The Rt Hon. Sir Maurice Gibson, P.C. (1 May 1913 – 25 April 1987), was a Lord Justice of Appeal in

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 ...

. He was killed, along with his wife Cecily, Lady Gibson 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 reu ...

(IRA).

Life and Work

Sir Maurice was born in Montpelier House,

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 Kingdom ...

. He was educated at the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is ...

and graduated with a law degree from Queen's University Belfast. He was called to the bar in 1937 and subsequently elected a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...

in 1961 and described by Lord MacDermott in 1968 as the best lawyer at the Bar. In 1968 he became Chancery Judge and Lord of Appeal in 1977. The couple had two children. In 1977, he acquitted the soldier who shot Majella O'Hare, a 12-year-old girl. The UK government apologised for this killing in 2011 and said the justification Gibson accepted was "unlikely".

Death

Lord Justice Gibson and his wife were killed by a remote-controlled car bomb as they drove over the Irish border back into

on 25 April 1987 after a holiday in the USA. As the judge's car reached Drumad, the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

on the County Louth side of the border, he stopped to shake hands with the Garda Síochána security escort who had completed their part of the assignment. The couple had only a short drive to meet the Royal Ulster Constabulary escort to

. Between the two points lay the bomb, near a

petrol station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gaso ...

near Killean in

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

. The explosion threw the Gibsons' vehicle across the road, killing the couple immediately. The explosion also injured Ireland national rugby union team players Nigel Carr, David Irwin and Philip Rainey who were in a car on the same road. The case was investigated by the

Cory Collusion Inquiry The Cory Collusion Inquiry was established to conduct an independent inquiry into deaths relating to the 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland. A retired Supreme Court of Canada judge, Peter Cory was appointed to undertake a thorough investigation of all ...

into cases of collusion between security forces and paramilitaries after persistent questions over whether the

Garda Siochana Garda may refer to: * Police, known as Garda in Hiberno-English * Garda (security company), a security and protection company headquartered in Montreal, Canada * Garda Síochána, the national police of the Republic of Ireland * Garda National Su ...

had tipped off the IRA of the Gibson's travel arrangements. Cory found insufficient evidence to warrant a public inquiry into the incident. The later Smithwick Tribunal found that Cory had been 'mistaken' in questioning the reliability of intelligence that a member of the Garda had helped the IRA in the Gibsons' murders, and in May 2014, former Northern Ireland First Minister Lord Trimble called for an inquiry into whether there was collusion.

References

Toby Harnden Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...

. ''Bandit Country: The IRA and South Armagh'', Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1999, paperback 404 pages, {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Maurice 1913 births Deaths by car bomb in Northern Ireland People killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom British terrorism victims Terrorism deaths in Northern Ireland Knights Bachelor Lords Justice of Appeal of Northern Ireland High Court judges of Northern Ireland People murdered in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland King's Counsel 1987 murders in the United Kingdom 1987 deaths 1980s murders in Northern Ireland