panic and ran off. ‘Jesus Christ,’ blurted Corr, as he took in the scene unfolding around him. The gunman then levelled his pistol at the heads of the two captives and pulled the trigger another couple of times. Billy Mitchell looked on, the only witness to what had unfolded. The gunman then handed the weapon to Corr for safekeeping.8 Corr was later sentenced to two five-year jail terms for removing the gun from the scene and also burying the bodies of the two UDA men.9
East Antrim was one of the most ruthless units within the UVF in 1975. Most of its members lived in Rathcoole, Monkstown, Carrickfergus, and as far north-east as Islandmagee and the port town of Larne. Many of its members were employed, typically in unskilled, semi-skilled and, occasionally, skilled labouring roles. Norman Cooke joined the UVF in 1972 and was interned for his activities from October 1973 until May 1974. He had been arrested on 7 September 1972 along with Geordie Sloan and another prominent UVF man, twenty-nine-year-old Billy Greer, when police raided their social club at Jack’s Lane, an old farm with outbuildings, which lay across a narrow footbridge over the Belfast to Londonderry railway line. Police discovered a veritable arsenal, including five rifles, three revolvers, a pistol, one sub-machine-gun, 14 magazines, 6,260 rounds of assorted ammunition, a blast bomb, two flares, 30lbs of explosives, detonators and fuse wire, as well as medical supplies. They also discovered a military training manual on guerrilla warfare.10 After his release, Cooke became involved in the Welfare section of the East Antrim UVF. Like everyone else who joined the organisation at the time, regardless of whether they opted for an auxiliary role or not, Cooke was tasked with all sorts of activities in support of the group. He soon proved to be a dedicated volunteer. Other members of the unit had only been in the UVF a matter of months when the killings at the Gobbins took place. The Carrick commander, Geordie Anthony, had been involved for a longer period of time. Anthony was a stickler for administration, and kept meticulous records on every member of the unit; how much membership dues they had paid, and what their role was within the unit.
Most of the East Antrim UVF’s training took place at Jack’s Lane and in the Royal British Legion premises in Carrickfergus, effectively the group’s headquarters. Like the Shankill UVF, which a decade earlier had met and trained in the Standard Bar, the East Antrim UVF chose these places on the basis of the rigid code of omertá it could enforce upon its members, their supporters and sympathisers, and also on the local people in their area. Another tool that the East Antrim UVF had in its armoury was the involvement of several serving UDR soldiers. Two of these men were imprisoned for giving UVF members training and instruction in how to use firearms in the British Legion.11
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Houston Park, Lurgan, County Armagh, Evening, 27 July 1975
Forty-five-year-old Billy Hanna was returning home from a night out at the British Legion in Lurgan. Accompanying him was a close friend and comrade. As Hanna pulled up into his driveway, two men, Robin Jackson and Harris Boyle, took out their handguns and approached the vehicle on the driver’s side. They had gone to Hanna’s home with the express purpose of killing him. After parking the vehicle, Hanna climbed out to be greeted by Jackson, who casually walked up to him and pointed his pistol at the older man’s temple. Without hesitating, he pulled the trigger. As Hanna dropped to the ground Jackson stood over him and fired another shot into his head to finish him off. A veteran of the Korean War, Hanna had subsequently joined the B-Specials and, in 1970, became a Permanent Staff Instructor with his local UDR battalion. The Security Forces suspected that he held dual membership of the UDR and the outlawed UVF and, as a result, had placed him under surveillance. This was strenuously denied at the time by the RUC and army.12 Rumours persisted nonetheless, and he was believed to have been the leader of the Mid Ulster UVF from 1972 to his death.
The reason that Jackson assassinated Hanna was simple. He believed the rumours that the war veteran had been a high-level informer or agent working to put the Mid Ulster UVF out of business. What had apparently sealed Hanna’s fate was the allegation that he had passed on specific information to British military intelligence implicating Jackson in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. ‘There was always the belief they were probably working for British Intelligence. Mid Ulster leaked. You were never sure who was British Intelligence. It leaked like a sieve,’ one UVF leader later told journalists.13 Consequently, Hanna was disowned by the UVF.14 In a bid to stop loyalist paramilitary groups from carrying out further attacks, the British Army attempted to infiltrate the organisation. In doing so they were able to call upon former or serving soldiers who were explicitly tasked with joining illegal armed groups with the intention of preventing attacks.15
It would later be alleged that Jackson was at worst an agent, and at best an informer, working for the intelligence services.16 It is impossible to say for certain whether Jackson was working for the state, simply because none of the intelligence agencies would ever confirm or deny this. The lack of a paper trail also leaves much to conjecture. What can be inferred from the killing of Billy Hanna is that, by eliminating his rival, Jackson was demonstrating to his UVF comrades that he could be ruthless and efficient when he needed to be. This would greatly aid his bid to assume overall command of the Mid Ulster UVF.17 As a sign of the twisted nature of loyalist paramilitarism at the time, Jackson even turned up to Hanna’s funeral to pay his respects to the dead man’s wife, Ann, who had witnessed the murder of her husband. The man who had pulled the trigger took his place amongst the mourners.
***
Buskhill Road, A1, 11km north of Newry, 2:10 a.m., 31 July 1975
The Miami Showband were busy playing the Castle Ballroom in Banbridge. The dance finished at 1 a.m. and the band left in their light blue and cream Volkswagen van around 1:45 a.m. and headed south towards Newry on their way back home to Dublin. Five members of the band were on board. Twenty-nine-year-old Fran O’Toole, a married man with two children, twenty-three-year-old Anthony Geraghty, thirty-two-year-old Brian McCoy, twenty-four-year-old father-of-one Des McAlea and twenty-four-year-old Stephen Travers.18 The van was stopped at Buskhill, Donaghmore, Newry on 31 July 1975 at 2:10 a.m. One of the survivors recalled what happened next:
As we went along the second dual-carriageway we were stopped by what appeared to be an army patrol. They used a red light to stop us. As far as I can remember there was only one man on the road with the red light. When we stopped I saw two or three more men come out onto the road from the nearside hedge. They were all wearing combat gear and some were wearing green and some black berets. The man with the torch was carrying what appeared to be a sub-machine gun. He went to the driver’s window and spoke to Brian. He asked Brian his name and also to produce his driving licence. I heard Brian give his name and tell the man with the torch that we were the Miami Showband. This same man then asked us all to get out of the minibus. We all got out and went to the rear of the bus. One of the men was Brian McCoy and he appeared to be dead. The other was [name redacted] and he was alive but could not speak as he was badly shot up. I then said to [name redacted] that I was going to get help and I got out over the hedge onto the road. I ran across the road to the opposite side of the dual carriageway where a lorry was stopped. I asked the driver for help as we had been shot but I don’t think he believed me and would not let me into the cab. I again begged him to take me to the police station and he eventually let me into the cab.19
The force of the explosion was so intense that one of the survivors was blown through a hedge by the roadside. The RUC’s Senior Investigating Officer gradually pieced together what happened:
They were stopped by what they believed to be an army road stop. It transpired that the persons operating this road stop were in fact terrorists. There were five members of the Showband in the minibus at the time. All were ordered out of the minibus and were told to stand along the side of the road, where they were asked to answer a number of questions relating to their identity. At this stage an explosion occurred, and it is surmised that this was as a result of a bomb being placed in the minibus by the terrorists. This was followed by a number of shots being fired by the terrorists at the Showband members. As a result of this attack there were three members of the Showband fatally injured. In relation to the other two bodies found at
