The Greysteel massacreCrawford, Colin. ''Inside the UDA''. Pluto Press, 2003. p. 193 was a

mass shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 20 ...

that took place on the evening of 30 October 1993 in

Greysteel Greysteel or Gresteel is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies to the east of Derry and to the west of Limavady on the main A2 coast road between Limavady and Derry, overlooking Lough Foyle. It is designated as a Large V ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. ...

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

. Members of the

Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...

(UDA), a

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British C ...

paramilitary group, opened fire on civilians in a crowded pub during a

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

party, killing eight and wounding nineteen. The pub was targeted because it was frequented by

Catholics 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 ...

, though two of the victims were Protestant. The group claimed responsibility using their cover name "Ulster Freedom Fighters", saying the attack was revenge for the

Shankill Road bombing The Shankill Road bombing was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 23 October 1993 and is one of the most well-known incidents of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The IRA aimed to assassinate the leadership of the loya ...

by the

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

a week earlier. Four men were sentenced to life imprisonment for the massacre, but were released in 2000 under the terms of the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

Background

On 23 October 1993, an IRA bomb prematurely exploded as the bombers carried it into a fishmongers on the

Shankill Road The Shankill Road () is one of the main roads leading through West Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It runs through the working-class, predominantly loyalist, area known as the Shankill. The road stretches westwards for about from central Belfast ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. The IRA's intended target was a meeting of UDA leaders, including brigadier

Johnny Adair John Adair (born 27 October 1963), better known as Johnny Adair or Mad Dog Adair, is an Ulster loyalist and the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF). This was a ...

, which was to take place in a room above the shop. Unknown to the IRA, the meeting had been rescheduled. Eight

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

civilians, a UDA member and one of the IRA bombers were killed in the blast. This became known as the

. The UDA launched a number of "revenge attacks" for the bombing. Later that day, they fatally shot a Catholic delivery driver after luring him to a bogus call at Vernon Court, Belfast. On 26 October, the UDA shot dead another two Catholic civilians and wounded five in an attack at the Council Depot at Kennedy Way, Belfast.

Planning

The order for the attack came from the UDA leadership and it is believed Greysteel was chosen partly because it was well away from Belfast, where security force activity was intense after the Shankill bombing.Wood, Ian S. ''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. pp. 172–173 Those involved in planning and organising it included Billy McFarland, 'Brigadier' of the UDA's North Antrim & Londonderry Brigade."Greysteel killings were planned in Waterside"
''

Londonderry Sentinel The ''Londonderry Sentinel'' is a newspaper based in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is published by Johnston Publishing (NI), a holding company of Johnston Press and Peter Hutcheon is the current editor. The ''Roe Valley Sentinel'' is an edition of t ...

'', 1 October 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2012. Stephen Irwin, Geoffrey Deeney and

Torrens Knight use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

, all members of the brigade, were to carry out the shooting. The gunmen were first briefed on the plans for the massacre on 27 October in an office owned by the

Ulster Democratic Party The Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) was a small loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), to replace the New Ulster Political Res ...

at Bond's Place,

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

. Before the massacre, the gunmen went to the pub to familiarise themselves with the layout and choose the best positions to shoot from. Knight made Irwin and Deeney rehearse the shooting in the office at Bond's Place. The gunmen would drive to the pub in an

Opel Kadett The Opel Kadett is a small family car produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel from 1936 until 1940 and then from 1962 until 1991 (the Cabrio continued until 1993), when it was succeeded by the Opel Astra. Kadett I (1936–1940) ...

, with UDA member Brian McNeill driving a 'scout car' in front. After the shooting the gunmen would drive the Kadett to a pick-up point near Eglinton, where they would meet McNeill and burn the car.

Massacre

Just before 10pm on Saturday 30 October, the three gunmen, wearing blue

boiler suit A boilersuit (or boiler suit), also known as coveralls, is a loose fitting garment covering the whole body except for the head, hands and feet. Terminology The term ''boilersuit'' is most common in the UK, where the 1989 edition of the ''Oxfo ...

s and balaclavas, entered the "Rising Sun Bar" in Greysteel. There were at least 70 people inside attending a

party and at first some believed the men were playing a Halloween prank.Crawfod, p.208 Stephen Irwin yelled "

trick or treat Trick-or-treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults in some countries. During the evening of Halloween, on October 31, people in costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase "trick or treat". The ...

" as he opened fireThe Queen v. Stephen Geoffrey Irwin: Decision on Tariff
Lord Chief Justice's Office. Delivered 6 March 2008. pp. 1–4 with a VZ58 assault rifle on the packed crowd in the lounge. He kept shooting until the

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

emptied, quickly reloaded and continued shooting.Crawford, pp. 195–196 Geoffrey Deeney opened fire with a 9mm handgun at a fleeing woman, but it jammed after one shot. Torrens Knight, armed with a shotgun, guarded the entrance while the shooting was taking place. There was panic and screaming as people scrambled for cover and women pleaded for mercy. The scene in the Rising Sun was described as "hell-like"; bodies lay everywhere and the lounge and dancefloor were covered with blood and broken glass. The gunmen, laughing, then made their escape in the Opel Kadett driven by Knight. While driving away from Greysteel, the getaway car's wing mirror was hit by a police car speeding towards the scene. Seven people were killed outright and nineteen were wounded, with another later dying of his wounds. The dead were Karen Thompson (19), Steven Mullan (20), Moira Duddy (59), Joseph McDermott (60), James Moore (81), John Moyne (50), John Burns (54) and Victor Montgomery (76). Six of those killed were Catholic civilians and two were Protestant civilians. The following day, the UDA claimed responsibility for the attack using the cover name "Ulster Freedom Fighters" (UFF). Its statement said that the "Greysteel raid" was "the continuation of our threats against the

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

electorate that they would pay a heavy price for last Saturday's slaughter of nine Protestants". A West Belfast UDA member claimed that his organisation "had information that senior IRA men drank in the Rising Sun... Unfortunately they were not there on Halloween but our boys acted on the briefing they had been given". Afterwards, the gunmen were said to have boasted about the killings. There was "considerable resentment" in Greysteel after the

Ulster Unionist The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

MP for the area, William Ross, didn't attend any of the funerals of the victims. Ross explained his absence by citing the angry reception Social Democratic and Labour Party MP

Joe Hendron Joseph Gerard Hendron (born 12 November 1932) is a Northern Ireland politician, a member of the centre-left Irish nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). Hendron, also a local GP physician for 40 years, was first elected as a poli ...

received while visiting the site of the Shankill Road bombing. The pub is still open in Greysteel. There is a memorial to the victims outside the building that says: ''May their sacrifice be our path to peace''.

Convictions

The UDA members involved were arrested shortly after the massacre. During their first court appearance, Knight was filmed laughing, taunting and shouting abuse at the victims' relatives as he was led from the building. In February 1995, Irwin, Deeney, Knight and McNeill were sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

for their involvement in the attack. Knight was also convicted for the

Castlerock killings The Castlerock killings took place on 25 March 1993 in the village of Castlerock, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group, shot dead three Catholic civilians and a ...

. In 2000, they were released early, along with other paramilitary prisoners, under the terms of the

. Irwin called the massacre "payback" and said he had "no remorse". After their release, both Irwin and Knight are believed to have joined the

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...

militant group

Combat 18 Combat 18 (C18 or 318) is a neo-Nazi terrorist organisation that was founded in 1992. It originated in the United Kingdom, with ties to movements in Canada and the United States. Since then it has spread to other countries, including Germany ...

. In 2005, Irwin received a four-year prison sentence for slashing a man with a knife. This meant that he also now had to serve the eight life sentences he received for the Greysteel massacre. In 2006, he abandoned an appeal against the sentences. In September 2013, Irwin was released from prison a second time after submitting an application to the Sentence Review Commissioners for early release. The commissioners ruled his application should be granted and he was released immediately. There have been claims in the media that Knight was a paid informer for the

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

. Knight denied the claims. The investigators did not find any evidence that Knight was protected from the law. Geoffrey Deeney's father, Hughie, was shot by the IRA but survived and died of natural causes. His brother, Trevor Deeney, "the unofficial spokesperson of the Loyalist LVF in Derry" was assassinated by the INLA while his brother was in jail. Geoffrey applied for compassionate release to attend the funeral.

References

{{Ulster Defence Association 1993 in Northern Ireland 1993 mass shootings in Europe 1993 murders in the United Kingdom 1990s in County Londonderry 1990s mass shootings in the United Kingdom 20th-century mass murder in Northern Ireland Attacks on buildings and structures in 1993 Attacks on bars in Northern Ireland Mass murder in 1993 Mass murder in County Londonderry Mass shootings in Northern Ireland Massacres in Northern Ireland Massacres in 1993 October 1993 crimes October 1993 events in the United Kingdom Terrorist incidents in County Londonderry Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1993 1990s murders in Northern Ireland 1993 crimes in Ireland The Troubles in County Londonderry Ulster Defence Association actions

Background

Planning

Massacre

Convictions

See also

References