoria St at around 5.30pm. Sometime shortly after 6pm troops were dropped into Fox's Field close to the Tannaghmore School. Another witness was waved through a checkpoint (1 RUC 'accompanied by military') on North St close to the junction of Lake St at around 6.30pm. Later that night motorists were stopped at checkpoints on both sides of Church Place in the town centre at 11.30pm.
The helicopter remained above the area causing another resident to comment "I thought there was trouble up the road and that was why the helicopter was present. My son came home at 7:45pm and asked me to drive him up to the Kilwilke estate. I told him that if there was trouble I wouldn't. I then drove through the Kilwilke estate and was surprised that everything was quiet and normal." This witness had the impression that the helicopter was using an "image intensifier, red light…tilting, moving backwards and forwards as if looking for something on the ground, this continued until late in the evening." Rosemary Nelson had already commented to her family on the helicopter activity on arriving home at around 6.30 that evening. Throughout the evening others expressed concern at the helicopter presence. "I remarked to my wife that something must be going on because by this time it was dark and the helicopter was still hovering over the Shore Road area of North Lurgan." Another woman who went for a walk said "I was very uneasy about all this and couldn't wait till I got back home. There was something not right about the whole thing. It was the helicopter that made me so uneasy and the fact that it was constantly over that whole area around the school." This continued until at least 2.30am. "When I went to bed after midnight it was still there. This is not usual." By this stage some were "beginning to get angry at the noise". A number of people said the helicopter was up 'all night' but the last confirmation of its presence was at 2.30am.
Questions
Why was the helicopter, which it has now been confirmed also contained RIR personnel, hovering over North Lurgan for almost 16 continuous hours ?
Was the helicopter searching for something/someone on the ground ?
What is the explanation for troops being airlifted to Fox's Field near Tannaghmore Primary School during the day and early evening?
Were troops 'dug in' overnight in this area ?
At 6am on Monday morning a mother feeding her baby noticed the noise of a helicopter overhead. There are no confirmations of helicopter activity between 2.30am and 6am. Whether this is because most people were asleep or because the helicopter had finally left the area cannot be stated with any degree of certainty.
It is clear that there was considerable activity as the morning went on. A number of people reported a peculiar incident at the railway crossing when the gates closed to allow the 10.00am train to pass. A member of an RIR patrol is reported by several people to have lifted an object 'from behind the control box' and either hand it to another member of the patrol or place it in the other soldiers rucksack. A civilian was informed by the patrol that the object, an aerosol can 7-10 inches long with wires attached, was a 'suspect device'. The area was not cleared however and it was obvious that the patrol did not regard the alleged 'suspect device' as a potential bomb. Had they done so they clearly would not have handled it.
Four witnesses were struck by the fact that RUC officers inside Lurgan RUC barracks at 10.05am and over an hour later on mobile patrol on the Old Portadown Rd were wearing boiler suits. This struck people as unusual since boiler suits are usually only worn by RUC personnel during planned search operations, in riot situations or in response to serious incidents. The mobile patrol referred to was one of the first on the scene at the bombing. There may of course be a perfectly innocent explanation but it does appear strange that officers were waiting beside their vehicles inside Lurgan RUC in apparent readiness for a serious incident over two hours before the bomb exploded.
Questions
What is the explanation for the incident with the RIR patrol at the railway crossing at 10.00am?
Was this reported by the patrol in question?
Why were RUC officers wearing boiler suits that morning?
Just before 12.45 a man told of how he had said to his wife "that I was not happy with so much security force presence on the estate (Kilwilke) and so I would collect my son from his work at lunchtime." His son was working in the Ashgrove area near the Nelson home. On the way his car was overtaken by the ambulance. He had not heard the explosion.
When the bomb exploded under the drivers seat of Rosemary Nelson's car at approximately 12.40pm a number of people in the immediate area responded. Within minutes a nurse had stopped to offer help. Rosemary's husband and sister were quickly on the scene. Another witness, one of the first on the scene, described the arrival of the first RUC vehicle, a Ford Mondeo. "…they had no siren on and they arrived on the scene very slowly. I had expected the police to arrive with sirens blaring and with some haste. They seemed to arrive almost nonchalantly. Two of the policemen got out and walked -without any haste- towards Rosemary's car." The third stayed by the Sierra and reached in for the radio. The man told how he wanted to go over and give him (the officer at the car) a "mouthful" since it had taken them so long to arrive given the "heavy police presence in the area throughout the whole morning".
Numerous accounts refer to individual members of the security forces in the area either "sniggering" "smirking" or even laughing in groups. In a detailed account the man referred to above talked of passing military landrovers on Lake St; "The soldiers had their heads sticking out the top and they were grinning from ear to ear and laughing. I was never so disgusted in all my life."
Another witness, this time at the scene of the explosion, spoke of a group of RUC men "… and every now and then they burst into laughter. During the time I was there I heard 4-5 bursts of laughter from RUC standing at (the) scene, looking at the group of relatives & neighbours who had gathered- I was so disgusted that I got into my car…". This man went up to the school where he met his wife. Both had been friends of Rosemary and they held each other, shocked and grief stricken. As they did so an RIR landrover passed at "snails pace" and one of the soldiers in the back shouted "go and cut her fucking out of it" at the couple. A local teacher described the atmosphere at 3.20pm; "the immediate thing that struck me was the jubilant, jovial, almost celebratory attitude displayed by soldiers and police. This seemed so strange bearing in mind that a mother, a local solicitor, had been brutally murdered. It just seemed totally strange to me." A colleague added, " I was disgusted at the rudeness when I approached members of the RUC near the scene of the murder. Among themselves there appeared to be a jovial mood, which changed to aggressive when dealing with the public. Two Scottish soldiers…. were laughing loudly." Confirmation that Rosemary had died from her injuries had come through ten minutes earlier.
Another resident was incensed at further derogatory comments shouted by members of an RIR patrol later that evening on the edge of the Kilwilke estate…the comments included "dozy Rosy." Since March 15 there have been reports that provocative comments have been shouted at pedestrians by passing mobile patrols. On Wednesday March 31 at around 10.20am for example three men were stopped at an RIR checkpoint near the Mahon Rd military base in Portadown. While searching the boot of the car an RIR Corporal (number 7005) is reported to have said, "she (Rosemary Nelson) was stopped for drunk driving and that the blood sample was positive, she was legless " in an apparent reference to the under car bomb.
It is a pointless exercise to put any questions in regard to the behaviour of some members of the security forces in the wake of the death of Rosemary Nelson. These complaints did not surface for the first time when the PFC arrived in Lurgan to take statements. The Lurgan Mail (3.18.1999) noted, "In the aftermath of Monday's murder of Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson a number of people gathered at the police cordon approached the 'MAIL' with complaints about the behaviour of the security forces in the area. The 'MAIL' put three questions to the police press office in an effort to reflect the questions being asked by people on the ground." One of the questions asked by the local paper was,
" Q3: Witnesses say some security force members appeared to react triumphantly to this attack. How do you respond to such criticism? A: A deplorable suggestion without any foundation. Propaganda of the blackest sort. Police at Lurgan know only too well what it is to suffer loss."
It is important to deal with the general controversy surrounding the level of security force activity on the weekend in question. In the preparation of this document we wrote to the RUC Armagh Regional Press Office at Gough Barracks. We requested "any information which could shed light on the reported high levels of security forces activity in the Lurgan area in the three weeks prior to the murder. In particular any press statements issued by your office regarding alleged bomb scares in the Lurgan area would be useful." Our request was forwarded to the Command Secretariat in Belfast and we were informed some two weeks later that this information could not be provided since it is now "part of the murder investigation." This is strange since press statements regarding the RUC response to bomb scares are routinely issued to local papers and are thus in the public domain. This brings us back to the second question asked by the Lurgan Mail in response to local concerns,
"Q2: Those in the area say there was a heavy security force presence in the area prior to Monday's attack. How did the killers slip through unnoticed? A: Incorrect. There was some security presence after hoax bomb calls on Victoria Street on Monday. We have appealed to anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area in previous days to contact us. There is nothing to suggest the bomb was planted on Monday.
The implication of the RUC response is that it is "incorrect" to suggest that there was a heavy security force presence in the area on the Monday. This is disingenuous since no one believes the bomb was planted on Monday morning during daylight hours when there was "some security presence." The heavy security presence referred to by local people pertains to the Sunday evening and the early hours of Monday morning. There is every reason to suggest that the bomb was planted during the hours of darkness between Sunday night and Monday morning. It is in fact incorrect for the RUC to claim that there is "nothing to suggest the bomb was planted on Monday."
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Introduction