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Murders Of Catherine And Gerard Mahon
Catherine and Gerard Mahon were a husband and wife who lived in the Poleglass#Adjacent areas, Twinbrook suburb of Belfast. Gerard, aged twenty-eight, was a mechanic; Catherine, was twenty-seven. They were killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA) on 8 September 1985, the Provisional IRA alleging they were Informant, informers. However at least two of those responsible for their deaths were later uncovered as British agents within the Provisional IRA's Internal Security Unit, leaving the actual status of the Mahons as informers open to doubt. Background The Mahons were neighbours of estate agent Joseph Fenton, a supplier of 'safe houses' for the IRA, but also an informer for RUC Special Branch. When a number of Provisional IRA missions were compromised, Fenton is believed to have directed a member of the Internal Security Unit, Freddie Scappaticci, and three other men, to the Mahons. Abducted in August, interrogated and beaten for prolonged periods, the Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe. Sometimes described as an Asymmetric warfare, asymmetric or Irregular warfare, irregular war or a low-intensity conflict, the Troubles were a political and nationalistic struggle fueled by historical events, with a strong Ethnic conflict, ethnic and sectarian dimension, fought over the Partition of Ireland, status of Northern Ireland. Unionism in Ireland, Unionists and Ulster loyalism, loyalists, who for Plantation of Ulster, historical reasons were mostly Ulster Protestants, wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunday People
The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881. At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the '' Daily Herald'', which eventually became ''The Sun''. It switched from broadsheet to tabloid on September 22, 1974. The ''Sunday People'' is now published by Reach plc, and shares a website with the Mirror papers. In July 2011, when it benefited from the closure of the ''News of the World'', it had an average Sunday circulation of 806,544. By December 2016 the circulation had shrunk to 239,364 and by August 2020 to 125,216. Notable events In March 1951 the ''Sunday People'' (then known as ''The People'') published an article claiming that the British military had allowed Iban mercenaries to collect scalps from human corpses in the ongoing Malayan Emergency war. British colonial officials saw this article as a potential propaganda thre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1985 In Northern Ireland
Events during the year 1985 in Northern Ireland. Incumbents * Secretary of State - Douglas Hurd (until 3 September), Tom King (from 3 September) Events *28 February - 1985 Newry mortar attack: The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station in Corry Square at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day. *3 July - Thousands of Loyalists demonstrate against a proposed Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) decision to re-route a church parade away from the 'Tunnel' (the Catholic Obins Street) area of Portadown. *6 July - RUC decide to allow a church parade through the area, but impose a ban on similar marches on 12 and 13 July. *7 July - Serious clashes occur in Portadown between Nationalist protesters and police as the parade of 2,500 Orangeman, passes through the Catholic Obins Street. Eight policemen are injured and three people arrested. *12–13 July - Further rioting in Port ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1985 Deaths
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a new agreement on fishing rights. * January 7 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches '' Sakigake'', Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union. * January 15 – Tancredo Neves is elected president of Brazil by the Congress, ending the 21-year military rule. * January 27 – The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is formed, in Tehran. * January 28 – The charity single record "We Are the World" is recorded by USA for Africa. February * February 4 – The border between Gibraltar and Spain reopens for the first time since Francisco Franco closed it in 1969. * February 5 – Australia cancels its involv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Niedermayer
Thomas Niedermayer, OBE (8 March 1928 – 30 December 1973) was a German industrialist who was kidnapped and killed by the Provisional IRA in December 1973. Niedermayer was the managing director of the Grundig factory in Belfast, Northern Ireland.Thomas Niedermayer: German businessman remembered in Belfast BBC News, 23 December 2023 Background Niedermayer was born to a working-class family in 1928 in the city of in Bavarian . After leaving school, he worked as an aircraft mechanic in |
Peter Wilson (Disappeared)
Peter Wilson (1952 – 1 August 1973) was a man from Northern Ireland who was abducted and killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The IRA never gave any explanation for his abduction and murder. His body was not found for 37 years, and he was listed as one of the Disappeared by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains. Disappearance Wilson, a native of West Belfast, with five siblings, was described as "a vulnerable man with learning difficulties". He was abducted by the IRA in the summer of 1973, somewhere in the St. James area of Belfast, and killed. Only in 2009 was he added to the list of Northern Ireland's 'Disappeared'. His body was located at the beach in Waterfoot, County Antrim on 2 November 2010, the day after excavations began following the receipt of "reliable and high quality" information. His family had often walked on the beach, unaware that he was buried there. Wilson was the ninth of the known "Disappeared" to be located since 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder Of Jean McConville
Jean McConville (''née'' Murray; 7 May 1934 – 1 December 1972) was a woman from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who was kidnapped and murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and secretly buried in County Louth in the Republic of Ireland in 1972 after being accused by the IRA of passing information to British forces.McKittrick, David (2001), ''Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles''. Random House. p. 301 In 1999, the IRA acknowledged that it had killed McConville and eight others of the " Disappeared". It claimed she had been passing information about republicans to the British Army in exchange for money and that a transmitter had been found in her flat. A report by the Police Ombudsman found no evidence for this or other rumours. Before the Troubles, the IRA had a policy of killing informers within its own ranks. From the start of the conflict the term "informer" was also used for civilians who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder Of Thomas Oliver
Thomas Oliver was a 43-year-old Irish farmer who was tortured and murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in July 1991, reportedly for passing information to the Garda Síochána. However, in the wake of the Stakeknife case it began to be suspected that Freddie Scappaticci – who ran the IRA's Internal Security Unit, which was responsible for torturing and killing Thomas Oliver – killed Oliver to conceal his identity as a double agent. Overview A farmer with no connections to any paramilitary group or the security forces, Oliver was a 43-year-old father of seven children, and a native of Riverstown, County Louth, on the Cooley peninsula, near Dundalk. He was abducted by armed members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) near the border on 18 July and his body was found the following day in South Armagh. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eamon Collins
Eamon Collins (1954 – 27 January 1999) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army member in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He turned his back on the organisation in the late 1980s, and later co-authored a book called ''Killing Rage'' detailing his experiences within it. In January 1999 he was waylaid on a public road and murdered near his home in Newry in Northern Ireland. Early life He was born in Camlough, County Armagh, his parents being Brian Collins and his wife Kathleen Cumiskey; his farmer father dealt in livestock, and was involved in cattle smuggling. Camlough, on the outskirts of Newry, was a small, staunchly Irish republican town in South Armagh. Despite the sentiment of the area, the Collins family had no association and little interest in Irish Nationalist politics. Kathleen Collins was a devout Catholic, and he was brought up under her influence with a sense of awe for the martyrs of that religion in Irish history, in its conflicts with Protestantism. After compl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Courts Of Northern Ireland
The courts of Northern Ireland are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Northern Ireland: they are constituted and governed by the law of Northern Ireland. Prior to the partition of Ireland, Northern Ireland was part of the courts system of Ireland. After partition, Northern Ireland's courts became separate from the court system of the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland continues to have a separate legal system to the rest of the United Kingdom. There are exceptions to that rule, such as in immigration and military law, for which there is a unified judicial system for the whole United Kingdom. To overcome problems resulting from the intimidation of jurors and witnesses, the right to a jury trial in Northern Ireland was suspended for certain terrorist offences in 1972, and the so-called " Diplock courts" were introduced to try people charged with paramilitary activities. Diplock courts are common in Northern Ireland for crimes conn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forced Confession
A forced confession is a confession obtained from a suspect or a prisoner by means of torture (including enhanced interrogation techniques) or other forms of duress. Depending on the level of coercion used, a forced confession is not valid in revealing the truth. The individuals being interrogated may agree to the story presented to them or even make up falsehoods themselves in order to satisfy the interrogator and discontinue their suffering. For centuries the Latin phrase "''Confessio est regina probationum''" (in English language, English: "Confession is the queen of evidence") justified the use of forced confession in the European legal system. During the Middle Ages, acquiring a confession prior to a trial was especially important. The methods used to acquire a confession were considered less important than the actual confession itself, thus de facto sanctioning torture and forced confessions. By the late 18th century, most scholars and lawyers thought of the forced confess ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tout
A tout is any person who solicits business or employment in a persistent and annoying manner (generally equivalent to a '' solicitor'' or '' barker'' in American English, or a '' spruiker'' in Australian English). An example would be a person who frequents heavily touristed areas and presents himself as a tour guide (particularly towards those who do not speak the local language) but operates on behalf of local bars, restaurants, or hotels, being paid to direct tourists towards certain establishments. Types In London, the term "taxi touts" refers to a kind of illegal taxi operation which involves taxi drivers (or their operator) attracting potential passengers by illegal means—for instance, calling out travellers, or fetching them and their luggage, while parked in an area where taxi drivers must wait in their vehicle. They may charge exorbitant fees upon arrival, possibly using threats to ensure payment. "Ticket tout" is a British term for a scalper, someone who engages i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
