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Introduction. The brutality displayed by David Cleary (Soldier F) and Ron Cook (Soldier G) of 1 Para on Bloody Sunday in Derry on 30 January 1972 was not an aberration. After murdering a string of unarmed civilians, they were taken to Fort George where they beat up a group of innocent prisoners including a priest. They then returned to Belfast. What is revealed here for the first time is how they used the armoured personnel carrier or ‘pig’ assigned to them as a mobile torture chamber to electrocute people in Belfast in the weeks after Bloody Sunday. 1. Murder Cleary is alive and may yet face criminal charges for his actions on Bloody Sunday when he and Cook (who is dead) were conveyed in their ‘pig’ into the Bogside at speed. They leapt out of the vehicle and took up positions behind a low wall adjacent to a ramp on Kells Walk from where they shot Michael Kelly. Kelly was unarmed and standing at a nearby rubble barricade, a threat to no one. Cleary, Cook, ‘Corporal E’ and ‘Private H’, [the EFGH unit] moved into Glenfada Park North, where their killing spree continued. The Saville Inquiry found that Cleary or Soldier H shot William McKinney dead; also that this unit was responsible for the shot that wounded Joe Mahon; and that either Cleary or Cook fired the shot that wounded Joe Friel. Saville opined that the EFGH unit also murdered William Wray; injured Joe McMahon, Joe Friel, Michael Quinn and Patrick O’Donnell; and possibly injured Daniel Gillespie. There was no excuse for their behaviour. According to Saville: In our view none of the soldiers fired in the belief that he might have identified a person in possession of or using or about to use bombs or firearms. Saville also found that: The last gunfire casualties were Bernard McGuigan, Patrick Doherty, Patrick Campbell and Daniel McGowan, all shot in the area to the south of Block 2 of the Rossville Flats within a very short time of each other. We are sure that Lance Corporal F fired at and shot Bernard McGuigan and Patrick Doherty, and it is highly probable that he was also responsible for shooting the other two casualties. This soldier fired across Rossville Street from the Rossville Street entrance way into Glenfada North. Cleary was a cruel, cynical and clinical killer. He shot Patrick Doherty in the buttock while he was on the ground crawling away from him. As Doherty lay crying out in pain, his life draining away from him, Barney McGuigan, an exceptionally brave and humane man, stepped forward with a white handkerchief looking to help Doherty. Cleary dropped to one knee, aimed his rifle and shot McGuigan in the head. 2. ‘Beasting’ of prisoners After the shootings, Cleary and Cook led the ‘beasting’ of prisoners at Fort George in Derry. According to a local priest, Fr Terence O’Keeffe, who was among the prisoners, G had “scary eyes” and an “almost psychotic look”. The pair “roamed” among the prisoners, stamping on their feet, kneeing them in the groin, forcing their faces up against electric heaters, spitting in their mouths and engaging in other acts of “idle brutality”. Fr O’Keeffe recalled Cook as having had “the sadistic edge” on Cleary. See also: Soldier G – real name Ron Cook – the Bloody Sunday killer with ‘the sadistic edge’ over his ‘partner’, Soldier F. By David Burke. 3. Torture and mutilation When they got back to Belfast they showed no remorse. Byron Lewis (Soldier 027) was a radio operator who accompanied them on their patrols. In 1975 he provided an account which was discovered by Tom McGurk in 1997. This key discovery led to the establishment of the Saville Inquiry as it constituted new evidence. Some passages from it were published in The Sunday Business Post, and later at Saville. The unpublished passages – quoted here for the first time – reveal that a few weeks after Bloody Sunday, Cleary and Cook and others were briefed by ‘Lieutenant 119’, another veteran of Bloody Sunday, for an operation at the Divis Flats on the Falls Road. According to Lewis “several blokes”, by which he means young Catholic residents of the area were “beasted severely”. He was in a pig parked in between the main tower and the annex 30 or 40 metres away was [Redacted] pig on waste ground among some derelict buildings. Beyond that could be seen the glow of the fires. Then I noticed [Cook] and [Cleary] running towards the pig with a bloke bent double between them. They kept him going head first into the armour plating. The bang was quite audible where I was. He was temporarily knocked out but was revived and thrown into the back of the pig. There was a purpose in hauling the prisoner to the back of the ‘pig’. Cleary and Cook had prepared it for the torture of any prisoner they brought back to it. Lewis wrote: The most fiendish screams and squeals then let loose [Cleary and Cook] had wired [the captive] to the batteries and were electrocuting him. Lewis and his comrades in 1 Para referred to other regiments of the military as ‘crap-hats’. The ‘crap-hats’ on duty with them let the torture session continue. As Lewis has revealed: Meanwhile during this racket the [Commanding Officer] of the crap-hats had walked over to where I was standing. He remarked about what was happening. [Soldier H] and I passed it off lightly. He then went on to ask if we had been in Derry the previous month. On answering, yes, he turned and walked away with an air of turning a blind eye. This deplorable behaviour was not confined to F and G. Lewis reveals that: At this point the other pig disappeared for ten minutes. The bloke inside had been castrated, electrocuted, the features of his face sliced with a knife and generally kicked and beaten. Lt 119 was also aware of what was going on but
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Dublin City Council (DCC) has numerous functions: from housing; cleaning and maintaining our streets; and authorising urban developments. One of their most important functions is planning enforcement – this means that they it has a duty to police our planning laws effectively. DCC has a mixed record on planning enforcement but, when it comes to Moore Street, it has allowed Hammerson to break numerous laws. Complaints have been made, received and never properly dealt with by DCC. This curious inaction has led one business owner on Moore Street to question either the competence or motivation of DCC’s enforcement department in failing to take any action against the commercial property developer. More than 50 valid complaints were lodged in relation to Hammerson-owned properties around Moore Street, and still DCC has taken little action. Since the planning enforcement process is long and drawn-out, by the time many of these complaints are determined, events will have overtaken them and the issue will have come to a resolution by itself. Even then, that does not mean that Hammerson should not be punished for any offences they might have committed. If we just take No. 10 Moore Street as an example. No. 10 is a matter of mere weeks away from becoming a protected structure thanks to Councillor John Lyons motion, which he proposed seven years ago. While this process is nearing completion, we have learned that the party wall between No.10 and 11 has been knocked down within the last two weeks. Hammerson did not even bother to apply for planning permission let alone receive it. Hammerson, the owners of No. 10, acknowledge that the building is an integral part of the battlefield site where the men and women of 1916, (including five of the seven signatories of the Proclamation), spent the final day of the 1916 Rising. No 10 is highly significant historically. Scandalously, this potential national monument has been seriously damaged, under the watch of the planning enforcement department of DCC despite being notified of damage at the time. Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD, who has consistently challenged ongoing dodgy practices by DCC in relation to Moore Street, said: “When you look at the actions of Dublin City Council and the Department of Heritage over the last few years, it has not been working towards the best interest of the people of Dublin but the best interest of the shareholders of Hammerson. Moore Street has been run down under the control of these two state bodies and Hammerson. I cannot and will not allow that to continue as the area has huge potential which needs to be fulfilled” Ó Snodaigh’s statement is supported by the fact that DCC has authorised a concentration of 21 second-hand phone shops in Hammerson-owned buildings on Moore Street, yet on Grafton Street they would not allow even a second ice cream shop as it would supposedly detract from the area. Such are the double standards in the planning enforcement system. DCC has a number of powers at its disposal under the Planning and Development Act 2000, (as amended) and the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, (as amended). These allow for fines of up to €10 million for breaches of the acts and provide for the possibility of a jail sentences for those found guilty of offences under the acts – should DCC report such individuals to the Garda. However, DCC shows no interest in investigating any unlawful damage done to historic buildings on Moore Street and ignores the mounting evidence that Hammerson’s actions could potentially be considered as offences under the law. Why has DCC been so slow to act?
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Turn off the heat. Instead, warm yourself by setting fire to your free weekly copy of The Galway Advertiser. Be sure and arm yourself with extra by liberating them from your neighbours’ letter boxes. Sit in the dark, preferably alone, so you don’t spread the pox to anyone else, wearing a cheap pair of unsustainable sunglasses; they’re the only luxury we’ll allow you. Get extra underwear second hand from your local mortuary; I hear they plan to start selling them out of the back of the hearses for which they can no longer afford petrol. There are bargains to be got. Exercise personal responsibility. Begin eating spiders, dandelions and – for calcium – each other’s toenails. But only as a weekend treat. The notion of eating each day is a pre-war social construct. Spend the October bank holiday rolled up in an old carpet, and Christmas writing Limericks: there was a young man from Killiney whose plans for world domination were stymied… KEVIN HIGGINS
