On 28 March 1991 a member of the

Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign ...

(UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group, shot dead three

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

civilians at a mobile shop in Craigavon,

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The gunman boarded the van and shot two teenage girls working there, then forced a male customer to lie on the pavement and shot him also. The killings were claimed by the " Protestant Action Force", who alleged the mobile shop was owned by an Irish republican. Staff said they had been harassed by

Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...

(UDR) soldiers for not serving them. The killings were carried out by the Mid-Ulster UVF, which was commanded by Billy Wright. A UVF member was convicted and imprisoned in 1995 for being the getaway driver. He and another loyalist named the killer, but he has never been charged. Relatives of the victims took a

civil case - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil acti ...

against him, and in 2021 Belfast High Court issued an order holding him liable for the killings.

Background

The

UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurga ...

, based in the Craigavon,

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

and

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

area, stepped up its attacks in the early 1990s. On 3 March 1991, it carried out a gun attack on a pub in Cappagh, County Tyrone, killing three

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

members and a Catholic civilian. Loyalist sources later told the '' Sunday World'' newspaper the attack had been ordered and planned in Portadown by Mid-Ulster UVF commander Billy Wright (died 1997) and Mark Fulton (died 2002), and carried out by other members of their unit.

Shooting

On the evening of 28 March 1991, three girls—Eileen Duffy (19), Katrina Rennie (16) and Jamie Smith (14)—were working in a mobile shop parked in Drumbeg, a mainly-Catholic estate in Craigavon. One was standing serving at the back of the shop, and another was sitting on a counter. A blue van pulled up and a UVF gunman got out; he was wearing a black balaclava, a military-style jacket and carrying a 9mm Browning pistol. Some customers fled, but the three girls had nowhere to go as the gunman boarded the van. He pulled Jamie by the hair, calling her a "

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...

slut", and threw her out. He then shot Eileen and Katrina in the head, killing them. A customer, Brian Frizzell (29), was walking towards the shop as the gunman left. The gunman forced him to lie on the ground, then shot him twice in the head as Jamie looked on. The gunman was driven away and the car was found burnt out in the Mourneview estate. The UVF claimed the killings using the covername " Protestant Action Force". It claimed the mobile shop was "owned by known IRA killer John Jenkinson", stating that "

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

businesses and their staff" were "legitimate targets". There were claims the owner of the mobile shop had been harassed by British soldiers of the local

(UDR) for refusing to serve them. He was quoted as saying in the ''

Irish News Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

'': "The UDR made a point of coming into the van and trying to get served. I wasn't ignorant but I told them I was unable to serve them because of the area". Irish republicans had a strong presence in the estate. Locals noted that, on the night of the shooting, the normally heavy police presence had disappeared, and police took almost half an hour to arrive on scene, despite the police station being five minutes away. Eileen's brother Brendan Duffy was one of the first at the shop after the attack, he described the scene:

Brian Frizzell was lying in a pool of blood. Katrina was still sitting on the crate. She was dead but her blue eyes were wide open and there was a bullet wound on her neck. Eileen was slumped on the floor, shot in the head. Her face was badly swollen and blood was pumping out of her head and ears. I tried to resuscitate her but in my heart I knew she was gone. I was so numb, I couldn't cry.

Aftermath

The killings drew widespread condemnation from both the

and

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

communities in Northern Ireland. The funerals were attended by thousands of people. On 9 April, the IRA shot dead Protestant civilian Derek Ferguson at his mobile home in

Coagh Coagh ( ; ) is a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, five miles (8 km) east of Cookstown. Part of the village also extends into County Londonderry. It had a population of 545 people in the 2001 Census. It owes its existence ...

. His company did building work for the security forces, and the IRA claimed he was a loyalist militant. Aaron Edwards says the shooting was retaliation for the mobile shop killings. Eight months after the attack, in November 1991, the UVF killed three more civilians in another mass shooting in Craigavon. The three men, two Catholics and a Protestant, were shot after leaving work when their cars were stopped by UVF members (see 1991 Craigavon killings).

Perpetrators

In 1995, loyalist Thomas Harper was convicted and imprisoned for being the getaway driver and burning the van used in the attack. Harper had told police interrogators that Portadown man Alan Oliver was the killer, and named Anthony McNeill as also being involved, but neither have been charged. In 2019, convicted UVF member Laurence Maguire accused Oliver of being involved in ten to fifteen killings. At the same time, the '' Sunday Life'' newspaper revealed that Oliver had met the police

Historical Enquiries Team The Historical Enquiries Team was a unit of the Police Service of Northern Ireland set up in September 2005 to investigate the 3,269 unsolved murders committed during the Troubles, specifically between 1968 and 1998. It was wound up in Septembe ...

, telling them he would be willing to confess to his crimes if given immunity from prosecution. It was also revealed that Oliver is a prominent member of Elim Pentecostal Church in Portadown. The victims' relatives were outraged that the church continued to praise his "exemplary service" in its community work, and refused to meet them. Families of the victims took a

against Alan Oliver. In 2021, Belfast High Court issued an order holding him liable for the killings. There are allegations that the security forces

colluded Collusion is a deceitful agreement or secret cooperation between two or more parties to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading or defrauding others of their legal right. Collusion is not always considered illegal. It can be used to att ...

with the UVF, and that some of those involved were protected police

informer An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

s. Locals said the security forces regularly patrolled the area, but were absent on the night of the shooting. Files related to the murders—and others from the time—were destroyed by police in 1998 because they were stored in a building contaminated with asbestos. It is also noted the alleged killer was never charged, despite being named by the getaway driver and arrested several times.

References

{{coord missing, County Armagh Ulster Volunteer Force actions Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1991 1990s murders in Northern Ireland 1991 crimes in Ireland 1991 crimes in the United Kingdom 1991 in Northern Ireland Massacres in Northern Ireland Police misconduct in Northern Ireland Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland 1991 murders in the United Kingdom 1990s mass shootings in the United Kingdom Mass shootings in Northern Ireland March 1991 events in the United Kingdom The Troubles in County Armagh 1991 mass shootings in Europe

Background

Shooting

Aftermath

Perpetrators

See also

References