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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
March/April 2022 31
Infamous Death-
Squad Killer Dies
serious shooting incidents, but he has escaped
justice once and for all. He goes to his grave with
many of the UK’s secrets regarding its dirty war
in Ireland.
That suits the British government and its
armed forces but leaves victims and survivors
bereft of truth and justice.
Clive Graham Williams (British Army number
24031479) received a decorated soldier’s
funeral, having risen to the rank of Major follow-
ing an exchange with the Royal Military Police
(RMP) in Britain and the Royal Australian Corps of
Military Police (RACMP) in the 1980s.
Lieutenant Colonel Craig Kingston of the Aus
-
tralian Army gave a con-side oration at Williams’
funeral:
“Ta has many RMP highlights and the most
notable being the award of the Military Medal
when serving… in Northern Ireland in the 1970s.
Today’s not the occasion to detail the circum-
stances of how Ta was awarded the Military
Medal, however it is the day to detail why a
A
N INFAMOUS killer, wanted in
connection with a series of murders
and attempted murders of Irish
civilians in Belfast in 1972, has died.
Clive Graham Williams, or Ta as he
known to his fellow gang members, died just
before Christmas.
Despite proof of their involvement in serial mur-
ders and attempted murders, the British courts
brought neither Williams nor any members of his
gang members to justice.
The reason is simple. They had a licence to kill;
and killed Irish civilians for the British state.
Clive Graham Williams was a leading member
of Britain’s Military Reaction Force (MRF), an
extra-legal, covert, oensive British Army unit
which stalked the streets of Belfast in the early
1970s.
In 2020, I collated archival evidence from
secret British military logs which proved that Wil-
liams and his death-squad were guilty of a litany
of unprovoked and vicious attacks on unarmed
civilians, including young teenagers.
I presented this evidence in a report for the
charity Paper Trail (Legacy Archive Research)
which we then submitted to an independent
investigative police team working under former
English police Chief Constable, Jon Boucher.
Only in June 2020 did the Police Service of
Northern Ireland (PSNI) refer files on seven
former MRF soldiers to the Public Prosecution
Service (PPS) although the British justice system
has failed to hold any to account yet.
Williams’ name had to be on one of those files
as I proved he was directly responsible for several
By Ciarán MacAirt
Taff’s secretive Military Medal was for
nefarious murders in Northern Ireland
The reason for Lieutenant Colonel Kingston’s
tasteless nudge-nudge-wink-wink about
Williams’ medal citation may be because
it covered the period when Williams and
his death-squad were shooting unarmed
civilians on the streets of Belfast
Military Medal is bestowed on an individual. It is
awarded to personnel for bravery in battle, for
acts of gallantry and devotion, to duty under fire…
Ta did not speak often about his medal and
many who knew him in later years had no idea
about his past, such was his humility”.
Normally, the circumstances of the award of
such a prestigious Military Medal would be the
centre-piece of any British military commemora-
tion, but, as I discovered over a decade ago,
Williams’ Military Medal was recorded in the
London Gazette of 3 October 1972.
The reason for Lieutenant Colonel Kingston’s
tasteless nudge-nudge-wink-wink about Wil-
liams’ MM citation may be because it covered the
period when Williams and his death-squad were
shooting unarmed civilians on the streets of
Belfast.
Williams did not talk about the circumstances
of his MM as it would have left him open to pros
-
ecution for serial murders and attempted
murders.
In my published research, I redacted his name
and the other MRF shooters named in the files to
ensure I facilitated the work of the families’ legal
teams.
On 6 May 1972, then Sergeant Williams is
named in relation to a report of the MRF sighting
and firing upon 3 alleged gunmen beside Oliver
Plunkett School in West Belfast. That area of Glen
Road was a favoured hunting ground for Williams
and his death squad.
POLITICS
32 March/April 2022
The 39 Brigade Commander’s Diary records
that the MRF fired 24 rounds from a submachine
gun and claimed “1 hit definite”. It alleged that
the gunmen had a rifle and 2 pistols, and fired
two rounds in return. [See image i above]
Williams and his unit had not hit a gunman. Wil-
liams had just shot and badfirsly injured an
18-year-old unarmed teenager.
The following night, an MRF patrol in the same
area alleged it was fired on again and that they
returned fire, claiming one definite hit. [See
image 2 above]. Lies again. The MRF had blasted
and nearly killed a 15-year-old boy who was walk-
ing home from the local disco.
A few nights later, just after midnight, 13th May
1972, the MRF attacked local residents in nearby
streets minutes apart. The neighbours were man-
ning local vehicle checkpoints to protect the area
from attack. [See image 3 above].
A teenager was shot by the MRF whilst alight
-
ing from a taxi at one checkpoint in Slievegallion
and a few minutes later the MRF alleged that it
shot at seven gunmen in Riverdale.
Again, there were no gunmen, just a group of
local unarmed civilians – easy targets for the Brit-
ish Army death squad. The MRF shot five men,
murdering one. Patrick McVeigh was a married
man with six children.
The British Army admitted no responsibility for
the shooting but informed the media that there
was a gun battle which was disputed by the local
parish priest. Then, British Army PR told the
media that the attempted mass murder was “an
apparent motiveless crime” and only admitted it
involved its troops many weeks later.
At the time of his death, Clive Graham Williams
was wanted for questioning for this murder and
attempted mass murder too.
He escaped justice for another attempted mass
murder of unarmed civilians a few weeks later,
although he was questioned and brought before
the court, albeit a pro-state British court that was
heavily weighted against the innocent civilians.
Around midday on 22nd June 1972, Williams
and his MRF death squad attacked the bus termi-
nus on the Glen Road just beyond Oliver Plunkett
School. Taxi drivers and their customers used the
terminus too.
A British Army spokesperson originally told the
Belfast Telegraph that “Our men were not
involved in this shooting at all.”
The British Army denials began to unravel
within hours and Army PR then told reporters that
“A group of men standing at the bus terminus
opened fire” on a British Army “mobile patrol
wearing plain clothes and on surveillance duty.”
It claimed that the covert unit “returned fire.”
Lies again. The MRF shot four unarmed civilians
who were lucky to escape with their lives. An infa-
mous court case ensued in May 1973 and named
Clive Graham Williams as the shooter.
It was subsequently proved that he had fired a
non-standard-issue Thompson submachine gun
(then favoured by the Irish Republican Army). This
gun belonged to Captain James Alastair McGregor,
leader of the MRF at the time, who was also in the
vehicle. It was a World War II trophy belonging to
his father, also called James Alastair McGregor, a
founding father of the Special Air Service.
The bullets for the gun came from Royal Ulster
Constabulary stores.
Despite the facts of the case, civilian witness
testimony and a litany of previous MRF attacks
recorded in British military and police logs,
charges of unlawful possession against Williams
and McGregor were dropped. Williams was then
acquitted of attempted murder after a pitifully
brief trial. The judge who presided over the trial
was a former member of the British Special
Forces.
In 2010, I tracked the MRF’s Commander, then
retired Brigadier James Alastair McGregor to his
home in Broadstairs, Kent, but he did not want to
engage with me about his tenure as MRF
commander.
The architect of the MRF, General Sir Frank
Kitson (retired), is still alive as well.
Writers such as David Burke and me, have
examined how Kitson provided the blueprint for
the British Army’s dirty war in Ireland throughout
the conflict. We can trace the evolution of Kitson’s
gangs and counter-gangs - created to terrorize
the Irish Catholic community - from the MRF to
collusion with Loyalist extremists.
It is signposted by the bodies of dead
civilians.
Just this week, the Oce of the Police Ombuds-
man released a horrifying report detailing how
the Royal Ulster Constabulary armed and man-
aged Loyalist, sectarian killers in South Belfast
in the 1980s and 1990s. One of the atrocities per-
petrated by these police agents was the Sean
Graham’s Bookies Massacre 30 years ago which
claimed the lives of five civilians, including two
teenagers.
Throughout its whole existence, the so-called
reformed Police Service of Northern Ireland did
little except protect these agents and their police
handlers whilst obstructing the victims’ paths for
truth and justice.
As an aside, it would be interesting if Irish jour
-
nalists asked former Garda Commissioner Drew
Harris for his comment as he was in the command
structure of the force in question during this
period.
Denial, Delay and Death is the simple strategy
that the British government deploys to deal with
the legacy of its conflict in Ireland. It denies the
truth, it delays families for as long as possible
and hopes the victims or the killers, like Clive
Graham Williams, go to their graves.
Now that brave families are dismantling this
strategy after half a century, Britain threatens to
legislate a pernicious Legacy Bill which would
bury its war crimes in Ireland and protect its kill-
ers once and for all. This has re-traumatised
victims and survivors across the community as
their basic human rights and equal access to due
process of the law are uncertain.
What is certain is that Britain would not arm
and manage killers who were executing civilians
on the streets of Bristol or Birmingham as fla-
grantly. It did it in Belfast and got away with
murder.
I would also ask the reader to imagine that
these British state murders happened in Black-
rock or Ballsbridge and consider why you may be
more appalled.
Williams
and his unit
had not hit
a gunman.
Williams had
just shot and
badly injured
an 18-year-
old unarmed
teenager
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