Colin Duffy (born 1968) is an

Irish republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

, described by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

as the most recognisable name and face among

dissident republican Dissident republicans () are Irish republicans who do not support the Northern Ireland peace process. The peace agreements followed a 30-year conflict known as the Troubles, in which over 3,500 people were killed and 47,500 injured, and in whi ...

s in

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 ...

. He was cleared of murder charges in three court cases involving police and army killings.

Early life

Duffy was born into a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family in the Republican Kilwilke estate in North

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and roughly southwest of Belfast. The town is linked to Belfast by both the M1 motorway (Northern Ireland), M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin rail ...

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

IRA career

A committed republican, he joined the

Provisional IRA The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

when he was young and became involved with the associated political party,

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

. On 7 March 1990, he survived an attempt on his life 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). He and two other prominent republicans, Sam Marshall and Tony McCaughey, left

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) barracks after signing bail. A small quantity of ammunition had previously been found in McCaughey's home. A short distance from the station, two masked UVF gunmen opened fire, wounding Duffy and McCaughey, and murdering Marshall. Marshall's last words before he died were said to have been "We were let out to be set up.""Republican Colin Duffy has walked free from five murder charges since 1993"
''Irish Times'' 21 January 2012 Retrieved 10 September 2012 The killers were never caught; however a man whose description matched that of former

Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...

member and UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade commander, Robin Jackson, was seen behaving suspiciously in the vicinity of the barracks at a previous bail signing by the three men."Push for inquest over UVF murder of Sam Marshall after HET report". ''Belfast Telegraph''. 6 March 2012
Retrieved 4 May 2012 Duffy was jailed in 1995 for the murder of former

(UDR) soldier John Lyness, but later acquitted after one of the key witnesses, UVF member Lindsay Robb, was arrested in Scotland for gun-running. Rosemary Nelson acted as Duffy's solicitor. Two years later, he was charged with shooting dead two RUC constables in Lurgan town centre, but these charges were also later dropped. The dead RUC men, John Graham and David Johnston, had been on foot patrol when they were gunned down. As before, Nelson defended him. Nelson was later killed by loyalists in 1999. Duffy has been linked to the republican group

Éirígí Éirígí (), officially Éirígí For A New Republic, is a socialist republican political party in Ireland. The party name, , means "Arise" or "Rise Up" in Irish, and is a reference to the slogan "The great only appear great because we are ...

2009 Massereene Barracks shooting court case

In March 2009, Duffy was charged with the

2009 Massereene Barracks shooting The Massereene Barracks shooting took place at Massereene Barracks in Antrim, Northern Ireland. On 7 March 2009, two off-duty British soldiers of the 38 Engineer Regiment were shot dead outside the barracks. Two other soldiers and two civil ...

which killed two British Army soldiers. On 20 January 2012, Duffy was found not guilty. Duffy's co-accused Brian Shivers from

Magherafelt Magherafelt ( ; , ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 9,071 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county an ...

was sentenced to life in prison for the killings. Shivers, a

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive manner that impairs the normal clearance of Sputum, mucus from the lungs, which facilitates the colonization and infection of the lungs by bacteria, notably ''Staphy ...

sufferer, had been given three to four years to live before the trial. In January 2013, Shivers conviction was overturned by Northern Ireland's highest appeals court.

2012–present

On 8 September 2012 Duffy gave the graveside oration at the funeral of a

Real IRA The Real Irish Republican Army, or Real IRA (RIRA), was a Dissident republican, dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that aimed to bring about a United Ireland. It was formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional Irish Republica ...

member killed 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 ...

. Describing the deceased Alan Ryan as "a brave Irish republican and fearless IRA volunteer" who was dedicated to "fighting foreign interference in our country". On 2 November 2012, Duffy, along with another man, was arrested in connection with the murder of

Prison Officer A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation ...

David Black on the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

between

and

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

the previous day. In December 2013, Duffy was additionally charged with being a member of the IRA as well as conspiracy to possess firearms and explosives with intent to endanger life, in connection with an alleged plot to murder PSNI officers. Duffy was released on bail in February 2016.

Personal life

Paul and Damien Duffy, his brothers, and his cousin Shane Duffy were also charged with terrorism offences, but were acquitted. A sister-in-law of Colin Duffy, Mandy Duffy, is on the national executive committee of Saoradh, a republican political party. Mandy Duffy is also a Vice President of Republican Sinn Féin, believed by the security forces to be the political wing of dissident republican organisation the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duffy, Colin 1968 births Irish republicans Living people People from Lurgan Provisional Irish Republican Army members