53-805: Captain Robert Laurence Nairac GC (31 August 1948 – 15 May 1977) was a British Army officer in the Grenadier Guards. He was abducted by republicans from a pub in Dromintee , South Armagh , during an undercover operation he was undertaking and killed by the IRA . His death occurred during his fourth tour of duty in Northern Ireland as a Military Intelligence liaison officer. Several men were imprisoned for his murder and abduction. His body has never been found. Nairac
106-622: A MP , told the House of Commons that Nairac was quite likely to have been the person who organised the Miami Showband killings and that the same gun that was used by Nairac on his cross-border trip to assassinate John Francis Green was used in the Miami showband massacre. Livingstone concluded: There is something rotten at the heart of the British security services, and we will not have
159-446: A 24-year-old IRA member from the village of Meigh outside Newry , was convicted of Nairac's murder. Townson was the son of an Englishman who had married a County Meath woman. He confessed to killing Nairac and implicated other members of the unit involved. Townson made two admissible confessions to Garda officers. The first was made around the time of his arrest, it started with "I shot the British captain. He never told us anything. He
212-694: A brother. He attended preparatory school at Gilling Castle , a feeder school for Ampleforth College , a Catholic public school , which he attended a year later. Whilst at Ampleforth he academically excelled, was head of his house and played rugby for the school. He became friends with the sons of Lord Killanin and went to stay with the family in Dublin and in Spiddal in Connemara , County Galway . Nairac read medieval and military history at Lincoln College, Oxford , where he excelled in sport; he played for
265-549: A crisp English accent oversaw the Miami attack", the implication being that this was Nairac. Travers was uncertain whether or not Nairac was the man overseeing the attack, stating that his distinct impression was that the man had fair hair, in contrast to Nairac's dark hair. Fred Holroyd and John Weir also linked Nairac to the Green and Miami Showband killings. Martin Dillon , however, in his book The Dirty War , maintained that Nairac
318-685: A field in the Ravensdale Woods in the north of County Louth , where a member of the IRA joined the abduction group. Following a violent interrogation, during which Nairac was allegedly punched, kicked, pistol-whipped and hit with a wooden post, he was shot dead at that place. He did not admit to his true identity. Terry McCormick, one of Nairac's abductors, posed as a priest in order to try to elicit information by way of Nairac's confession . Nairac's last words according to McCormick were: "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned". His disappearance sparked
371-663: A large-scale search throughout Ireland. The hunt in Northern Ireland was led by Major H. Jones , Brigade Major at HQ 3rd Infantry Brigade . Nairac and Jones had become friends and Nairac would sometimes eat supper at the Jones household. After a four-day search, the Garda Síochána confirmed to the RUC that they had reliable evidence of Nairac's killing. The stated view that his body was disposed of by being put through
424-489: A meat grinder have been dismissed as a myth. For example, an edition of Spotlight , broadcast on 19 June 2007, asserted that his body was not destroyed in a meat grinder, as alleged by an unnamed IRA source. McCormick, who was on the run in the United States for thirty years because of his involvement in the killing (including being the first to attack Nairac in the car park), was told by a senior IRA commander that he
477-552: A parent unit. Trained surveillance operators could volunteer for re-deployment after a period with the parent unit, with potential opportunities to serve in command, staff or training roles within the organisation or higher command structure. While the unit was active, there was a wide variety of firearms utilized by the unit. 14 Intelligence was accused of acting in collusion with loyalist paramilitaries by former intelligence personnel Fred Holroyd and Colin Wallace in regards to
530-572: A rank insignia based on the two bands of a naval lieutenant with the addition of an eagle and crown above the bands. It was superseded by the rank of flight lieutenant on the following day. Badges of rank for captains were introduced on 30 January 1855 and were worn on shoulder epaulettes. After the Crimean War a new rank system was introduced which contained the first complete rank insignia in British Army history. A captain's rank insignia
583-591: A rise in violence culminating in the Kingsmill massacre , the British Army increased their presence in Northern Ireland, and Nairac accepted a post as a liaison officer. On his fourth tour, Nairac was a liaison officer in Bessbrook Mill. On the evening of 14 May 1977, Nairac drove alone to The Three Steps pub in Dromintee , a village in South Armagh. He is said to have told regulars of the pub that he
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#1732790263594636-475: A safe democracy until it is exposed in its entirety and dealt with. The Barron Report stated that: The evidence before the Inquiry that the polaroid photograph allegedly taken by the killers after the murder was actually taken by a Garda officer on the following morning seriously undermines the evidence that Nairac himself had been involved in the shooting. Holroyd's evidence was also questioned by Barron in
689-698: Is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines and in both services it ranks above lieutenant and below major with a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force . The rank of captain in the Royal Navy is considerably more senior (equivalent to the Army/RM rank of colonel) and
742-633: Is connected to those alleged to have carried out the bombings. This group was known as the " Glenanne gang ". Incidents they were responsible for "included, in 1975, three murders at Donnelly's bar in Silverbridge, the murders of two men at a fake Ulster Defence Regiment checkpoint, the murder of IRA man John Francis Green in the Republic, the murders of members of the Miami showband and the murder of Dorothy Trainor in Portadown in 1976, they included
795-686: Is the term appearing in official documents from the 1970s. An April 1974 briefing for Prime Minister Harold Wilson states: Authors claiming to be former members of the unit describe an organisation with a depot in Great Britain and four operational detachments in Northern Ireland . Selection and training of personnel from all arms of the British Armed Forces was conducted in a number of locations in Great Britain. Candidates, both male and female, volunteered for special duties for periods of 18–36 months, before being returned to
848-790: The Oxford University Rugby 2nd XV and revived the Oxford University boxing club, with which he won four blues in bouts with Cambridge. He was also a falconer, keeping in his rooms a bird that was used in the film Kes . He left Oxford in 1971 and entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst under the sponsorship of the Grenadier Guards , into which he was commissioned on graduation. After Sandhurst, he undertook postgraduate studies at Trinity College Dublin , before joining
901-600: The murders of three members of the Reavey family , and the attack on the Rock Bar in Tassagh." According to Weir, members of the gang began to suspect that Nairac was playing republican and loyalist paramilitaries off against each other, by feeding them information about murders carried out by the "other side" with the intention of "provoking revenge attacks". Captain (British Army and Royal Marines) Captain ( Capt )
954-599: The Dublin and Monaghan bombings when it examined the claims made by the Hidden Hand documentary, Holroyd and Colin Wallace . Former RUC Special Patrol Group member John Weir , who was also a UVF member, claimed he had received information from an informant that Nairac was involved in the killing of Green: The men who did that shooting were Robert McConnell, Robin Jackson and I would be almost certain, Harris Boyle who
1007-767: The Troubles . It conducted undercover surveillance operations against suspected members of Irish republican and Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups. Members of the unit were recruited from regular Army battalions and trained in an eight-week course by the Special Air Service (SAS). The unit, then numbering 120 men, was deployed to Northern Ireland in November 1972. Their responsibilities included intelligence gathering and assessment and tracking down and neutralising suspected paramilitaries. Allegations of collusion with loyalist paramilitaries were made against
1060-544: The battalion's main objectives were to search for weapons and to find paramilitaries. Nairac was frequently involved in such activity on the streets of Belfast and was a community relations activist at the Ardoyne sports club. The battalion's tour was judged a success with 58 weapons, 9,000 rounds of ammunition and 693 lbs of explosives taken and 104 men jailed. The battalion had no casualties and did not shoot anyone. After his tour had ended he stayed on as liaison officer for
1113-679: The documentary, support for this allegation was said to have come from various sources: They include officers from RUC Special Branch , CID and Special Patrol Group ; officers from the Gardaí Special Branch ; and key senior loyalists who were in charge of the County Armagh paramilitaries of the day.... Geoff Knupfer of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains stated that Nairac
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#17327902635941166-426: The first time, women could become members of a UK Special Forces unit. Candidates were required to pass a rigorous selection process, designed to select only those individuals possessing the highly specialized qualifications needed to deal with the stresses of undercover covert operations. In one selection course, out of 1000 applicants, only 17 were ultimately deployed to Northern Ireland. "Special Reconnaissance Unit"
1219-718: The following terms: The picture derived from this is of a man increasingly frustrated with the failure of the British Authorities to take his claims seriously; who saw the threat to reveal a crossborder SAS assassination. Geoff Knupfer of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains states Nairac was 80 miles (130 km) away in Derry at the time. Nairac was mentioned in Mr Justice Henry Barron's inquiry into
1272-444: The full-dress style shoulder badges on a three-pointed cuff flap. Based on equivalent naval ranks, captains had two rings of braid. In the case of Scottish regiments, the rings were around the top of the gauntlet-style cuff and the badges on the cuff itself. During World War I, some officers took to wearing similar jackets to the men, with the rank badges on the shoulder, as the cuff badges made them conspicuous to snipers. This practice
1325-485: The greatest heroism in circumstances of extreme peril showed devotion to duty and personal courage second to none. Posthumous claims have been made about Nairac's involvement in the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings , the killing of an IRA member in the Republic of Ireland and his relationship with Ulster loyalist paramilitaries. The latter is denied by IRA man Martin McAllister. Nairac has been accused of involvement in
1378-539: The murder of an IRA member and of collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. Allegations were made concerning Nairac in a 1993 Yorkshire Television documentary about the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings of May 1974 entitled Hidden Hand . The narrator states: We have evidence from police, military and loyalist sources which confirms the links between Nairac and the Portadown loyalist paramilitaries. And also that in May 1974, he
1431-711: The nickname "Danny Boy". Former Special Air Service (SAS) Warrant Officer Ken Connor, who was involved in the creation of 14 Int, wrote of him in his book, Ghost Force , p. 263: Had he been an SAS member, he would not have been allowed to operate in the way he did. Before his death, we had been very concerned at the lack of checks on his activities. No one seemed to know who his boss was, and he appeared to have been allowed to get out of control, deciding himself what tasks he would do. Nairac finished his tour with 14th Int in mid-1975 and returned to his regiment in London, having been promoted to Captain on 4 September 1975. Following
1484-562: The people involved in his "summary execution" were not in the IRA and, therefore, not subject to pressure from that organisation; second, a number of them have moved to different places to live. A search for Nairac's body was undertaken at Faughart , County Louth, in autumn 2024 but was unsuccessful. In May 2000, statements were made that Nairac had married and fathered a child with a woman named Nel Lister, also known as Oonagh Flynn or Oonagh Lister. In 2001, her son sought DNA testing and showed this to be untrue. In November 1977, Liam Townson,
1537-630: The regiment. Nairac's first tour of duty in Northern Ireland was with No.1 Company, the Second Battalion of the Grenadier Guards. The Battalion was stationed in Belfast from 5 July 1973 to 31 October 1973. The Grenadiers were given responsibility first for the Protestant Shankill Road area and the predominantly Catholic Ardoyne area. This was a time of high tension and regular contact with paramilitaries. Ostensibly,
1590-630: The replacement battalion, the 1st Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders . On their first patrol, Nairac narrowly avoided the impact of the explosion of a car bomb on the Crumlin Road . Rather than returning to his battalion, which was being transferred to Hong Kong , Nairac volunteered for military intelligence duties in Northern Ireland. Following the completion of several training courses, he returned to Northern Ireland in 1974, attached to 4 Field Survey Troop, Royal Engineers , one of
1643-405: The shoulder badges, officers' ranks were also reflected in the amount and pattern of gold lace worn on the cuffs of the full-dress tunic. From 1902, a complex system of markings with bars and loops in thin drab braid above the cuff (known irreverently as the asparagus bed) was used at first but this was replaced in the same year by a combination of narrow rings of worsted braid around the cuff, with
Robert Nairac - Misplaced Pages Continue
1696-667: The three subunits of a Special Duties unit known as 14 Intelligence Company (14 Int). Posted to South County Armagh , 4 Field Survey Troop was given the task of performing surveillance duties. Nairac was the liaison officer for the unit, the local British Army brigade and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). He assumed duties outside his official jurisdiction as a liaison officer, including undercover operations. He apparently claimed to have visited pubs in Irish republican strongholds, sung Irish rebel songs and acquired
1749-584: The two ranks should not be confused. In the 21st-century British Army, captains are often appointed to be second-in-command (2IC) of a company or equivalent sized unit of up to 120 soldiers. A rank of second captain existed in the Ordnance at the time of the Battle of Waterloo . From 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919, the Royal Air Force maintained the junior officer rank of captain. RAF captains had
1802-515: The unit. In 1987, the unit became part of the newly formed United Kingdom Special Forces directorate, and formed the core of the new Special Reconnaissance Regiment in 2005.. The Special Reconnaissance Unit, also known as 14 Intelligence Company, was the successor to the Military Reaction Force (MRF). Selection to 14 Intelligence Company was available to all serving members of the British armed forces and to both sexes. For
1855-465: The whole of this time he made an outstanding personal contribution: his quick analytical brain, resourcefulness, physical stamina and above all his courage and dedication inspired admiration in everyone who knew him. On his fourth tour Captain Nairac was a Liaison Officer at Headquarters 3 Infantry Brigade. His task was connected with surveillance operations. On the night of 14/15 May 1977 Captain Nairac
1908-607: Was Danny McErlaine, a motor mechanic and member of the Official IRA from the nationalist Ardoyne area of North Belfast. The real McErlaine, on the run since 1974, was ultimately killed by the Provisional IRA in June 1978 after stealing arms from the organisation. Witnesses say that Nairac got up and sang a republican folk song , " The Broad Black Brimmer ", with the band who were playing that night. At around 11.45 p.m. he
1961-406: Was a great soldier." The second statement was made at Dundalk police station, after Townson had consulted a solicitor. He had become hysterical and distressed and screamed a confession to the officer in charge of the investigation. Townson was convicted in Dublin's Special Criminal Court of Nairac's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He served 13 years before his 1990 release. In 1998, he
2014-437: Was abducted from a village in South Armagh by at least seven men. Despite his fierce resistance he was overpowered and taken across the border into the nearby Republic of Ireland where he was subjected to a succession of exceptionally savage assaults in an attempt to extract information which would have put other lives and future operations at serious risk. These efforts to break Captain Nairac's will failed entirely. Weakened as he
2067-506: Was arrested by officers of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). He had been on the run in the United States but had returned to Northern Ireland under an alias. He was charged the following day with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Nairac. In November 2009, Crilly was also charged with the murder of Nairac at Newry magistrates' court during a bail hearing on the two counts on which he had been charged in 2008. Crilly
2120-496: Was born in Mauritius , then a British Crown colony , to an English mother and a father of French Mauritian origin. His mother, Barbara (née Dykes) was Anglican and his father, Maurice, a Catholic who worked as an eye surgeon. At the age of one, Nairac's family relocated to Sunderland , Tyne and Wear, England, where his father worked at Sunderland Eye Infirmary . Nairac was the youngest of four children; he had two sisters and
2173-724: Was cleared on all counts in April 2011, as the judge considered that the prosecution had failed to prove intention or prior knowledge on his part. Nairac's killing is one of those under investigation by the PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team (HET). On 13 February 1979, Nairac was posthumously awarded the George Cross . The citation, as reproduced in The London Gazette , read: Captain Nairac served for four tours of duty in Northern Ireland totalling twenty-eight months. During
Robert Nairac - Misplaced Pages Continue
2226-460: Was first buried on farmland and then reburied elsewhere. The location of the body remains unknown. Nairac is one of three IRA victims whose graves have not been revealed and who are among those known as 'The Disappeared' . The cases are under review by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains . A former IRA man, identified as Martin McAllister, states that the search for Nairac's body has been hindered by two key realities: first,
2279-415: Was frowned on outside the trenches but was given official sanction in 1917 as an alternative, being made permanent in 1920 when the cuff badges were abolished. 14 Intelligence Company The Special Reconnaissance Unit , also known as the 14 Field Security and Intelligence Company , was a unit of the British Army 's Intelligence Corps which conducted covert operations in Northern Ireland during
2332-585: Was in Ashford, Kent , England at the time of the bombings. MI6 operative Fred Holroyd said Nairac admitted involvement in the assassination of IRA member John Francis Green on 10 January 1975 to him. Holroyd claimed in a New Statesman article written by Duncan Campbell that Nairac had boasted about Green's death and showed him a colour Polaroid photograph of Green's corpse taken directly after his assassination. These claims were given prominence when, in 1987, Ken Livingstone , in his maiden speech as
2385-571: Was in strength—though not in spirit—by the brutality, he yet made repeated and spirited attempts to escape, but on each occasion was eventually overpowered by the weight of numbers against him. After several hours in the hands of his captors, Captain Nairac was callously murdered by a gunman of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who had been summoned to the scene. His assassin subsequently said "He never told us anything". Captain Nairac's exceptional courage and acts of
2438-708: Was jailed for five years and Rocks for two. Morgan died in a road accident in 1987, a year after his release. O'Rourke became a prominent Sinn Féin member in Drumintee. Two other men, Terry McCormick and Pat Maguire, wanted in connection with this incident, remain on the run. Maguire has been reported as living in New Jersey in the US. In September 2021 Terry McCormick was reported to have died. On 20 May 2008, 57-year-old IRA veteran Kevin Crilly of Jonesborough, County Armagh
2491-460: Was killed in the Miami attack. What I am absolutely certain of is that Robert McConnell, Robert McConnell knew that area really, really well. Robin Jackson was with him. I was later told that Nairac was with them. I was told by… a UVF man, he was very close to Jackson and operated with him. Jackson told [him] that Nairac was with them. In addition, "Surviving Miami Showband members Steve Travers and Des McAlee testified in court that an Army officer with
2544-472: Was marched out of the pub by a number of republicans and hit on the back of the head with a wooden instrument by another man as soon as the group entered the car park. A party of British soldiers was hidden not more than 100 yards from the pub but Nairac was unable to contact them through the radio hidden on his person. After a ferocious struggle he was driven across the border into the Republic of Ireland to
2597-410: Was meeting with these paramilitaries, supplying them with arms and helping them plan acts of terrorism against Republican targets. In particular, the three prime Dublin [bomb attacks] suspects, Robert McConnell , Harris Boyle and the man called 'The Jackal' ( Robin Jackson , Ulster Volunteer Force [UVF] member from Lurgan), were run before and after the Dublin bombings by Captain Nairac. According to
2650-708: Was not involved in either attack. Geoff Knupfer of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains states Nairac was in either London or Scotland at this time. Colin Wallace, in describing Nairac as a Military Intelligence Liaison Officer said "his duties did not involve agent handling". Nevertheless, Nairac "seems to have had close links with the Mid-Ulster UVF, including Robin Jackson and Harris Boyle". According to Wallace, "he could not have carried out this open association without official approval, because otherwise he would have been transferred immediately from Northern Ireland". Wallace wrote in 1975; Nairac
2703-495: Was on his fourth tour of duty in 1977. Robin Jackson was implicated in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of May 1974, and Harris Boyle was blown up by his own bomb during the Miami Showband massacre. The Barron Inquiry found a chain of ballistic history linking weapons and killings under the control of a group of UVF and security force members, including RUC Special Patrol Group members John Weir and Billy McCaughey , that
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#17327902635942756-474: Was part of Conor Murphy 's election campaign team. In 1978, the RUC arrested five men from the South Armagh area. Three – Gerard Fearon, 21, Thomas Morgan, 18 and Daniel O'Rourke, 33 – were charged with Nairac's murder. Michael McCoy, 20, was charged with kidnapping and Owen Rocks, 22, was accused of withholding information. Fearon and Morgan were convicted of Nairac's murder. O'Rourke was acquitted, but found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for ten years. McCoy
2809-409: Was worn on the collar and displayed a crown and a pip (which is now the rank insignia for a lieutenant-colonel). The rank insignia were returned to the shoulder boards in 1880 for all officers in full dress , when the system of crowns and stars was reorganised. From this time, until 1902, a captain had just two stars. The 1902 change gave captains three stars, which continues to be used. In addition to
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