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What little that remained intact of their bodies was burnt beyond recognition; one of the limbless torsos was completely charred.[20]. They were prepared to travel anywhere in Ireland to perform for their fans. . The scene of the Miami Showband killings in County Down, Northern Ireland, on 31 July 1975. Five members of the Dublin-based band were travelling home after a performance at the Castle Ballroom in Banbridge, County Down, on Thursday 31 July 1975. Bei kommerzieller Verwendung sowie fr verkaufsfrdernde Zwecke kontaktieren Sie bitte Ihr. [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. [18] More uniformed men appeared from out of the darkness, their guns pointed at the minibus. Weir's affidavit implicating Robin Jackson in a number of attacks including the 1974 Dublin bombings was published in the 2003 Barron Report; the findings of an official investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings commissioned by Irish Supreme Court Judge Henry Barron. According to RT, "Their families were in deep mourning and Ireland mourned with them". It is obvious, therefore, that the UVF patrol was justified in taking the action it did and that the killing of the three Showband members should be regarded as justifiable homicide. I only came into it because of my UDR connection and the fact that I had a uniform. 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. The dead bombers were named by the UVF, in a statement issued within 12 hours of the attack. Robin Jackson died of cancer in May 1998 aged 49. [35] Dillon also opined in God and the Gun: The Church and Irish Terrorism that the dead bombers, Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, had actually led the UVF gang at Buskhill. [55] Robin Jackson died of cancer on 30 May 1998, aged 49. Three UVF members are being treated for gunshot wounds after last night but not in hospital. [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. They had seven number one records on the Irish singles chart . The attack was carried out by loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and took place while the group, a popular cabaret band, were travelling home to Dublin after a performance. The IRA said it killed him because of an alleged association with British Army officer and member of 14th Intelligence Company, Captain Robert Nairac, and claimed it was in possession of his diary, which had been stolen in Portadown.[61]. It was one of a series of four stamps issued by An Post, celebrating the "golden age of the Irish showband era from the 1950s to the 1970s".[24]. He described the scene as having "just the smell of utterly death about the place burning blood, burning tyres". It would appear that the UVF patrol surprised members of a terrorist organisation transferring weapons to the Miami Showband minibus and that an explosive device of some description was being carried by the Showband for an unlawful purpose. [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. That same year, keyboardist Francis (Fran) O'Toole (from Bray, County Wicklow) had won the Gold Star Award on RT's Reach For the Stars television programme. Pat Finucane Centre. [21][84], Former British soldier and writer Ken Wharton published in his book Wasted Years, Wasted Lives, Volume 1, an alternative theory that was suggested to him by loyalist paramilitarism researcher Jeanne Griffin; this was that the ambush was planned by Robin Jackson as an elaborate means of eliminating trumpet player Brian McCoy. From left: Steve Travers, Tony Geraghty, Ray Millar, Brian McCoy, Fran O'Toole, Des Lee. I got them with dum-dums". Jackson was charged with possession of the silencer but not convicted, the trial judge having reportedly said: "At the end of the day I find that the accused somehow touched the silencer, but the Crown evidence has left me completely in the dark as to whether he did that wittingly or unwittingly, willingly or unwillingly". The Miami Showband (1962-1996 and 2008-present) Photo Gallery - Band Lineups - Discography - Audio samples - Where Are They Now? [72][73] Surviving band members Stephen Travers and Des McAlea told police and later testified in court that a British Army officer with a "crisp, clipped English accent" oversaw the attack, the implication being that this was Nairac. However, later forensics established that Boyle and Somerville were putting the bomb under the driver's seat and as it tilted on its side it detonated. There was very little planning. The scene of the Miami Showband killings in County Down, Northern Ireland, on 31 July 1975. Survivors Stephen Travers and Des McAlea were both present at the unveiling, as was the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who made a tribute. Organiseer, beheer, distribueer en meet al uw digitale content. Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actions, "Sunningdale pushed hardliners into fatal outrages in 1974", "Events: Dublin and Monaghan Bombs Chronology of Events", "Collusion in the South Armagh / Mid Ulster Area in the mid-1970s", "All About the Miami Showband (19611996)", "The Miami Band Lined Up Against the Van. At the precise moment of the explosion, the patrol came under intense automatic fire from the occupants of the other vehicle. [79] and that none of the perpetrators ever offered him an apology. 50 True-Crime Documentaries on Netflix | 2023 . It is fronted by McAlea, who returned to Northern Ireland the same year after living in South Africa since about 1982. [44] The independent panel of inquiry commissioned by the Pat Finucane Centre concluded that there was "credible evidence that the principal perpetrator [of the Miami Showband attack] was a man who was not prosecuted alleged RUC Special Branch agent Robin Jackson". [58] He was later shot dead in Portadown on 25 January 1976, allegedly by Jackson for having informed the RUC about Thomas Crozier's participation in the attack. The two men were found shot dead nearby. The band is remembered in the song "The Miami" by English folk singer-songwriter Jez Lowe on his album Jack Commons Anthem. Although not a member of any loyalist paramilitary group,[26] he was a close friend of Harris Boyle and the two were often seen together. Our source also claimed John Somerville told him that in an attempt to break him, a police officer entered the interrogation room carrying a severed human arm in a plastic bag. But by this time, he was ready to go to jail. The Gruesome Death Scene Launch Gallery. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland. 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. [22], According to Peter Taylor, the Provisional IRA's gun and bomb attack on the loyalist Bayardo Bar in Belfast's Shankill Road on 13 August was in retaliation for the Miami Showband ambush. Travers was not able to positively identify Nairac, from his photograph, as having been the man at Buskhill. The RUC were led to him through his glasses which had been found at the murder scene. [19] [97] Irish Times diarist, Frank McNally, summed up the massacre as "an incident that encapsulated all the madness of the time". They were both present when the Miami Showband bomb exploded, but the shootings which followed seconds later - including the slaughter of Fran O'Toole - were mainly the work of John Somerville. 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 six-strong group were one of the biggest acts on the Irish music scene throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Unlike Jackson, Somerville was arrested in the wake of the Miami atrocity, but he refused to make a statement and was released without charge. Asked whether he had anything valuable inside the case, Travers replied no. [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. He was then machine-gunned 22 times, mostly in the face, as he lay supine on the ground. UVF serial killer John Somerville told how detectives repeatedly tried to persuade him to become Special Branch tout and avoid jail, No remorse: Miami Showband killer John Somerville. [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". [89] Hudson, a Unitarian minister, had been a close friend of Fran O'Toole. The night after the Miami Showband massacre, gunmen shot a minibus near Gilford. The HET said the killings raised "disturbing questions about collusive and corrupt behaviour". As they began to enter the vehicle, a bomb was detonated and both men were killed outright. Five people were killed, including three members of The Miami Showband, who were one of Ireland's most popular cabaret bands. As they were being questioned, Major Boyle and Lieutenant Somerville began to search the minibus. The attack was carried out by loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and took place while the group, a popular cabaret band, were travelling home to Dublin after a performance. Photograph: Independent News and Media/Getty Images [18][22] Meanwhile, two other gunmen at the front of the minibus were placing the briefcase containing the bomb under the driver's seat. In January 2015, he was found dead in his Shankill Road flat. "Billy Mac") took over as the group's frontman when the Simon brothers quit the band. The Mid-Ulster Battalion has been assisting the South Down-South Armagh units since the IRA Forkhill boobytrap which killed four British soldiers. [100] According to the report, Jackson had claimed during police interrogations that after the shootings, a senior RUC officer had advised him to "lie low". Ashford had been asked to leave the band in 1973, for complaining that performing in Northern Ireland put their lives at risk. [77] However, Ministry of Defence documents released in 2020 contain suggestions that Nairac acquired equipment and uniforms for the Miami Showband killers, and that he was responsible for the planning and execution of the attack itself. Pinnwnde sind ideal zum Speichern von Bildern und Videoclips. Using self-loading rifles and sub-machine guns, the patrol shot back, killing three of their attackers and wounding another. The Miami Showband's surviving members Des Lee, Ray Miller and Stephen Travers Credit . Died from several gunshot wounds. [5], UK Home Secretary Roy Jenkins introduced the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which gave the government unprecedented powers against the liberty of individuals in the United Kingdom in peacetime. Concerned they might be damaged, McAlea first approached the two gunmen and asked if he could remove his saxophone. RM G4PYFC - Miami Showband massacre RM EC8F8C - London, UK. 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.. 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. The gunman turned him round, punched him hard in the back and pushed him on the shoulder back into the line-up. At about 2:30am, when the band was seven miles (11km) north of Newry on the main A1 road, their Volkswagen minibus (driven by trumpeter Brian McCoy with bassist Stephen Travers in the front seat beside him) reached the townland of Buskhill. Stroomlijn uw workflow met ons toonaangevende beheersysteem voor digitale bestanden. Boards zijn de beste plekken om beelden en videoclips op te slaan. [76] Retired diplomat Alistair Kerr wrote a biography of Nairac entitled "Betrayal: the Murder of Robert Nairac" published in 2015, which offers documentary evidence that clears Nairac of having been at Buskhill overseeing the attack. Almost his entire head was destroyed. [33], A stamp was issued in Ireland on 22 September 2010 commemorating the Miami Showband. Notorious loyalist serial killer Robin Jackson. December 29, 2022 by Corinne Sullivan. [18][27] The unsuspecting band members got out and were politely told to line up facing the ditch at the rear of the minibus with their hands on their heads. [81] Martin Dillon maintained in The Dirty War that the Miami Showband attack was planned weeks before at a house in Portadown, and the person in charge of the overall operation was a former UDR man, whom Dillon referred to for legal reasons as "Mr. With Dublin-born singer [Jimmy Harte] as frontman followed by Dickie Rock as frontman, the Miami Showband underwent many personnel changes over the years. But our investigations this week revealed that shortly before he died, Jackson sent for self-confessed loyalist gunrunner Willie Frazer, also now deceased. Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville were given UVF paramilitary funerals conducted by Free Presbyterian minister William McCrea, a Democratic Unionist Party politician. While the Miami is synonymous, for many, with the atrocity, the musical tells the whole story of the band, Lynch says, from when it re-formed in 1967, and Fran O'Toole and Des Lee first joined . [3] The UVF would be once more banned by the British government on 3 October 1975. They sprung terror attacks in south Armagh, south Down, east Tyrone and even as far away as south Derry. 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. After receiving radio confirmation that there were no authorised checkpoints in the area that night, they reported the incident and requested help from the British Army to investigate it, but no action was taken. Jane Carter says late son received many threats prior to his death. [2] On 4 April 1974, the proscription against the UVF had been lifted by Merlyn Rees, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. [19], The 1975 line-up comprised four Catholics and two Protestants. 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". In late 1974, the Miami Showband's song "Clap Your Hands and Stomp Your Feet" (featuring O'Toole on lead vocals) reached no. On 15 October 1976, Crozier and McDowell both received life sentences for the Miami Showband murders. [56], Within 12 hours of the attack, the UVF's Brigade Staff (Belfast leadership based on the Shankill Road) issued a statement. [84], The families held a press conference in Dublin after the report was released. Halfway to Newry, their minibus was stopped at what appeared to be a military checkpoint where gunmen in British Army uniforms ordered them to line up by the roadside. Three band members were taken from their tour bus and shot . [51] An independent panel of inquiry commissioned by the Pat Finucane Centre has established that among the weapons actually used in the killings were two Sterling submachine guns and a 9mm Luger pistol serial no. [68] McDowell had pleaded guilty. [22][91] It was revealed in Peter Taylor's book Loyalists that "the Craftsman" had been instrumental in bringing about the 1994 Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) ceasefire. The submachine guns, which had been stolen years earlier from a former member of the B Specials,[52] were linked to prior and later sectarian killings, whereas the Luger had been used to kill leading IRA member John Francis Green the previous January. 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. Miami 1975 - The Massacre In early 1975, bassist Steve Travers replaced Dave Monks. (Part of the Independent Newspapers Ireland/NLI Collection) (Photo by Independent News and Media/Getty Images), 3928x2594px (33,26 x 21,96 cm) - 300 dpi - 5 MB. A musician who survived the Miami showband massacre has, 40 years on, made an appeal to trace a young couple who helped him at the time.