His leadership was endorsed by the UVF's leader Gusty Spence. Jackson was never charged with the Miami atrocity. He was then machine-gunned 22 times, mostly in the face, as he lay supine on the ground. [40] Three of the musicians were killed: lead singer Fran O'Toole, trumpeter Brian McCoy, and guitarist Tony Geraghty. Chris Hudson, a former intermediary between the government of Ireland and the UVF, whose role was crucial to the Northern Ireland peace process. [41] Fran O'Toole attempted to run away, but was quickly chased down by the gunmen who had immediately jumped down into the field in pursuit. [30] The UVF's plan was that the bomb would explode once the minibus had reached Newry, killing all on board. Please check your inbox to verify your details, Now download the free app for all the latest Sunday World News, Crime, Irish Showbiz and Sport. [22] Near the junction with Buskhill Road they were flagged down by armed men dressed in British Army uniforms waving a red torch in a circular motion. Organisieren, kontrollieren, verteilen und messen Sie alle Ihre digitalen Inhalte. Survivors and relatives of those murdered in the Miami Showband massacre are to receive nearly 1.5m (1.75m) in total damages to settle claims over . I was given a sub-machine gun but I had never fired it. In prison John Somerville lived a reclusive life. He added that had the death penalty not been abolished, it would have been imposed in this case. [30][32], McCoy, son of the Orange Order's Grand Master for County Tyrone,[33] had close relatives in the security forces; his brother-in-law was a former member of the B Specials which had been disbanded in 1970. Optimieren Sie Ihren Workflow mit unserem erstklassigen Digitalen Asset Management System. Everybody was respectful to Brian". He was also one of the prime suspects in the sectarian killing of Dorothy Traynor on 1 April 1975 in Portadown. [17][87], During the six years from the onset of "the Troubles" until the July 1975 attack, there had never been an incident involving any of the showbands. The explosion ripped through the building, killing 21-year-old married woman Marion Bowen, who was eight months pregnant at the time. He lay hidden in thick undergrowth, face down, undetected by the gunmen. In a report published in the Sunday Mirror in 1999, Colin Wills called the Miami Showband attack "one of the worst atrocities in the 30-year history of the Troubles". But as the death toll mounted, so did Somerville's drinking. [69] Stephen Travers decried: "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". [4] The UVF had cut all ties with Somerville after he had opposed the 1994 ceasefire. And two years later when he was scooped in an RUC raid in Dungannon on September 26, 1980, he made a detailed confession outlining his involvement in numerous UVF murders. The Miami Showband massacre in 1975, had a devastating effect on the showband and live music scene. [21][36] He suggested that had all gone according to plan, the loyalist extremists would have been able to clandestinely bomb the Republic of Ireland, yet claim that the band were republican bomb-smugglers carrying explosives on behalf of the IRA. It had been set up in Lurgan in 1972 by part-time Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) sergeant and permanent staff instructor Billy Hanna, who made himself commander of the brigade. [83] Journalists Kevin Dowling and Liam Collins in the Irish Independent however, suggested in their respective articles that Jackson had been the leader of the unit. [35] Regarding the soldier with the English accent, Dillon wrote:[75]. "Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, Sub-Committee on the Barron Report", "The Miami Showband Massacre, 1975: A Survivor's Search for the Truth", "Miami Showband Massacre: Involvement of UVF Man Robin Jackson". [12] Journalist Joe Tiernan suggested that Hanna was shot for refusing to participate in the Miami Showband attack and that he had become an informer for the Garda in exchange for immunity from prosecution for the Dublin bombings. [88], Travers travelled to Belfast in 2006 for a secret meeting with the second-in-command of the UVF's Brigade Staff, in an attempt to come to terms with the killing of his former colleagues and friends. [48] Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville were UDR soldiers as well as holding the rank of major and lieutenant, respectively, in the UVF. The gunman turned him round, punched him hard in the back and pushed him on the shoulder back into the line-up. Ashford had been asked to leave the band in 1973, for complaining that performing in Northern Ireland put their lives at risk. "After the explosion, the red mist came down and I went mad with a machine-gun," he once told a fellow loyalist prisoner. They were: lead vocalist and keyboard player Fran O'Toole, 28, Catholic; guitarist Anthony (Tony) Geraghty, 24, Catholic, from Dublin; trumpeter Brian McCoy, 32, Protestant, from Caledon, County Tyrone; saxophonist Des McAlea (a.k.a. Driven by a personal tragedy, a pianist-turned-lawyer navigates the complex world of divorce fighting for his clients to win by any means necessary. [15][16] A report in the Irish Times implicated Jackson in the Dublin bombings. According to former Intelligence Corps agent Captain Fred Holroyd, the killings were organised by British intelligence officer Robert Nairac, together with the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade and its commander Robin "the Jackal" Jackson. [47] The RT programme Today Tonight aired a documentary in 1987 in which it claimed that former UVF associates of Harris Boyle revealed to the programme's researchers that Nairac had deliberately detonated the bomb to eliminate Boyle, with whom he had carried out the Green killing. Martin Dillon suggested in The Dirty War that at least five serving UDR soldiers were present at the checkpoint. The incident had an adverse effect on the Irish showband scene, with many of the bands afraid to play in Northern Ireland. A". Somerville told other paramilitary prisoners how detectives repeatedly tried to persuade him to become a Special Branch tout operating inside the UVF. [33], A stamp was issued in Ireland on 22 September 2010 commemorating the Miami Showband. According to Martin Dillon, the order to shoot was given by the patrol's apparent leader, James McDowell,[36] to eliminate witnesses to the bogus checkpoint and subsequent bombing. [19] In early 1973, Billy MacDonald (a.k.a. By the mid-1980s, the showbands had lost their appeal for the Irish public; although The Miami Showband, albeit with a series of different line-ups, did not disband until 1986. [4][22][74] In his book The Dirty War, Martin Dillon adamantly dismissed the allegation that Nairac had been present. Gaelic footballer brothers John Martin Reavey (24) and Brian (22) died at the scene, while 17-year-old Anthony died three weeks later. The plaque describes them as having been "killed in action". And after stopping GAA fans 22-year-old Colm McCartney and 32-year-old John Farmer, they shot them dead. As the UUUC would not abide any form of power-sharing with the Dublin government, no agreement could be reached and the convention failed, again marginalising Northern Ireland's politicians and the communities they represented. It allows for commemoration and leaving of flowers at the location itself. It was . When three young musicians lost their lives on 31 July 1975, the heart was torn out of Ireland's showband community. The Miami Showband minibus with five members in all was stopped at a bogus army checkpoint in Northern Ireland and three were killed and two, including Travers, badly injured in July 1975. [47] The UVF gunmen had worn green UDR berets, whereas the other man's had been lighter in colour. He . The RUC suggested the IRA had meant to attack a police minibus in revenge for the Miami killings, but had mistakenly attacked a civilian minibus instead. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. It was released under the heading Ulster Central Intelligence Agency Miami Showband Incident Report:[20][48][42]. The latest from Netflix's ReMastered series focusses on the Miami Showband massacre, which took place at Banbridge, Co. Down on July 31, 1975. The band was . [34][81][82] The panel stated that it was unclear why Crozier, Jackson and Neill were not in police custody at the time the Miami Showband killings took place. [30][39], When the device was tilted on its side,[30] clumsy soldering on the clock used as a timer caused the bomb to explode prematurely, blowing the minibus apart and killing UVF men Harris Boyle (aged 22, a telephone wireman from Portadown) and Wesley Somerville (aged 34, a textile worker from Moygashel) instantly. [58], Following the post-mortems, funerals were held for the three slain musicians; they received televised news coverage by RT, Ireland's public service broadcaster. Jackson was convinced Hanna was a Special Branch informer and he feared he may spill details of the imminent Miami attack to his RUC handler. [23], According to the Irish Times, at the height of Irish showbands' popularity (from the 1950s to the 1970s), up to as many as 700 bands travelled to venues all over Ireland on a nightly basis.[24]. "They also hoped he would one day take over the leadership of the organisation in mid-Ulster when Robin 'The Jackal' Jackson either stood down or was executed.". [68] McDowell had pleaded guilty. [30] Travers, the band's new bass player, assumed he was a British Army officer, an opinion shared by McCoy. [68] During the trial, Des McAlea had received death threats which made him fear for the safety of his family; this caused him to eventually leave Northern Ireland. Geraghty was engaged to be married. ;UVF killer Harris Boyle who died in the attack. At least four of the gunmen were soldiers from the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), and all were members of the UVF. The Historical Enquiries Team investigated the killings and released their report to the victims' families in December 2011. I only came into it because of my UDR connection and the fact that I had a uniform. 50 True-Crime Documentaries on Netflix | 2023 . He also added that "that bomb was definitely placed there with a view to killing all in that band".[22]. The UVF maintains regular border patrols due to the continued activity of the Provisional IRA. Five people were killed, including three members of The Miami Showband, who were then one of Ireland's most popular cabaret bands. [10][11] Hanna was named by former British Intelligence Corps operative Colin Wallace as having organised and led the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, along with Jackson. Somerville said: "I'm not going to make excuses for my past. They sprung terror attacks in south Armagh, south Down, east Tyrone and even as far away as south Derry. Crime Scene Photos The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office released graphics images this week, taken in the aftermath of 27-year-old Christian Obumseli's death. [4], In May 1974, unionists called a general strike to protest against the Sunningdale Agreement an attempt at power-sharing, setting up a Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland, which would have given the Government of Ireland a voice in running Northern Ireland. It also devastated the burgeoning live music scene in Northern Ireland.. [85], The Pat Finucane Centre has named the Miami Showband killings as one of the 87 violent attacks perpetrated by the Glenanne gang against the Irish nationalist community in the 1970s. Crozier had pleaded not guilty. [22][44], One of the first RUC men who arrived at Buskhill in the wake of the killings was scenes of crime officer James O'Neill. [4][22] McAlea made his way up the embankment to the main road where he hitched a lift to alert the RUC at their barracks in Newry. The Miami Showband reformed in 2008, with Stephen Travers, Des McAlea, and Ray Millar, plus new members. The following year, Fran O'Toole became the band's lead vocalist after Mick Roche (Billy Mac's replacement) was sacked. [65] Earlier that night, three RUC officers in an unmarked car had been stopped at a checkpoint but allowed through. Jackson informed Frazer that John Somerville was due for release. 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"[54] In May 1976, Robin Jackson's fingerprints were discovered on the metal barrel of a home-made silencer constructed for a Luger. In photographs of the Miami Showband in the 1970s he is a slim and beautiful young man in blue denim , bright-eyed and brimming with fun and music and confidence in himself and in the future.. Verzamel, beheer en geef commentaar bij uw bestanden. Other photographs in the set show similar injuries to all four limbs, his buttocks and face. [36], Des McAlea and Stephen Travers heard two of the gunmen rummaging in the back of the minibus, where they both kept their respective instruments. The only identifiable body part from the bombers to survive the blast (which had been heard up to 4 miles (6.4km) away) was a severed arm belonging to Wesley Somerville. On April 17, 1975, Somerville and Jackson blew up a Catholic-owned cottage which was being renovated at Killyliss between Dungannon and Ballygawley. However, Martin Dillon alleged that the bomb was meant to go off in the Irish Republic. "John said the cops told him there was no need for him to go to prison. 1.6K. Just after the arrival of this mysterious soldier, McCoy nudged Travers, who was standing beside him, and reassured him by saying "Don't worry Stephen, this is British Army". They were driving home from a Gaelic football match in Dublin. [25] As McCoy rolled down the window and produced his driving licence, gunmen came up to the minibus and one of them said in a Northern Irish accent, "Goodnight, fellas. It was my own personal feelings and convictions at the time these things happened. Two days before, Jackson and Somerville had carried out a bomb and gun attack at McGleenan's pub in Armagh, killing its owner Jack McGleenan and customers Patrick Hughes and Thomas Morris. Robin Jackson died of cancer in May 1998 aged 49. He then drove to a lay-by on the Newry-Banbridge dual carriageway and met up with another five men, who were all wearing British Army uniforms. [62] However, police have blamed the IRA. The Miami Showband were an Irish showband in the 1960s and 1970s led firstly in 1962 by singer Jimmy Harte, followed by Dickie Rock and later by Fran O'Toole. [96], In a report on Nairac's alleged involvement in the massacre, published in the Sunday Mirror newspaper on 16 May 1999, Colin Wills called the ambush "one of the worst atrocities in the 30-year history of the Troubles". She also thinks that had everything gone to plan once the bomb was planted in the van McCoy would have been instructed to drive through Newry where the bomb would have gone off and the UVF could then afterwards portray the Miami Showband as IRA members on a mission to blow up the local RUC barracks. Irish Times diarist Frank McNally summed up the massacre as "an incident that encapsulated all the madness of the time". Journalist Emily O'Reilly noted in the Sunday Tribune that none of the three men convicted of the massacre ever implicated Nairac in the attack or accused him of causing Boyle's death. [34], Thomas Crozier recounted that on the night of the killings, he had driven to the grounds of a school in Lurgan where he had picked up two men. In his flat - which few people visited - Somerville kept a large photograph of Robin Jackson on the wall of his living room. [55] Robin Jackson died of cancer on 30 May 1998, aged 49. Two of the gunmen were attempting to plant a time bomb on the vehicle, when it prematurely exploded and killed them. [62][64], On 24 August 1975, Catholic civilians Colm McCartney and Sean Farmer were stopped in their car at what is believed to have been another fake checkpoint at Altnamackin (near Newtownhamilton). [9] According to authors Paul Larkin and Martin Dillon, Jackson was accompanied by Harris Boyle when he killed Hanna. As a teenager with strongly held anti-Catholic views, Somerville joined the B Specials, but he later went to sea as a member of the Merchant Navy. Jackson had assumed command of the Mid-Ulster UVF just a few days before the Miami Showband attack, after allegedly shooting Hanna dead outside his home in Lurgan on 27 July 1975. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland. [5] Their fears were slightly grounded in fact, as the MI6 officer Michael Oatley was involved in negotiations with a member of the IRA Army Council, during which "structures of disengagement" from Ireland were discussed. The scene of the Miami Showband Killings on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland, 31st July 1975. The mother of the late singer-rapper Aaron Carter released photos of the scene of his death Wednesday, calling for a "real . 2023 Getty Images. The year 1975 was marked by an escalation in sectarian attacks and a vicious feud between the two main loyalist paramilitary groups, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). [42], When the RUC arrived at the site they found five dead bodies, a seriously injured Stephen Travers, body parts, the smoldering remains of the destroyed minibus, debris from the bomb blast, bullets, spent cartridges and the band members' personal possessions, including clothing, shoes and a photograph of the group, strewn across the area. They received the blessing of jailed UVF leader Gusty Spence, who was serving life for the Malvern Street murder and shootings in 1966. [19], The 1975 line-up comprised four Catholics and two Protestants. With Dublin-born singer [Jimmy Harte] as frontman followed by Dickie Rock as frontman, the Miami Showband underwent many personnel changes over the years. The Provisional IRA carried out the bombing of two pubs in the English city of Birmingham the following November, resulting in 21 deaths. Findings in a report carried out by the PSNI's Historic Enquiries Team into the Miami atrocity stated that there was fingerprint evidence linking Robin Jackson to the attack. The ruthless UVF killer fell into a deep depression fuelled by alcohol. [4] He spoke with an educated English accent and immediately took charge, ordering a man who appeared to have been the leader of the patrol to tell Crozier to obtain their names and dates of birth instead of addresses. In January 2015, he was found dead in his Shankill Road flat. Travers had described the English-accented man as having been of normal height and thought he had fair hair, but was not certain. He was charged with the Miami Showband murders, the attempted murder of Stephen Travers, and the murder of Patrick Falls in 1974. The Miami Showband killings (also called the Miami Showband Massacre) was an attack by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group, on 31 July 1975. [69], A third person, former UDR soldier John James Somerville (aged 37, a lorry-helper and the brother of Wesley), was arrested following an RUC raid in Dungannon on 26 September 1980. Assuming it was a legitimate checkpoint, McCoy informed the others inside the minibus of a military checkpoint up ahead and pulled in at the lay-by as directed by the armed men. Ray Millar, the band's drummer, was not with them as he had chosen to go to his home town of Antrim to spend the night with his parents. As Maguire continued ahead, up the by-pass toward Newry, he noticed a blue Triumph 2000 pulling-out from where it had been parked in a lay-by. It had been travelling from Banbridge to Bleary with nine people on board; all were Catholics and most had been returning from a regular bingo session. [53] The judge, by sentencing McDowell and Crozier to 35 years imprisonment each, had handed down the longest life sentences in the history of Northern Ireland; he commented that "killings like the Miami Showband must be stopped". [46] Some time after the attack, RUC officers questioned Stephen Travers at Dublin Castle. Two of the gunmen, both soldiers, died when a time bomb they were hiding on the minibus exploded prematurely. The Glenanne gang was a loose alliance of loyalist extremists allegedly operating under the command of British Military Intelligence and/or RUC Special Branch. The 55-cent stamp, designed with a 1967 publicity photograph of the band, included two of the slain members, Fran O'Toole and Brian McCoy, as part of the line-up when Dickie Rock was the frontman. The patrol sergeant immediately ordered the patrol to shoot back. This had meant the possible withdrawal of British troops from Northern Ireland. They Cloned Tyrone. No one forced me. "The arm belonged to John's brother Wesley, who was killed in the Miami explosion. On July 30, 1972, the final details. The two men were found shot dead nearby. The government held the view that the British Government had not done enough to stop sectarian assassinations in Northern Ireland. He believed it was based on the erroneous linkage of Nairac to the earlier murder of IRA man John Francis Green in County Monaghan the same pistol was used in both attacks. [37] They had hoped to embarrass the Government of Ireland, as well as to draw attention to its level of control of the border.