1973 Coleraine bombings
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On 12 June 1973 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 ...
detonated two
carbomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...
s in
Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...
,
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. B ...
,
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 first bomb exploded at 3:00 pm on Railway Road, killing six people and injuring 33; several lost limbs and were left disabled for life. A second bomb exploded five minutes later at Hanover Place. This did not cause any injuries, although it added to the panic and confusion in the area. The IRA had sent a warning for the second bomb but said it had mistakenly given the wrong location for the first. As the six victims had all been Protestant, the bombings brought about a violent backlash from
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 Cro ...
paramilitaries, who swiftly retaliated by unleashing a series of sectarian killings of Catholics that culminated in the double killing of Senator Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews on 26 June.
Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...
councillor Sean McGlinchey, brother of
Dominic McGlinchey Dominic "Mad Dog" McGlinchey (1954 – 10 February 1994) was an Irish republican paramilitary leader, who moved from the Provisional IRA to become head of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) paramilitary group in the early 1980s. McGlinch ...
, later INLA Chief of Staff, was convicted of planting the bomb and spent 18 years in prison. He was elected mayor of
Limavady Borough Council Limavady Borough Council ( ga, Comhairle Bhuirg Léim an Mhadaidh) was a local government body in Northern Ireland. In May 2015 it merged with Coleraine Borough Council, Ballymoney Borough Council and Moyle District Council under local governme ...
in 2011. In his book ''Years of Darkness: The Troubles Remembered'', academic Gordon Gillespie described the attacks as "a forgotten massacre" of
the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
."Forgotten Massacre". ''Coleraine Times''. 11 November 2008
Retrieved 15 February 2012


The bombings

On 12 June 1973, two cars stolen from south
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. B ...
were packed with explosives and driven by an
Active Service Unit An active service unit (ASU; ) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) cell of four to ten members, tasked with carrying out armed attacks. In 2002, the IRA had about 1,000 active members of which about 300 were in active service units. T ...
(ASU) of the South Derry Provisional IRA to the mainly-Protestant town of Coleraine. The car bombs were parked on Railway Road and Hanover Place. Two warnings made to the Telephone Exchange at 2.30 p.m. named the location for the Hanover Place device and for another bomb on Society Street, which later "proved to be a hoax". At about 3.00 p.m. a
Ford Cortina The Ford Cortina is a medium-sized family car that was built initially by Ford of Britain, and then Ford of Europe in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s. The Cortina was produced in fi ...
containing a 100–150 pound (45–68 kg) bomb exploded outside a wine shop on Railway Road, killing six pensioners (four women and two men) and injuring 33 people, a number of them schoolchildren. The six pensioners—Elizabeth Craigmile (76), Robert Scott (72), Dinah Campbell (72), Francis Campbell (70), Nan Davis (60), and Elizabeth Palmer (60)—were all Protestant. Elizabeth Craigmile, the Campbells and their daughter Hilary had been on a day outing and were returning home to
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 Kingdo ...
when the bomb had gone off; they were beside the carbomb at the moment of detonation. Some of the dead had been blown apart and Hilary Campbell was seriously injured Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p. 116-117CAIN: Sutton Index of Death - 1973''The Troubles: A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict''.magazine. #Issue 21, May–June 1973. p. 43 Several of the wounded were maimed and left crippled for life.Coogan, Tim Pat (2002). ''The IRA''. New York: Palgrave. p. 365 The bomb left a deep crater in the road and the wine shop was engulfed in flames; it also caused considerable damage to vehicles and other buildings in the vicinity. Railway Road was a scene of carnage and devastation with the mangled wreckage of the Ford Cortina resting in the middle of the street, the bodies of the dead and injured lying in pools of blood amongst the fallen masonry and roof slates, and shards of glass from blown-out windows blanketing the ground. Rescue workers who arrived at the scene spoke of "utter confusion" with many people "wandering around in a state of severe shock".''The Troubles: A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict''. magazine. Glenravel publications. #Issue 21, May-June 1973. p. 39
Retrieved 15 February 2012
Five minutes later, the second bomb went off in the forecourt of Stuart's Garage in Hanover Place. Although this explosion caused no injuries, it added to the panic and confusion yielded by the first bomb. David Gilmour, a former councillor who works as a researcher for Unionist politician George Robinson, was caught up in the bombing. Gilmour, aged ten at the time, escaped injury along with his mother. Both had been sitting a car parked directly across from the Ford Cortina containing the bomb. At the precise moment the bomb detonated another car had passed between the two cars, shielding Gilmour and his mother from the full force of the blast, although their car was badly damaged. He recalled that when the bomb exploded everything had gone black, "deeper and darker than black - the blackness only punctuated by pinpricks of orange". He later learnt that these orange pinpricks were most likely metal fragments from the exploded car or embers from the fertiliser that had been used to make the bomb. In the immediate aftermath of the blast, there had been several seconds of "deathly silence" before "all hell broke loose", with hysterical people rushing from the scene and others going to tend the wounded who were screaming in agony."1973 Railway Road Bomb Coleraine" - ''Shared Troubles''. David Gilmour. 21 October 2009 Bob Scilley owner of Coleraine Wine Market and his son Stephen were not in their shop when the Bomb exploded but were a short distance away. Miraculously they both escaped injury. Elizabeth Palmer who worked for the family was inside the shop and suffered fatal injuries. The Provisional IRA claimed responsibility for the bombings but said they had mistakenly given the wrong location for the carbomb on Railway Road when they sent their telephoned warning to the security forces.Wood, Ian S. (2006). ''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press. p. 21 Gordon Gillespie alleged that no warning was given for the first bomb, adding "this led to speculation that the bombers intention was to draw people towards the bomb in Railway Road and inflict as many casualties as possible". Gillespie also suggested that the death toll would have likely been much higher had the bomb gone off 15 minutes later when girls from a nearby high school would have been leaving the school and walking along the street. The IRA member who planted the bomb, Sean McGlinchey, said that he had been forced to abandon the car on Railway Road. He explained that he arrived in Coleraine to find that the town had a new one-way traffic system, of which his superiors had not informed him. The bomb was primed, on a short fuse and he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time in the one-way system".


Loyalist reaction

As all the victims had been Protestant, there was a violent backlash from loyalist paramilitaries. In May or June 1973,
Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and Timeline of Ulster Defence Association act ...
(UDA) leaders decided that the organization should use the covername "Ulster Freedom Fighters" (UFF) when it wished to claim responsibility for its attacks. This was spurred by fears that the government would outlaw the UDA. The "UFF's" first attacks were in response to the Coleraine bombings. It sought retaliation against the Catholic community, which they believed supported the IRA. Four days after the bombing, the new leadership convened in Belfast and ordered its units to avenge the six Protestant pensioners by killing a Catholic. Jim Light was one of the UDA/UFF members who was instructed to execute the killing. He later told British journalist
Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politic ...
that he had felt sick upon hearing about the pensioners killed in the Coleraine bombing: "They'd probably spent all their lives doing their day's work and were on an outing enjoying themselves. They were coming home and were blown to bits". Light and other UDA/UFF members went to
Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...
Andersonstown Andersonstown is a suburb of west Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the foot of the Black Mountain (Belfast), Black Mountain and Divis Mountain. It contains a mixture of public and private housing and is largely a working-class area with a strong Iri ...
in west Belfast where they could be certain of finding a Catholic victim. They chose 17-year-old Daniel Rouse, who was kidnapped from the street where he had been walking and driven away to a field. Rouse was then shot through the head at point-blank range by Light. He had no IRA or
Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...
connections. The next day, the body of 25-year-old Catholic man Joseph Kelly was found at Corr's Corner, near the Belfast-Larne Road. He had been shot. The UFF claimed the killing in a telephone call to a Belfast newspaper office using the words: "We have assassinated an IRA man on the way to Larne. We gave him two in the head and one in the back. He is dead". They did not directly refer to the Coleraine bombings, but rather claimed it was in retaliation for the killing of Michael Wilson, brother-in-law of UDA leader
Tommy Herron Tommy Herron (1938 – 14 September 1973) was a Northern Irish loyalist and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) until his death in a fatal shooting. Herron controlled the UDA in East Belfast, one of its two earliest strongh ...
. The UDA/UFF held the IRA responsible for Wilson's killing. On 18 June the UFF claimed responsibility for throwing a bomb from a car at the "Meeting of the Waters", a nationalist pub on Manor Street, North Belfast. One man was seriously injured in the attack. The UFF said it attacked the pub because it was a "known haunt of Catholics and republicans".''The Troubles: A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict''. magazine. Glenravel publications. #Issue 21, May–June 1973. p. 49 On 26 June, the UFF perpetrated a double killing that shocked Northern Ireland with its savagery.Taylor, p. 118 Catholic
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Paddy Wilson Patrick Gerard "Paddy" Wilson (c. 1933 – 25/26 June 1973) was an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland who was murdered by the loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF).
and his Protestant friend Irene Andrews were repeatedly stabbed to death in a frenzied attack. Their mutilated bodies were found by the security forces at a quarry off the Hightown Road near
Cavehill Cave Hill or Cavehill is a rocky hill overlooking the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland, with a height of . It is marked by basalt cliffs and caves, and its distinguishing feature is 'Napoleon's Nose', a tall cliff which resembles the profile ...
following a telephone call by the UFF using its codename "Captain Black". UFF founder and leader John White was later convicted of the murders.


Convictions

On 6 July 1973, a 22-year-old woman and 19-year-old man, both charged with the murder of the six pensioners, were assaulted and abused by an angry crowd of 150 people outside Coleraine courthouse. Eggs were hurled at them as they left the building following their second court appearance.''The Troubles: A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict''. magazine. Glenravel Publications. #Issue 23, July-August 1973. p. 6
Retrieved 15 February 2012
In January 1974, the woman was acquitted of the charges against her. However, her boyfriend received an eight-year prison sentence for his part in the attacks and the leader of the bomb team, 18-year-old
Sean McGlinchey Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angliciz ...
, was convicted of planting the Railway Road bomb. He was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment inside the
Maze Prison Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sept ...
for the six murders."Jean Jefferson meets Sean McGlinchey who planted IRA bomb in Coleraine". ''BBC News Northern Ireland''. 3 October 2011
Retrieved 16 February 2012
"We Forgive You". ''Coleraine Times''. 8 June 2011
Retrieved 16 February 2012
McGlinchey is the younger brother of former INLA Chief of Staff Dominic McGlinchey. Upon his release from the Maze he became a Sinn Féin councillor and in 2011 was elected mayor of Limavady. He has repeatedly said that he deeply regretted the bombing in Coleraine, stating
What happened is my responsibility, those were my actions. If I had known innocent people would be killed I would never have done it. I regret the deaths and I have apologised.
Shortly after becoming mayor he met Jean Jefferson, whose aunt was killed and her father horribly disfigured in the bombing. She said of McGlinchey: "I was very impressed with somebody, who at 18 had made the wrong choice, the wrong decision, maybe to some extent been used and abused, and who is now spending his life putting back into the community more than what he ever got out of it". In his book ''Years of Darkness: The Troubles Remembered'', academic and writer Gordon Gillespie described the Coleraine bombings as "a forgotten massacre" of the Troubles.


See also

*
Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions (1970-1979) Chronologies of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions detail activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland and bring about an independent ...
* List of terrorist incidents, 1973


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleraine bombings, 1973 1973 in Northern Ireland Provisional Irish Republican Army actions The Troubles in County Londonderry Car and truck bombings in Northern Ireland Mass murder in 1973 June 1973 events in the United Kingdom 1973 crimes in the United Kingdom 1970s in County Londonderry Explosions in 1973