Skip to main content

New files prove British Army lied to No10 to shift the blame for McGurk's bar bombing, activist claims

NEWLY discovered government files prove that the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) deliberately lied to Number 10 in order to shift blame for the McGurk’s bar bombing on to the IRA, it was claimed today.

On the 48th anniversary of the Belfast attack by loyalist paramilitaries, activist Ciaran MacAirt, the grandson of two of the victims of the blast which killed 15 people, including two children, vowed to continue to fight for the truth.

He revealed the discovery of a secret report of December 15 1971 from a branch of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) sent to then prime minister Edward Heath.

The papers, Mr MacAirt said, proved that the Defence Secretariat 10 (DS10) — a military propaganda outfit that aimed to control the media during the Troubles  — blamed innocent victims for the attack just hours after the blast.

It was revealed last year that General Sir Frank Kitson (then Brigadier) and the RUC colluded to push the police “line”.

This was that the bomb in the pub was “designed to be used elsewhere, left in the pub to be picked up by the IRA. Bomb went off and was a mistake.”

The attack was in fact carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), but authorities continued to disseminate false accusations that McGurk’s was a known haunt of senior IRA figures and leading republicans. 

This claim was refuted by locals and owners of the bar, while a subsequent intelligence report also found the pub had no IRA connections.

Documents showed that the RUC undermined two key witnesses to the bombing dismissing their testimony as “unconvincing.”

The UVF later admitted the attack, describing how they planted a bomb outside McGurk’s after access was blocked to their original target, the nearby Gem’s bar.

Robert Campbell was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1977, serving 15 years.

Mr MacAirt said in a statement: “Even after 48 years, we are finding new evidence of the British state’s cover-up but the redaction [serial 6, PDF 4] shows that... the British state is still withholding evidence of the McGurk’s Bar massacre from our families.

“I will fight for the release of that information over the coming year.”

Lawyer Niall O Murchu of Kinnear and Co Solicitors said that the British state “is still withholding evidence from the families, denying them truth and justice to this very day.”

OWNED BY OUR READERS

We're a reader-owned co-operative, which means you can become part of the paper too by buying shares in the People’s Press Printing Society.

 

 

Become a supporter

Fighting fund

You've Raised:£ 13,288
We need:£ 4,712
3 Days remaining
Donate today