Columba McVeigh (1956 – 1 November 1975) was a youth from

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 ...

who was abducted and most likely murdered by the

Provisional Irish Republican Army 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 reun ...

(IRA). He was listed as one of the "Disappeared" by the

Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR) was established by treaty between the Her Majesty's Government, United Kingdom Government and the Government of Ireland, made on 27 April 1999 in connection with the affairs o ...

Disappearance

A nineteen-year-old from Donaghmore,

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

, McVeigh disappeared in November 1975. The IRA say he had confessed to being a

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 ...

intelligence agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

who had received orders to infiltrate the IRA's ranks,Rosie Cowan
"Adams 'at heart' of IRA's most shameful killing campaign"
''The Guardian'', 30 September 2002. but have never indicated what specific act prompted McVeigh's murder. Unsuccessful searches were carried out for the location of his body in 2003, 2011 and 2012. In September 2018 forensic archaeologists started searching Braggan Bog, near

Emyvale Emyvale, known before the Plantation of Ulster as Scarnageeragh (), is a village and townland in the north of County Monaghan, Ireland. It is on the main Dublin to Derry and Letterkenny road, the N2, about north of Monaghan and south of ...

. That search ended without success in September 2019, having paused between November 2018 and June 2019. Senior investigator Joe Hill said, "If Columba had been here we would have found him."

Notes

External links

The Disappeared of Northern Ireland: Columba McVeigh

Exhumed body isn’t that of teenage IRA victim
The journal.ie, 12 August 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:McVeigh, Columba 1956 births 1970s missing person cases 1975 deaths 1975 murders in the United Kingdom Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland Enforced disappearances in Northern Ireland Kidnapped people from Northern Ireland Missing children from Northern Ireland Murder victims from Northern Ireland Missing person cases in Ireland Missing person cases in the United Kingdom People declared dead in absentia People from County Tyrone People killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army People murdered in Northern Ireland Terrorism deaths in Ireland

Disappearance

See also

Notes

External links