Jason, Mark and Richard Quinn were three brothers murdered by the

Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former Royal Ulster Rifles soldier from North ...

(UVF) in a firebomb attack on their home in

Ballymoney Ballymoney ( , meaning 'townland of the moor') is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

on 12 July 1998. The crime was committed towards the end of the three-decade period known as "

The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

". One man, Garfield Gilmour, was initially found guilty of murdering the three brothers after admitting that he had driven three other men to the house who had committed the fatal petrol-bombing. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, but the conviction was reduced to manslaughter on appeal and the sentence was reduced. Although Gilmour named the three alleged killers, they were never charged due to a lack of sufficient evidence.

Background

The Quinn family, consisting of mother Chrissie and sons Jason, Mark and Richard lived in the Carnany estate in the predominantly

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

town of

. The family was of a mixed religious background. Mother Chrissie was

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

from a mixed background and the boys' father Jim Dillon was Catholic. After separating from her husband, Chrissie raised the boys as Protestant "to avoid the hassle". Chrissie lived with her Protestant partner Raymond Craig in Carnany which had only a few Catholic residents and was mostly Protestant, reflecting the religious make-up of Ballymoney itself. The boys, aged 9, 10 and 11, attended a local state school and on the evening before their deaths had been helping to build the estate's

Eleventh Night In Northern Ireland, the Eleventh Night or 11th Night, also known as " bonfire night", is the night before the Twelfth of July, an Ulster Protestant celebration. On this night, towering bonfires are lit in Protestant loyalist neighbourhoods, a ...

loyalist bonfire. A fourth brother, Lee, was staying with his grandmother in

Rasharkin Rasharkin ()Placenames Database of Ireland
(see archival records) is a small

The killings took place at the height of the stand-off over the

Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...

march at Drumcree, which created a tense atmosphere in various towns across Northern Ireland. In Ballymoney, the previous year, an off-duty

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the ...

(RUC) officer, Gregory Taylor, was beaten to death by a group of loyalist bandsmen. The killing followed a row about the RUC's position after loyal order marches had been banned from the nearby nationalist village of

Dunloy Dunloy () is a village and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located north of Ballymena and north-west is Ballymoney. It is located in the civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Finvoy, in the former Barony (Ireland), bar ...

. In the weeks before the fatal attack, the children's mother Chrissie had expressed fear that she was not welcome in the area and that there was a possibility the family home might be attacked by loyalists. The '' Ballymoney Times'' reported a story the week of the deaths, stating that a resident of the Carnany estate called in and was concerned about tension in the area adding something serious might happen "''unless Catholic residents were left alone''". Shortly before the attack, five Catholic families living on the predominantly loyalist estate had received UVF Christmas cards with the warning 'get out now' and a letter containing a 9mm bullet. Earlier that week loyalists had established an illegal roadblock at the entrance of the estate in support of the Orange Order protest at Drumcree and police officers had been attacked with petrol bombs. Various members of Chrissie's family had lived in Carnany but due to several incidents only Chrissie and her sons remained. The family had only been living in the home, which was previously occupied by the boys' aunt, for six days before the attack.

The attack

The attack occurred at around 4:30 in the morning as the inhabitants of the house slept. A car containing members of the

(UVF), 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 Cr ...

paramilitary organisation, arrived at the house and threw a

petrol bomb A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see '') is a hand-thrown incendiary weapon consisting of a frangible container filled with flammable substances and equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flammable liqui ...

through a window at the rear of the house. The petrol bomb was made from a whiskey bottle. The sounds of the boys' shouting had woken their mother, who found her bedroom full of smoke. Chrissie Quinn, Raymond Craig and a family friend Christina Archibald escaped the resulting fire with minor injuries. Chrissie had thought the boys had escaped the fire as she could not locate them in the dense smoke before she jumped to safety from a first floor window. Two of the brothers’ bodies were found in their mother's bedroom and the other in another bedroom. Chrissie was taken to hospital and released the next day after receiving minor injuries and shock in the attack.

Reaction

The MP for the area,

Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and ...

, visited the site of the attack and described the killings as "diabolical", "repugnant" and it "stained Protestantism". However, in an interview with

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

he stated that "The IRA have carried out worse murders than we had in Ballymoney over and over again".

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern pri ...

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

denounced the attack as "an act of barbarism".

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

extended the condolences of the American people to the Quinn family,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

mayor

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...

extended sympathy to the family from the city of New York. and

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Senator

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and ...

condemned the killings, stating "the Orange Order must recognize that its refusal to abide by the decision of the Parades Commission led to the murder of the Quinn boys". Representatives of other groups from all sides of the constitutional issue in Northern Ireland also condemned the killings. The then

Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club was founded in 1905 and named after neighbouring area Chelsea. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, pl ...

chairman,

Ken Bates Kenneth William Bates (born 4 December 1931) is a British businessman, football executive and hotelier. He was involved in the development of Wembley Stadium and is a former owner and chairman of football clubs Chelsea and Leeds United. Bates ...

, offered a £100,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for the attackers. Irish

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, and as Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008. A Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011, he served ...

attended a memorial mass in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

for the children. At the brothers'

Requiem Mass A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is u ...

, the bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor The Diocese of Down and Connor, (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland. It is one of eight suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Armag ...

, Dr.

Walsh Walsh may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walsh (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters Places Australia * Mount Walsh, Mount Walsh National Park Canada * Fort Walsh, one of the first Royal Canadian Mounted ...

observed that The

Progressive Unionist Party The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is a minor unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979. Linked to the Ulster Volunte ...

, which has political links to the UVF, made no comment that the UVF was implicated in the attack.

Conviction of Garfield Gilmour

Garfield Gilmour, a local loyalist, was arrested soon after the killings and charged with three counts of murder. He was found guilty of murder for his part in the attack and sentenced to life imprisonment in October 1999. He admitted to driving the car which had contained three members of the UVF unit to the Quinn home. He named the three men as Johnny McKay and brothers Raymond and Ivan Parke. However, the three men were not charged with the murders due to a lack of concrete evidence. Gilmour was described at his trial as a hard working, farm machinery salesman who came from a middle-class background who was unwillingly part of the attack which killed the Quinn brothers. The judge described Gilmour as an "accomplished liar". Gilmour and his girlfriend Christina Lofthouse alleged that an uncle of the Quinn boys, Colm Quinn, had approached their daughter offering her a sweet, knowing it was a small piece of cannabis. Colm Quinn confirmed that the couple had made allegations against him previously that he was a drug dealer. He then had to flee the Carnany estate. However, returning to his old house three months before the fatal attack on his nephews, Quinn claimed he was confronted by Gilmour again and was warned he was "going to be sorted out". The Orange Order released a press statement a year after the attack, stating, "According to today's judgment the murders were a combination of a sectarian attack by the UVF and a personal grudge between Gilmour and the uncle of the three boys," and voiced the "Order's absolute commitment to ensuring that justice is done for their family". Gilmour's conviction for murder was reduced to manslaughter on appeal on 5 June 2000 and he was released six years later. Nine days later, his life sentence was replaced by a fixed prison sentence of 14 years.

Aftermath

After being released from hospital Chrissie Quinn returned to her mother's native Rasharkin to live. The boys were buried two days later in St Mary's cemetery in Rasharkin after requiem Mass. Thousands of both Catholics and Protestants attended the funeral. A number of loyalist bands defied RUC requests not to play music while marching past the boys' grandmother's house in the days after the killings.David McKittrick et al, ''Lost Lives'', Mainstream Publishing, 2008, p. 1433 In April 1999 the former home of the boys in Carnany Park was demolished and replaced with a children's play park as a memorial. An uncle of the boys, Frankie Quinn, appeared in court in 2007 accused of stabbing Garfield Gilmour in Ballymoney. Quinn was successful in an application for bail."Bail for accused in stabbing case"
''Ballymoney Times'' 9 February 2007 Retrieved 13 November 2012

References

Sources

* ''Lost Lives:The stories of the men, women and children who died as a result of the Northern Ireland troubles'',

David McKittrick David McKittrick (born 1949) is a Belfast-born journalist who has reported on Northern Ireland since 1971. Attended Grosvenor High School, peers recollect David spending his breaks reading dictionaries. Professional career McKittrick began his ...

, Seamus Kelters, Brian Feeney and Christ Thornton, pp. 1434–1436. ISBN 9 781840 182279. {{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn brothers 1990s in County Antrim 1990s murders in Northern Ireland 1998 crimes in Ireland 1998 in Northern Ireland Ballymoney Deaths by improvised explosive device in Northern Ireland 1998 building bombings July 1998 in the United Kingdom July 1998 crimes Child murder in Northern Ireland Terrorist incidents in County Antrim Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1998 The Troubles in County Antrim Ulster Volunteer Force actions Murder in County Antrim Murder victims from County Antrim Terrorist incidents in Ireland in the 1990s Explosions in County Antrim Arson in 1998 1990s fires in the United Kingdom Residential building arson attacks in Northern Ireland Residential building bombings in Northern Ireland