John Francis Green
Encyclopedia
John Francis Green was a leading member of the North Armagh Brigade of the Provisional IRA
, holding the rank of Staff Captain and Intelligence Officer. He was killed in a farmhouse outside Castleblayney
, County Monaghan
, by members of the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). According to MI6 operative Captain Fred Holroyd, British Army
Captain Robert Nairac
was involved in Green's killing. Green's was one of the 87 killings attributed by the Pat Finucane Centre
to the group of Loyalist
extremists known as the Glenanne gang
. No one was ever prosecuted for the killing.
, County Armagh
, Northern Ireland
and grew up in a Roman Catholic family. He was an active member of the civil rights campaign, and later joined the Provisional IRA. He held the rank of Staff Captain and Intelligence Officer in the North Armagh Brigade. Green was forced to "go on the run" following the introduction of internment
in August 1971, but was arrested and interned on the Maidstone
prison ship. Green was afterwards transferred to Long Kesh internment camp. On 9 September 1973, Green escaped from Long Kesh disguised as a priest. During a visit with his brother, Fr. Gerrard Green, a Catholic priest, the two men exchanged clothing, and Green made his escape undetected by the guards. Fr. Gerrard was later discovered tied up in one of the prison's compounds.
claimed to have met Green at an IRA training camp in County Kerry
at the end of 1973. During the IRA Christmas ceasefire in 1974, Green returned home to Lurgan to visit his family. While he was there the Army arrived at his house and carried out a routine check-up, the Green family being prominent republicans
. On the evening of 10 January 1975, he drove to a farmhouse in Mullyash, outside Castleblayney. When the farmer, an elderly republican sympathiser, went to tend a neighbour's cow, loyalist gunmen from the UVF's Mid-Ulster brigade, kicked down the front door, and shot Green six times in the head at close range, killing him instantly. To the UVF in mid-Ulster, Green was a high-profile target. According to journalist, Peter Taylor
, the killers left behind some bullets in the shape of the letters UVF. The UVF claimed responsibility for the killing in the June 1975 edition of its magazine Combat. Green's killing occurred during an IRA ceasefire, which had been declared the previous month.
Special Patrol Group
(SPG) officer John Weir, that the UVF killers were Robin Jackson
(who was also allegedly involved in the 1974 Dublin car bombings
as well as a series of sectarian killings), Robert McConnell
, and Harris Boyle
. The men, including Weir, were all members of the Glenanne gang, which was made up of rogue elements of the RUC, Ulster Defence Regiment
, regular British Army
, and the Mid-Ulster UVF. These allegations were published in the 2003 Barron Report, which was the findings of an official investigation of the bombings by Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron. In the same report, Weir claimed that he had received information from an informer that Army captain Robert Nairac was also involved in Green's killing. The 1993 Yorkshire Television
documentary The Hidden Hand: The Forgotten Massacre states that Robin Jackson and his UVF comrades were controlled by Nairac, who was attached to 14th Intelligence Company. MI6 operative Captain Fred Holroyd also asserted that Nairac had executed Green, who was, according to Holroyd, commander of the Provisional Battalion of North Armagh. Captain Holroyd claimed that Nairac boasted about the killing and had shown him a colour polaroid photograph of Green's corpse taken after the killing. Holroyd also told the Gardai that he had received a photograph of Green some months prior to his killing. Holroyd enlarged the photograph and had it distributed. He believed from that time until Green's death, 4 Field Survey Troop, one of the three sub-units of the 14th Intelligence Company led by captains Nairac and Tony Ball, had Green placed under surveillance. Holroyd's claims regarding Nairac and the polaroid photograph have been discounted by two Garda
Investigations which revealed that the polaroid was one of a series taken of Green's body by a Garda officer the morning following his fatal shooting.
Years after the death of John Francis Green, journalist Peter Taylor conducted an interview with his brother, Leo, who had been a key figure in the IRA's 1981 hunger strike at the Maze Prison. When asked about John Francis' killers, Leo told Taylor he believed they had been "loyalists or British Army or a combination of both". Green went on to add that the UVF's motives for killing his brother may not have been solely on account that John Francis was a prominent IRA member.
After his killing, the Gardai found Green's car (a Volkswagen Beetle
) parked beside the house. They discovered weapons, ammunition and documents hidden behind the backseat. In the glove compartment were 26 photographs of members of the Provisional and Official IRA
, all of whom were wanted by the security forces in Northern Ireland. A further search inside the house and the grounds disclosed more ammunition and bomb-making materials.
Green's killing was one of 87 which the Pat Finucane Centre has linked to the Glenanne gang, a group allegedly comprising rogue elements of the regular Army
, the RUC, SPG, UDR, and Military Intelligence, which together with the UVF, carried out a series of sectarian attacks in the Mid-Ulster/south Armagh area in the 1970s.
According to the Barron Report (2003), one of the pistols (a Luger
) used in Green's killing was linked six months later to the Miami Showband killings
, which left three band members dead. Both Robin Jackson and Robert Nairac were allegedly behind that attack, while Harris Boyle was blown up after the bomb he and Wesley Somerville (another UVF and Glenanne gang member) had placed in the band's minibus had gone off prematurely. Martin Dillon, in his book The Dirty War, claims that Nairac was not involved in Green's killing nor in the Miami Showband attack.
Captain Robert Nairac was abducted and killed in 1977 by the IRA. On 7 April 1977, the South Armagh Republican Action Force
claimed responsibility for shooting dead Protestant man Hugh Clarke at Tullymacreeve near Forkill, County Armagh. The book Lost Lives says that the IRA shot Clarke. It adds: "the IRA claimed Hugh Clarke was involved in the killing of IRA member John Francis Green. On the night of the Green killing, he had been at the house where the IRA man's body was found".
On 9 January 2005, in Castleblayney, over 800 people participated in the march and the unveiling of the memorial at Keady Cross to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the killing of Green.
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
, holding the rank of Staff Captain and Intelligence Officer. He was killed in a farmhouse outside Castleblayney
Castleblayney
Castleblayney or Castleblaney is a town in County Monaghan, Ireland. The town has a population of about 3,000.Castleblayney lies near the border with County Armagh and is on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry...
, County Monaghan
County Monaghan
County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...
, by members of the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). According to MI6 operative Captain Fred Holroyd, British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
Captain Robert Nairac
Robert Nairac
Captain Robert Laurence Nairac GC was a British Army officer who was abducted from a pub in south County Armagh during an undercover operation and killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on his fourth tour of duty in Northern Ireland as a Military Intelligence Liaison Officer...
was involved in Green's killing. Green's was one of the 87 killings attributed by the Pat Finucane Centre
Pat Finucane Centre
The Pat Finucane Centre is a human rights advocacy and lobbying entity in Northern Ireland. Named in honour of murdered solicitor Pat Finucane, it operates advice centres in Derry and Newry, dealing mainly with complaints from nationalists and republicans...
to the group of Loyalist
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
extremists known as the Glenanne gang
Glenanne gang
The Glenanne gang was a name given, since 2003, to a loose alliance of Northern Irish loyalist extremists who carried out sectarian killings and bomb attacks in the 1970s against the Irish Catholic and Irish nationalist community. Most of its attacks took place in the area of County Armagh and mid...
. No one was ever prosecuted for the killing.
Provisional IRA
Green was born in LurganLurgan
Lurgan is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and in the north-eastern corner of the county. Part of the Craigavon Borough Council area, Lurgan is about 18 miles south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway...
, County Armagh
County Armagh
-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and grew up in a Roman Catholic family. He was an active member of the civil rights campaign, and later joined the Provisional IRA. He held the rank of Staff Captain and Intelligence Officer in the North Armagh Brigade. Green was forced to "go on the run" following the introduction of internment
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
in August 1971, but was arrested and interned on the Maidstone
Maidstone (HM Prison)
HM Prison Maidstone is a Category C men's prison, located in Maidstone, Kent, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
prison ship. Green was afterwards transferred to Long Kesh internment camp. On 9 September 1973, Green escaped from Long Kesh disguised as a priest. During a visit with his brother, Fr. Gerrard Green, a Catholic priest, the two men exchanged clothing, and Green made his escape undetected by the guards. Fr. Gerrard was later discovered tied up in one of the prison's compounds.
Killing
Following his escape, Green lived in the Monaghan and Castleblayney areas. IRA informer Sean O'CallaghanSean O'Callaghan
Sean O'Callaghan is a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who became an informer for the Garda Síochána and who was later debriefed by the UK's MI5 in the Netherlands...
claimed to have met Green at an IRA training camp in County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
at the end of 1973. During the IRA Christmas ceasefire in 1974, Green returned home to Lurgan to visit his family. While he was there the Army arrived at his house and carried out a routine check-up, the Green family being prominent republicans
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
. On the evening of 10 January 1975, he drove to a farmhouse in Mullyash, outside Castleblayney. When the farmer, an elderly republican sympathiser, went to tend a neighbour's cow, loyalist gunmen from the UVF's Mid-Ulster brigade, kicked down the front door, and shot Green six times in the head at close range, killing him instantly. To the UVF in mid-Ulster, Green was a high-profile target. According to journalist, Peter Taylor
Peter Taylor (Journalist)
Peter Taylor born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire is a British journalist and documentary-maker who had covered for many years the political and armed conflict in Northern Ireland, widely known as the Troubles...
, the killers left behind some bullets in the shape of the letters UVF. The UVF claimed responsibility for the killing in the June 1975 edition of its magazine Combat. Green's killing occurred during an IRA ceasefire, which had been declared the previous month.
Allegations
It was claimed by RUCRUC
RUC may refer to: or Coimbra University Radio, a Portuguese university station* Rapid Update Cycle, an atmospheric prediction system* Renmin University of China* Roskilde University or Roskilde Universitetscenter...
Special Patrol Group
Special Patrol Group
The Special Patrol Group was a unit of Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for providing a centrally-based mobile capability for combating serious public disorder and crime that could not be dealt with by local divisions....
(SPG) officer John Weir, that the UVF killers were Robin Jackson
Robin Jackson
Robert John "Robin" Jackson, known as the Jackal was a Northern Irish loyalist who held the rank of brigadier in the Ulster Volunteer Force during the period of violent religious and political conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.From his home in the small village of Donaghcloney,...
(who was also allegedly involved in the 1974 Dublin car bombings
Dublin and Monaghan Bombings
The Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974 were a series of car bombings in Dublin and Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. The attacks killed 33 civilians and wounded almost 300 – the highest number of casualties in any single day during the conflict known as The Troubles.A loyalist...
as well as a series of sectarian killings), Robert McConnell
Robert McConnell (loyalist)
Robert William McConnell , was a Northern Irish loyalist who allegedly carried out or was an accomplice to a number of sectarian attacks and killings, although he never faced any charges or convictions...
, and Harris Boyle
Harris Boyle
Harris Boyle was a Ulster Defence Regiment soldier and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Volunteer Force , a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary organisation. Boyle was implicated in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings which left a total of 33 people dead...
. The men, including Weir, were all members of the Glenanne gang, which was made up of rogue elements of the RUC, Ulster Defence Regiment
Ulster Defence Regiment
The Ulster Defence Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army which became operational in 1970, formed on similar lines to other British reserve forces but with the operational role of defence of life or property in Northern Ireland against armed attack or sabotage...
, regular British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, and the Mid-Ulster UVF. These allegations were published in the 2003 Barron Report, which was the findings of an official investigation of the bombings by Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron. In the same report, Weir claimed that he had received information from an informer that Army captain Robert Nairac was also involved in Green's killing. The 1993 Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
documentary The Hidden Hand: The Forgotten Massacre states that Robin Jackson and his UVF comrades were controlled by Nairac, who was attached to 14th Intelligence Company. MI6 operative Captain Fred Holroyd also asserted that Nairac had executed Green, who was, according to Holroyd, commander of the Provisional Battalion of North Armagh. Captain Holroyd claimed that Nairac boasted about the killing and had shown him a colour polaroid photograph of Green's corpse taken after the killing. Holroyd also told the Gardai that he had received a photograph of Green some months prior to his killing. Holroyd enlarged the photograph and had it distributed. He believed from that time until Green's death, 4 Field Survey Troop, one of the three sub-units of the 14th Intelligence Company led by captains Nairac and Tony Ball, had Green placed under surveillance. Holroyd's claims regarding Nairac and the polaroid photograph have been discounted by two Garda
Garda Síochána
, more commonly referred to as the Gardaí , is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.- Terminology :...
Investigations which revealed that the polaroid was one of a series taken of Green's body by a Garda officer the morning following his fatal shooting.
Years after the death of John Francis Green, journalist Peter Taylor conducted an interview with his brother, Leo, who had been a key figure in the IRA's 1981 hunger strike at the Maze Prison. When asked about John Francis' killers, Leo told Taylor he believed they had been "loyalists or British Army or a combination of both". Green went on to add that the UVF's motives for killing his brother may not have been solely on account that John Francis was a prominent IRA member.
"I would suggest that it would have annoyed the loyalists that there was a [IRA] truce with the British Government and there may well have been fear that some sort of negotiated settlement was going on behind their backs. Probably my brother's killing would have been designed to anger and provoke the IRA into breaking the truce".
Aftermath
A post-mortem revealed that Green had been shot six times in the head at close range, the bullets all having entered from the front. At the time of his death, John Francis Green was married and the father of three children.After his killing, the Gardai found Green's car (a Volkswagen Beetle
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...
) parked beside the house. They discovered weapons, ammunition and documents hidden behind the backseat. In the glove compartment were 26 photographs of members of the Provisional and Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
, all of whom were wanted by the security forces in Northern Ireland. A further search inside the house and the grounds disclosed more ammunition and bomb-making materials.
Green's killing was one of 87 which the Pat Finucane Centre has linked to the Glenanne gang, a group allegedly comprising rogue elements of the regular Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, the RUC, SPG, UDR, and Military Intelligence, which together with the UVF, carried out a series of sectarian attacks in the Mid-Ulster/south Armagh area in the 1970s.
According to the Barron Report (2003), one of the pistols (a Luger
Luger
Luger may mean:* Luger P08 pistol** 7.65 mm Luger cartridge** 9 mm Luger cartridge* Georg Luger, inventor of the Luger pistol* Luger Industries, a boat manufacturer* Luger Optik , a German manufacturer of binoculars and scopes...
) used in Green's killing was linked six months later to the Miami Showband killings
Miami Showband killings
The Miami Showband killings was a paramilitary attack at Buskhill, County Down, Northern Ireland, in the early morning of 31 July 1975. It left five people dead at the hands of Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen, including three members of The Miami Showband...
, which left three band members dead. Both Robin Jackson and Robert Nairac were allegedly behind that attack, while Harris Boyle was blown up after the bomb he and Wesley Somerville (another UVF and Glenanne gang member) had placed in the band's minibus had gone off prematurely. Martin Dillon, in his book The Dirty War, claims that Nairac was not involved in Green's killing nor in the Miami Showband attack.
Captain Robert Nairac was abducted and killed in 1977 by the IRA. On 7 April 1977, the South Armagh Republican Action Force
South Armagh Republican Action Force
The South Armagh Republican Action Force was an alleged Irish republican paramilitary group that was active from 1975 to 1977 during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Its area of activity was mainly the southern part of County Armagh. According to writers such as Ed Moloney and Richard English, it...
claimed responsibility for shooting dead Protestant man Hugh Clarke at Tullymacreeve near Forkill, County Armagh. The book Lost Lives says that the IRA shot Clarke. It adds: "the IRA claimed Hugh Clarke was involved in the killing of IRA member John Francis Green. On the night of the Green killing, he had been at the house where the IRA man's body was found".
On 9 January 2005, in Castleblayney, over 800 people participated in the march and the unveiling of the memorial at Keady Cross to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the killing of Green.