Seán Savage ( ga, Seán Sabhaois) (26 January 1965 – 6 March 1988) was a member of the

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 ...

who was shot dead by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

whilst being accused attempting to plant a car bomb in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

Early life

Born into an Irish Republican family in the Kashmir area of

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 ...

, Savage was educated at St. Gall's Primary School, and at St. Paul's Secondary School in the Falls Road area of West Belfast.

Paramilitary activity

In 1987 Savage and Daniel McCann shot two Royal Ulster Constabulary officers dead at

docks. Savage was the leader of an IRA attack that placed a booby-trap car bomb beneath the car of

John McMichael John McMichael (9 January 1948 – 22 December 1987) was a Northern Irish loyalist who rose to become the most prominent and charismatic figure within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) as the Deputy Commander and leader of its South Belf ...

, an

Ulster loyalist Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a u ...

paramilitary, in Lisburn in December 1987. McMichael died of his injuries two hours after the blast.

Gibraltar attack

In March 1988, Savage and McCann, along with another Provisional IRA member

Mairéad Farrell Mairéad Farrell ( ga, Máiréad Ní Fhearghail or ''Mairéad Ní Fhearail'') (3 March 1957 – 6 March 1988) was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). She was shot dead by the British Army in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988.Pg 30 ...

, were sent to the British overseas territory of

to plant a bomb in the town area targeting a

band which paraded weekly in front of the Governors' residence. However, the British Government had acquired information about the intended attack and specially dispatched a British Army detachment there to intercept it, in an operation that it code-named '' Operation Flavius''. On 6 March 1988 Savage, McCann and Farrell entered Gibraltar from across the Spanish border to carry out a

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

of the target. Having conducted it, they were leaving Gibraltar on foot approaching the Spanish border in two separate parties, when Savage saw ahead at eyesight distance McCann and Farrell being confronted and shot dead by soldiers from the Special Air Service Regiment. Savage turned about and fled, running back into Gibraltar town, closely pursued on foot by another SAS soldier, who after a 300-yard chase caught up with Savage and shot him dead beneath a

beech tree Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''E ...

in Smith Dorrien Avenue. Civilian witnesses to the incident stated afterwards that Savage was repeatedly fired upon by the soldier that had run him down whilst he was lying on the ground seemingly incapacitated.ECHR Ruling on the killings
/ref>"1988: IRA gang shot dead in Gibraltar"
BBC News The IRA team was subsequently found to be unarmed at the time of their deaths. A hire car rented by them, converted into a car bomb containing of

Semtex Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex was developed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia, originally under the name B 1 ...

, with a device timed to go off during the changing of the guard ceremony in Gibraltar, was found two days later by the Spanish Police, who had assisted the British Government in tracking the IRA team's movements in its territory before it had entered Gibraltar.

Milltown Cemetery attack

Savage's body, along with Farrell and McCann's were repatriated to Northern Ireland, where a collective IRA-sponsored funeral was held for them on 16 March 1988 at the IRA plot in

Milltown Cemetery Milltown Cemetery ( ga, Reilig Bhaile an Mhuilinn) is a large cemetery in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. It lies within the townland of Ballymurphy, between Falls Road and the M1 motorway. History Milltown Cemetery opened in 1869 as part ...

in West Belfast. As the coffins were being lowered into the ground, Michael Stone, an

paramilitary, staged a single-handed attack upon the ceremony, throwing

hand grenades A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade ge ...

and firing a handgun at mourners. The funeral immediately descended into chaos. One group of mourners pursued the retreating attacker, who continued to throw handgrenades and fire bullets, through cemetery grounds. Three of these unarmed mourners were killed and scores were injured. Stone retreated on to the adjoining M1 motorway, where he was arrested.

Subsequent events

A Gibraltar inquest into the deaths of Savage, McCann and Farrell concluded the three had been lawfully killed. In 1995, the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

ruled that the human rights of the three were infringed, and criticized the British authorities for lack of control in the arrest operation. They also ruled that the three had been engaged in an act of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

, and consequently dismissed unanimously the applicants’ claims for damages, for costs and expenses incurred in the Gibraltar Inquest and the remainder of the claims for just satisfaction. A British television documentary, ''

Death on the Rock "Death on the Rock" was a British television documentary, part of Thames Television's current affairs series '' This Week''. It was broadcast in 1988. The programme examined the deaths of three Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) members in ...

'' (1988) was produced and broadcast about the failed IRA operation in Gibraltar, examining the details of the events, and raising doubts about aspects of the British Government's statements about the circumstances of the shootings of the IRA team, and questioning whether excessive force had been used in the confrontation in line with persistent rumours in the British media at that time of a " Shoot to Kill" strategy being used against the Provisional IRA by the British Government.Death on the Rock
The Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Early life

Paramilitary activity

Gibraltar attack

Milltown Cemetery attack

Subsequent events

References

Further reading