Statement of Miami Showband families
and survivors
in response to the findings of the
Historical Enquiries Team into the murders of
Anthony Geraghty, Brian McCoy and Francis OToole
14th December 2011
Good morning everybody and thank you all for coming.
We, the families of Tony, Brian and Fran, as well as survivors Stephen
and Des, have waited a very long time, over 36 years in fact, to learn
the circumstances surrounding the deaths of our loved ones who were shot
down so brutally and so callously in the early hours of a summer morning.
The Historical Enquiries Team finds:
- That Tony, Brian and Fran were murdered at a bogus British army checkpoint
on the A1 Belfast to Dublin Road near the junction with Buskhill Road,
Co. Down at 2 am on Thursday, 31st July 1975;
- The murder was a planned attack, carried out by a UVF gang, which
included a number of serving UDR soldiers. Most of them were wearing
British army uniforms;
- The presence of two men, acting suspiciously at the Castle Ballroom,
Banbridge, suggests that the Miami Showband was being observed;
- The interception point on the A1 beside a UDR shooting-range was
pre-selected and a spotter was positioned in a vehicle to
drive ahead of the minibus and warn the gang of the bands imminent
arrival;
- The original intention of the perpetrators seems to have been, under
the guise of a legitimate military road check, to hide a bomb on the
minibus. If the original plan had been successful, the band would have
continued on their journey south and at some point the device would
have exploded, killing them all. The band could then have been portrayed
as being killed by a bomb they were transporting while involved in moving
explosives for the IRA;
- However, the bomb detonated prematurely while being covertly placed
in the minibus by Wesley Somerville and Harris Boyle, killing both of
them;
- All the band members survived the blast, although shocked and injured.
The loyalist gang then opened fire on the defenceless men, at close
range and with automatic weapons. The intention was to kill them all
and leave no witnesses. As a consequence, Tony, Brian and Fran were
killed, Stephen Travers was seriously wounded and Des McAlea injured;
- The UVF admitted responsibility for the attack;
- The original RUC investigation led to the arrests of UVF members,
including members of the Ulster Defence Regiment. Thomas Raymond Crozier
was soon implicated in the murders while other suspects admitted to
different sectarian murders and bombings;
- Spectacles found at the scene led to the arrest and charging of James
Roderick Shane McDowell. Both McDowell and Crozier were serving members
of the UDR at the time of the murders and had used their military uniforms
and expertise to facilitate the attack;
- John James Somerville, brother of Wesley, was subsequently arrested
in 1980 for other matters. He admitted his involvement in the Miami
murders while in custody as well as the murder of Patrick Falls. Mr.
Falls was a 49-year-old pharmacist and father of six young children
shot dead near Coalisland on November 20th 1974.
- Crozier, McDowell and Somerville were all convicted of the murders
of Tony, Brian and Fran and other serious offences. They were all sentenced
to life imprisonment. Somerville was also convicted of the attempted
murder of Stephen Travers. None of the three was convicted of my attempted
murder.
- Since it is believed that at least 10 attackers were involved, this
means that five perpetrators were never brought to justice.
- Ballistic reports link six firearms to the attack. These weapons
were used in other murders, attempted murders and robberies. (This linkage
will be explained more fully shortly)
- The Miami Showband was a hugely popular group, young men who lived
for their music and their families.
- They became the victims of a sectarian murder gang, amongst whose
members were former and serving military personnel
- Stephen Travers and Des McAlea recall one of the attackers as being
more authoritative than the others and that he spoke with a posh
English accent. The HET believes that the man with the smart bearing
and posh accent was McDowell. Stephen Travers and Des McAlea are both
adamant that the man with the posh accent was English. The issue of
whether an Englishman was present cannot be resolved to everyones
satisfaction.
- The most alarming HET finding concerns the involvement of Robin Jackson,
aka The Jackal, a notorious UVF member. Jackson was arrested
at an early stage in the enquiry, but was released without charge. The
HET review found disturbing evidence that Jackson was tipped-off in
May 1976 that his fingerprints had been found on a silencer attached
to the Luger pistol used in the Miami murders.
Jackson claimed that two RUC officers, one a Detective Superintendent,
had advised him, in Jackson's words: to clear as there was a wee
job up the country that he would be done for'.
We are about to provide you with further detail on this HET finding.
- The HET conclusion is: To the objective, impartial observer,
disturbing questions about collusive and corrupt behaviour are raised.
The HET review has found no means to assuage or rebut these concerns
and that is a deeply troubling matter.
- We believe the only conclusion possible arising from the HET report
is that one of the most prolific Loyalist murderers of the conflict
was an RUC Special Branch agent and was involved in the Miami Showband
attack.
These dreadful murders absolutely tore apart our lives and those of our
families. They left two young women without their husbands and four very
young children fatherless.
We hope that this report can bring some closure to us and help us to
come to terms with our terrible loss. It has been particularly devastating
for us to learn that, in all likelihood, one of those involved in the
murders of our loved ones was an agent of RUC Special Branch. We intend
to pursue this issue with the authorities in the North.
Thank you...
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