West Belfast
It has been called the 'forgotten massacre'. But the names of the bereaved and injured are no secret. On a warm and sunny Sunday evening in July, 27 years ago, five people were shot dead in cold blood close to their homes in Springhill, west Belfast. They included three teenagers, a father of six and a Catholic priest. Inquests revealed that British soldiers shot all of them. Nobody was ever charged, much less convicted of murder.
The priest was shot dead as he administered last rites to the dead and dying. One boy was shot dead as he went to the assistance of a badly injured neighbour, another as he knelt beside the priests body.
The bullets which killed the five - and injured many more - were fired from sandbagged British army sniper nests on top of a wall around a local timber yard. Not even the names of those responsible are known. The relatives of the dead and injured refer to them as 'Soldier A' and 'Soldier B' etc. Even the Nazi's in concentration camps had names. These killers were so protected from justice - and from their victims - that their names have never been published.
The Springhill and Ballymurphy area later became one of the staunchest redoubts of the IRA - feared by soldiers who patrolled it for 25 years. If they ever asked themselves why the people who lived there supported and joined the IRA in their hundreds, maybe they need look no further than the events of July 9, 1972.
The victims were -
Paddy Butler 38
John Dougal 16
Margaret Gargan 13
David McCafferty 15
Father Noel Fitzpatrick