John Weir (loyalist)
Encyclopedia
John Oliver Weir is an Ulster loyalist
born in the Republic of Ireland
. He served as an officer in Northern Ireland
's Royal Ulster Constabulary
's (RUC) Special Patrol Group (SPG) (an anti-terrorist unit), and was a volunteer
in the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). As a member of the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade
led by Robin "the Jackal" Jackson
, Weir was a part of the Glenanne gang
, a group of loyalist extremists that carried out sectarian attacks mainly in the County Armagh
area in the mid-1970s. Along with his RUC colleague Billy McCaughey
, Weir was convicted of the 1977 sectarian killing of Catholic chemist William Strathearn and sentenced to life imprisonment. Weir's sworn affidavit which implicated Jackson, other members of the Glenanne gang, soldiers of the Ulster Defence Regiment
(UDR), and his colleagues in the RUC and SPG, in a series of sectarian attacks, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings
, was published in the 2003 Barron Report. This was the findings of an official investigation into the 1974 car bombings commissioned by Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron
.
, Ireland and brought up in the Church of Ireland
religion on an estate near Castleblaney, where his father was employed as a gamekeeper
for an Anglo-Irish
family. Weir was educated at The King's Hospital
, a Protestant boarding school in Blackhall Place, Dublin. Over six feet tall, powerfully-built, with blond hair and blue eyes, he had an imposing physical presence, which made him stand out in a crowd. Initially he had considered joining the Garda Síochána
, the Irish police force; however, in keeping with his family's Unionist political traditions, he opted to join Northern Ireland
's police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC) in March 1970 when he was 20 years of age. Upon his completion of training in Enniskillen Training Depot, he was first posted to the Strandtown RUC station in loyalist east Belfast
. He was transferred to Armagh RUC station in 1972, and it was there on 1 August 1973 he was recruited into the Special Patrol Group
(SPG), which was the RUC's anti-terrorist unit. It was made up entirely of Protestants. His duties involved making early morning arrests, attending the scenes of bombings and shootings, and riot control. He claimed the SPG officers were "very anti-republican, and sectarian attitudes were common". Weir and his colleagues routinely beat up Catholics
suspected of harbouring republican sentiments. The SPG saw themselves as being at war with the Provisional Irish Republican Army
(IRA); as such they considered the loyalist paramilitaries to be their allies and it was common practise to alert Ulster Defence Association
(UDA) and UVF suspects before their homes were to be raided by the security forces. By the end of 1973, members of the SPG decided that they would have to "break the rules to curb the terrorists".
Following the killing of an Ulster Defence Regiment
(UDR) officer in 1974 by the IRA, rumours spread that Weir had been involved in the UVF's retaliatory killing of prominent IRA man John Francis Green
in County Monaghan. Just before Green's killing, Weir had discovered that Green had been using a safe house just over the Republic of Ireland border and tipped off his RUC Special Branch
colleagues. He was therefore sent for his own safety to the SPG unit in Castlereagh, Belfast on 25 January 1975, fifteen days after Green's shooting. From Castlereagh, he travelled all over Belfast and had access to a large amount of intelligence. He regularly passed on information about suspected IRA members to loyalist paramilitaries. On 1 September 1976 he was transferred to Omagh
where he spent six weeks at Lisanelly army base. On 11 October 1976 he was promoted to the rank of sergeant, and was again transferred; this time to Newry
RUC station. He remained in Newry until November 1977, when he was sent to Newtownhamilton
RUC station. His next posting was to Dunmurry, Belfast in April 1978 and his final posting was in Magherafelt
, County Londonderry
on 4 September 1978.
in a pub in Moira, County Armagh in 1974 where he had gone to have drinks with his girlfriend. Jackson would assume command of the organisation's Mid-Ulster Brigade
in July 1975 upon the assassination of the Brigade's founder and first commander, Billy Hanna
, who also served as a captain in the UDR. The hitman was allegedly Jackson. Jackson's brigade was part of a loose alliance of hardline loyalists who carried out a series of sectarian attacks against the Catholic nationalist
and republican community, mainly in the south Armagh area, but also other areas in Northern Ireland as well as the Republic of Ireland. This group was later named the Glenanne gang
. In addition to Jackson's Mid-Ulster Brigade, the gang comprised rogue members of the UDR, regular Army
, the RUC, SPG, and the UDA. It allegedly functioned under the direction of British Military Intelligence and/or RUC Special Branch.
The gang's name derived from a farm in Glenanne, County Armagh which was owned by RUC reservist, James Mitchell
. Weir maintained that it was used as a UVF arms dump and bomb-making site. The bombs which were used in the UVF's 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings
were built and stored on the farm. Weir claimed Mitchell had admitted to him that he had been involved in the bombings and he had personally seen Mitchell mixing home-made ammonium-nitrate-and-fuel-oil explosive in the farmyard on one occasion.
Weir later admitted to have been indirectly involved in the bombing and shooting attack at the nationalist Tully's Bar in Beleeks on 8 March 1976. According to his later account of events leading up to the attack, when he arrived at Mitchell's farm the designated evening, he saw between eight to ten men dressed in camouflage
, parading in the farmyard. Inside the farmhouse he discussed the details of the attack with Mitchell and the others. Mitchell had shown him the floor plans of the pub's interior, highlighting the lack of escape routes for the pub's patrons. The plan was temporarily called off when it was discovered that the British Army's Parachute Regiment
was on patrol in the area that evening. Weir returned to Belfast the following morning and that evening, 8 March, Weir heard the attack had gone ahead. There were no casualties, as Mitchell's floor plans were inaccurate. Once the shooting outside had commenced, the pub's customers fled into the living quarters for safety and the bomb only caused structural damage.
Although Weir's later affidavit confirmed he had already indirectly participated in UVF and Glenanne gang operations, and had visited Mitchell's farm, according to journalist Liam Clarke, Weir officially became part of the Glenanne gang on 23 June 1976. He was recruited by SPG colleagues at an RUC sporting event he had attended in east Belfast when he was stationed at Castlereagh RUC station. Weir had been deeply affected by the Kingsmill massacre
five months earlier, when 10 Protestant workmen had been ordered out of their minibus and gunned down by a republican group, the South Armagh Republican Action Force
(SARAF). It was this attack that had provoked him into becoming a fully-fledged member of the hardline group, as Weir and the SPG believed the SARAF was a cover name for the IRA and would carry out more attacks against the Protestant community.
Weir took his first active role as a UVF paramilitary in the attempted bombing attack against Renaghan's Bar in Clontibret
in the Republic of Ireland on 15 August 1976. The operation was aborted after Weir had driven to Clontibret on the morning of the planned attack to ascertain the roads were clear, only to discover the town had already been sealed off by the Irish Army
and Gardai. When Weir displayed his RUC warrant card to a Garda officer he was told the Gardai had received a tip-off from the Northern Ireland security forces that Clontibret was the target of a proposed bombing that evening. Weir returned to the Mitchell farmhouse and found it was under army observation. It transpired that the bomb plot had been revealed to the authorities following the earlier arrest of a UVF man from County Tyrone
. The next night a UVF unit drove the bomb car, which had been meant for Clontibret, and parked it outside a nationalist pub in Keady
, County Armagh; it exploded, killing a man and a woman. Two weeks later Weir was transferred to Omagh.
Sometime shortly after his promotion to the rank of sergeant and his subsequent transfer to Newry RUC station in October 1976, Weir, Jackson and another RUC officer, Gary Armstrong went on a reconnaissance in south Armagh seeking out the homes of known IRA men, with the intention of assassinating them. Jackson carried a knife and hammer; he boasted to Weir, that if they happened to "find a suitable person to kill, he [Jackson] knew how to do it with those weapons". They drove by the homes of two IRA men, however the plan to kill them was aborted and the three drove back to Lurgan
. They were stopped at an RUC roadblock and after an exchange of courtesies were waved through, despite the presence of Jackson with two RUC officers. While he was stationed at Newry, Weir visited Jackson's home outside Lurgan at least four times; they discussed potential attacks against the IRA. He began to supply the Mid-Ulster UVF with weapons he procured from a loyalist group in County Down
called the "Down Orange Welfare
" which comprised both former and serving members of the security forces including Chief Inspector Harry Breen
.Harry Breen (who later held the rank of Chief Superintendent) and Superintendent Robert Buchanan were both shot dead on 20 March 1989 after being ambushed outside Jonesborough, County Armagh by the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade. The two RUC officers were travelling in an unmarked car after attending a cross-border security conference in Dundalk with senior Garda officers. These weapons were stored at Mitchell's farmhouse.
Catholic chemist William Strathearn was killed at his home at 2.00 am on 19 April 1977. Almost three years later, Weir and Constable William McCaughey
were arrested for their part in the killing and tried before a Diplock court. The story that emerged at the trial was that Weir and McCaughey had decided Strathearn should be killed as they erroneously believed him to be a member of the Provisional IRA. In order to carry the killing out they recruited two unidentified loyalists and drove them to Strathearn's home village of Ahoghill
where they knocked on the door of his house, which was also the village's main shop and chemist, and asked him to open up as they urgently needed medicine for a sick child. When Strathearn opened the door he was immediately shot dead and the four escaped in Weir's RUC car. It was also stated during the trial that the two gunmen had been Robin Jackson and his associate Robert John Kerr
, while Weir had maintained he and McCaughey had stayed in the car during the killing.
Weir had been arrested at work in Magherafelt shortly before Christmas 1979 for his part in the murder and subsequently confessed his involvement at Castlereagh Holding Centre following interrogation. However during these interviews Weir also claimed that he had arranged the killing only because he had been ordered to by superiors officers from RUC Special Branch. He suggested that the actual gunman Jackson was "untouchable because he was a Special Branch agent". Weir had made an offer to testify against Jackson and Kerr but only on the condition that the murder charge against him was withdrawn. This offer was refused by the Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions who said
Weir declared: "I think it is important to make it clear that this collusion between loyalist paramilitaries such as Robin Jackson and my RUC colleagues and me was taking place with the full knowledge of my superiors"
Two months prior to Weir and McCaughey's arrests, Jackson was arrested for possession of weapons, ammunition, and hoods. The three men were remanded in custody together in Crumlin Road Prison.
Weir pleaded not guilty but was convicted in June 1980 on the basis of admissions he had made during police interrogation. Although he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of William Strathearn, he was released on license on 1 February 1993. The SPG unit had been stood down in 1980.
, as having led one of the UVF teams that attacked Dublin on 17 May 1974 in three separate, no-warning car bombings which left 26 people dead and almost 300 people injured, mostly women. Weir had received the information regarding the 1974 car bombings and the perpetrators from his associates in the Glenanne gang. Fellow SPG officer and Glenanne gang member Laurence McClure had personally recounted to Weir each sectarian attack carried out by the gang; he also confirmed that the Mid-Ulster UVF unit led by Hanna and Jackson had exploded the car bombs in Dublin's city centre. Stewart Young, a prominent member of the Portadown UVF, told Weir he had headed the team that planted the Monaghan car bomb which had killed an additional seven people 90 minutes after the Dublin blasts. Hanna had also masterminded this attack, although he had allowed Young to lead the bombing unit, while he had gone to Dublin with his own team. Weir stated that UDR captain John Irwin had supplied the explosives, and James Mitchell's farm had been used for the construction and storage of the bombs. The farm was also utilised for the planning of other sectarian attacks. Weir learned from both Mitchell and McClure Hanna's central role in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings as Weir had never claimed to have personally met Hanna. Taking into consideration the fact that Hanna had died in July 1975, it was highly unlikely that he had done so.
Weir identified Jackson as the gunman in many shootings including the John Francis Green, O'Dowd
, and William Strathern killings. Shortly before the killing of Catholic RUC sergeant Jim Campbell in February 1977, Weir was at Jackson's home when he had been invited to accompany Jackson on a mission to kill a Catholic RUC officer which Jackson claimed had been arranged by Billy McCaughey and a Special Branch officer. Weir had turned down the offer, and Campbell was shot dead outside the Cushendall
RUC station as he locked up. He also linked Jackson to the 1975 Kay's Tavern bombing in Dundalk. While in prison, Weir had written a letter to a friend in which he suggested that Jackson had links to British Military Intelligence
and Captain Robert Nairac
.
Weir claimed in his statement that shortly before he was sent to Newtownhamilton six months after the Strathern killing, his association with loyalist paramilitaries became known to senior RUC officers, who encouraged it. They also knew of his involvement in Strathearn's shooting death. He was summoned to a meeting with Chief Inspector Brian Fitzsimmons,Brian Fitzsimmons eventually rose to the rank of Assistant Chief constable and was one of the senior RUC Intelligence men killed in the 1994 Chinook crash in Mull of Kintyre, Scotland head of the RUC Special Branch in Newry who let Weir know he was aware of his UVF activities. Weir claimed "He told me he knew I had connections out there. That was why he wanted me to go out, make more connections, find out what was going on. He made it quite clear that the Special Branch was keeping an eye on me".. Although Weir took this to have been an endorsement on the part of Fitzsimmons, journalist Liam Clarke felt it was "partly a warning, and partly a bid for control of his informant". Fitzsimmons placed Weir under surveillance and assigned two Special Branch officers to "befriend him".
After his transfer to Newtownhamilton, Weir felt that his life was being placed in danger after Army Intelligence officers also made contact with him regarding proposed attacks against the IRA. A major from the Royal Green Jackets
suggested he carry out an assassination against alleged Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade
commander Thomas "Slab" Murphy and his family. When he informed the two Special Branch men of this, Weir was advised against doing it. During this period Army Intelligence and the RUC Special Branch were involved in an internal power struggle in their mutual battle to defeat the IRA. Weir tried to avoid becoming embroiled in their rivalry but increasingly found himself "pulled in different directions by both sides". Weir told his Special Branch "minders" of his own plan to kidnap notorious IRA man Dessie O'Hare
at "The Spinning Wheel" pub he frequented in Castleblaney and they both encouraged it; however, when he and Jackson arrived at the pub, they discovered the publican had been warned and they were ordered to leave the premises. The Gardai phoned the divisional commander in Newry and made a complaint. This was when Special Branch decided to put a stop to Weir's activities and he was moved in April 1978 for his own safety to Dunmurry, a quiet suburb on the outskirts of Belfast with little opportunity for collusion with paramilitaries. He had no further contact with the UVF in Dunmurry nor in Magherafelt which was his final posting where he was arrested without warning in December 1979 for the murder of William Strathearn.
Weir's affidavit was published in the 2003 Barron Report which was the findings of an official investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings commissioned by Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron
. The Barron Inquiry interviewed Weir in February 2001; Mr Justice Barron concluded that "Weir's evidence overall is credible".
In 2004, the human rights group, the Pat Finucane Centre
, asked Professor Douglass Cassel (formerly of Northwestern University School of Law
) to convene an international panel of inquiry to investigate allegations of collusion in Northern Ireland by the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries in a series of sectarian attacks committed in the 1970s against the nationalist community. This panel also found Weir's evidence to have been credible and agreed with the Garda Síochána and the Barron Inquiry that his allegations "must be regarded with the utmost seriousness". The panel also published in their 2006 report that RUC ballistics evidence concerning the firearms used in the attacks corroborated his allegations.
In an interview with the RUC on 9 August 2000, James Mitchell staunchly denied Weir's allegations that had been levelled against him, and referred to Weir as a "damned liar and convicted murderer". Alleged Dublin bomber Davy Payne was also questioned about Weir's allegations and he also denied them. As did Stewart Young when asked about his purported role in the Monaghan bombing,
Weir has spoken to and communicated with several journalists including Sean McPhilemy, Liam Clarke, and Joe Tiernan. He was also interviewed by RTÉ
in June 1999. In 1994 he moved to Nigeria after he had been warned that his life was in danger from his former colleagues in the security forces and republicans. Weir has never married. According to journalist Kevin Dowling of the Sunday Mirror, Weir, who holds an Irish passport, was later deported from Nigeria.
The following statements by Weir appeared in the Irish current affairs magazine Politico in 2006:
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...
born in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. He served as an officer in 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...
's Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
's (RUC) Special Patrol Group (SPG) (an anti-terrorist unit), and was a volunteer
Volunteer (Ulster loyalist)
Volunteer, abbreviated Vol., is a title used by a number of Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisations to describe their members.-History of the term volunteer in Ireland:...
in the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). As a member of the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurgan and Portadown areas. Subsequent leaders of the...
led by Robin "the Jackal" 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,...
, Weir was a part of 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...
, a group of loyalist extremists that carried out sectarian attacks mainly in the 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...
area in the mid-1970s. Along with his RUC colleague Billy McCaughey
Billy McCaughey
William "Billy" McCaughey was a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group and the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force in the 1970s. He was imprisoned for 16 years for murder from 1980 to 1996...
, Weir was convicted of the 1977 sectarian killing of Catholic chemist William Strathearn and sentenced to life imprisonment. Weir's sworn affidavit which implicated Jackson, other members of the Glenanne gang, soldiers of the 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...
(UDR), and his colleagues in the RUC and SPG, in a series of sectarian attacks, including the Dublin and Monaghan 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...
, was published in the 2003 Barron Report. This was the findings of an official investigation into the 1974 car bombings commissioned by Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron
Henry Barron
Henry Barron was an Irish judge. He sat on the Irish Supreme Court from 1997 until his retirement in 2000. He was the first Jew to hold this position....
.
Early life and the RUC
Weir was born in 1950 in County MonaghanCounty 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...
, Ireland and brought up in the Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
religion on an estate near Castleblaney, where his father was employed as a gamekeeper
Gamekeeper
A gamekeeper is a person who manages an area of countryside to make sure there is enough game for shooting, or fish for angling, and who actively manages areas of woodland, moorland, waterway or farmland for the benefit of game birds, deer, fish and wildlife in general.Typically, a gamekeeper is...
for an Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...
family. Weir was educated at The King's Hospital
The King's Hospital
The King's Hospital is a Church of Ireland co-educational fee-paying boarding and day school situated in Palmerstown, Dublin, Ireland.Founded in 1669, it is one of the oldest schools in Ireland and was also known as the Blue Coat School....
, a Protestant boarding school in Blackhall Place, Dublin. Over six feet tall, powerfully-built, with blond hair and blue eyes, he had an imposing physical presence, which made him stand out in a crowd. Initially he had considered joining the Garda Síochána
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 :...
, the Irish police force; however, in keeping with his family's Unionist political traditions, he opted to join 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...
's police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
(RUC) in March 1970 when he was 20 years of age. Upon his completion of training in Enniskillen Training Depot, he was first posted to the Strandtown RUC station in loyalist east Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. He was transferred to Armagh RUC station in 1972, and it was there on 1 August 1973 he was recruited into the Special Patrol Group
Special Patrol Group (RUC)
The Special Patrol Group in the Royal Ulster Constabulary was a police unit tasked with counter terrorism. Each SPG had 30 members. Many of the SPG units were accused of collusion with the illegal paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force, particularly the actions of a unit based in Armagh.-A...
(SPG), which was the RUC's anti-terrorist unit. It was made up entirely of Protestants. His duties involved making early morning arrests, attending the scenes of bombings and shootings, and riot control. He claimed the SPG officers were "very anti-republican, and sectarian attitudes were common". Weir and his colleagues routinely beat up Catholics
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
suspected of harbouring republican sentiments. The SPG saw themselves as being at war with the Provisional Irish Republican Army
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...
(IRA); as such they considered the loyalist paramilitaries to be their allies and it was common practise to alert Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
(UDA) and UVF suspects before their homes were to be raided by the security forces. By the end of 1973, members of the SPG decided that they would have to "break the rules to curb the terrorists".
Following the killing of an 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...
(UDR) officer in 1974 by the IRA, rumours spread that Weir had been involved in the UVF's retaliatory killing of prominent IRA man John Francis Green
John Francis Green
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...
in County Monaghan. Just before Green's killing, Weir had discovered that Green had been using a safe house just over the Republic of Ireland border and tipped off his RUC Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
colleagues. He was therefore sent for his own safety to the SPG unit in Castlereagh, Belfast on 25 January 1975, fifteen days after Green's shooting. From Castlereagh, he travelled all over Belfast and had access to a large amount of intelligence. He regularly passed on information about suspected IRA members to loyalist paramilitaries. On 1 September 1976 he was transferred to Omagh
Omagh
Omagh is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. The town, which is the largest in the county, had a population of 19,910 at the 2001 Census. Omagh also contains the headquarters of Omagh District Council and...
where he spent six weeks at Lisanelly army base. On 11 October 1976 he was promoted to the rank of sergeant, and was again transferred; this time to Newry
Newry
Newry is a city in Northern Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, formed the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. It is from Belfast and from Dublin. Newry had a population of 27,433 at the 2001 Census, while Newry and Mourne Council Area had a population...
RUC station. He remained in Newry until November 1977, when he was sent to Newtownhamilton
Newtownhamilton
Newtownhamilton is a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Tullyvallan and the barony of Upper Fews. It is part of the Newry and Mourne District Council area...
RUC station. His next posting was to Dunmurry, Belfast in April 1978 and his final posting was in Magherafelt
Magherafelt
Magherafelt is a small town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,372 people recorded in the 2001 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of County Londonderry and is the social, economic and political hub of the area...
, County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...
on 4 September 1978.
Robin Jackson and the Mid-Ulster UVF
Weir stated he first met senior UVF member Robin JacksonRobin 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,...
in a pub in Moira, County Armagh in 1974 where he had gone to have drinks with his girlfriend. Jackson would assume command of the organisation's Mid-Ulster Brigade
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurgan and Portadown areas. Subsequent leaders of the...
in July 1975 upon the assassination of the Brigade's founder and first commander, Billy Hanna
Billy Hanna
William Henry Wilson "Billy" Hanna MM was a high-ranking Northern Irish loyalist who founded and led the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force until he was killed, allegedly by Robin Jackson, who took over command of the brigade.According to RUC Special Patrol Group officer John Weir,...
, who also served as a captain in the UDR. The hitman was allegedly Jackson. Jackson's brigade was part of a loose alliance of hardline loyalists who carried out a series of sectarian attacks against the Catholic nationalist
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
and republican community, mainly in the south Armagh area, but also other areas in Northern Ireland as well as the Republic of Ireland. This group was later named 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...
. In addition to Jackson's Mid-Ulster Brigade, the gang comprised rogue members of the UDR, 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, and the UDA. It allegedly functioned under the direction of British Military Intelligence and/or RUC Special Branch.
The gang's name derived from a farm in Glenanne, County Armagh which was owned by RUC reservist, James Mitchell
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...
. Weir maintained that it was used as a UVF arms dump and bomb-making site. The bombs which were used in the UVF's 1974 Dublin and Monaghan 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...
were built and stored on the farm. Weir claimed Mitchell had admitted to him that he had been involved in the bombings and he had personally seen Mitchell mixing home-made ammonium-nitrate-and-fuel-oil explosive in the farmyard on one occasion.
Weir later admitted to have been indirectly involved in the bombing and shooting attack at the nationalist Tully's Bar in Beleeks on 8 March 1976. According to his later account of events leading up to the attack, when he arrived at Mitchell's farm the designated evening, he saw between eight to ten men dressed in camouflage
Camouflage
Camouflage is a method of concealment that allows an otherwise visible animal, military vehicle, or other object to remain unnoticed, by blending with its environment. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly...
, parading in the farmyard. Inside the farmhouse he discussed the details of the attack with Mitchell and the others. Mitchell had shown him the floor plans of the pub's interior, highlighting the lack of escape routes for the pub's patrons. The plan was temporarily called off when it was discovered that the British Army's Parachute Regiment
Parachute Regiment
Parachute Regiment may refer to:*Parachute Regiment *Parachute Regiment *Paratroopers Brigade , Israel*44 Parachute Regiment *1st Airborne Brigade...
was on patrol in the area that evening. Weir returned to Belfast the following morning and that evening, 8 March, Weir heard the attack had gone ahead. There were no casualties, as Mitchell's floor plans were inaccurate. Once the shooting outside had commenced, the pub's customers fled into the living quarters for safety and the bomb only caused structural damage.
Although Weir's later affidavit confirmed he had already indirectly participated in UVF and Glenanne gang operations, and had visited Mitchell's farm, according to journalist Liam Clarke, Weir officially became part of the Glenanne gang on 23 June 1976. He was recruited by SPG colleagues at an RUC sporting event he had attended in east Belfast when he was stationed at Castlereagh RUC station. Weir had been deeply affected by the Kingsmill massacre
Kingsmill massacre
The Kingsmill massacre took place on 5 January 1976 near the village of Kingsmill in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Ten Protestant men were taken from a minibus and shot dead by a group calling itself the South Armagh Republican Action Force...
five months earlier, when 10 Protestant workmen had been ordered out of their minibus and gunned down by a republican group, 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...
(SARAF). It was this attack that had provoked him into becoming a fully-fledged member of the hardline group, as Weir and the SPG believed the SARAF was a cover name for the IRA and would carry out more attacks against the Protestant community.
Weir took his first active role as a UVF paramilitary in the attempted bombing attack against Renaghan's Bar in Clontibret
Clontibret
Clontibret is a village and a parish in County Monaghan, Ireland.-Village:The village is situated close to the border with Northern Ireland, between the towns of Monaghan and Castleblayney, along the N2 National primary road, which links Dublin and Derry. The village population in 2006 was...
in the Republic of Ireland on 15 August 1976. The operation was aborted after Weir had driven to Clontibret on the morning of the planned attack to ascertain the roads were clear, only to discover the town had already been sealed off by the Irish Army
Irish Army
The Irish Army, officially named simply the Army is the main branch of the Defence Forces of Ireland. Approximately 8,500 men and women serve in the Irish Army, divided into three infantry Brigades...
and Gardai. When Weir displayed his RUC warrant card to a Garda officer he was told the Gardai had received a tip-off from the Northern Ireland security forces that Clontibret was the target of a proposed bombing that evening. Weir returned to the Mitchell farmhouse and found it was under army observation. It transpired that the bomb plot had been revealed to the authorities following the earlier arrest of a UVF man from County Tyrone
County Tyrone
Historically Tyrone stretched as far north as Lough Foyle, and comprised part of modern day County Londonderry east of the River Foyle. The majority of County Londonderry was carved out of Tyrone between 1610-1620 when that land went to the Guilds of London to set up profit making schemes based on...
. The next night a UVF unit drove the bomb car, which had been meant for Clontibret, and parked it outside a nationalist pub in Keady
Keady
Keady is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is situated south of Armagh city and very close to the border with the Republic of Ireland. The town had a population of 2,960 people in the 2001 Census....
, County Armagh; it exploded, killing a man and a woman. Two weeks later Weir was transferred to Omagh.
Sometime shortly after his promotion to the rank of sergeant and his subsequent transfer to Newry RUC station in October 1976, Weir, Jackson and another RUC officer, Gary Armstrong went on a reconnaissance in south Armagh seeking out the homes of known IRA men, with the intention of assassinating them. Jackson carried a knife and hammer; he boasted to Weir, that if they happened to "find a suitable person to kill, he [Jackson] knew how to do it with those weapons". They drove by the homes of two IRA men, however the plan to kill them was aborted and the three drove back to Lurgan
Lurgan
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...
. They were stopped at an RUC roadblock and after an exchange of courtesies were waved through, despite the presence of Jackson with two RUC officers. While he was stationed at Newry, Weir visited Jackson's home outside Lurgan at least four times; they discussed potential attacks against the IRA. He began to supply the Mid-Ulster UVF with weapons he procured from a loyalist group in County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
called the "Down Orange Welfare
Down Orange Welfare
Down Orange Welfare was an loyalist paramilitary vigilante group active in Northern Ireland during the 1970s. Active in rural areas of County Down, the group faded after failing to win support away from larger paramilitary groups such as the Ulster Defence Association.The group was established in...
" which comprised both former and serving members of the security forces including Chief Inspector Harry Breen
1989 Jonesborough Ambush
The Jonesborough ambush took place on 20 March 1989 near the Irish border outside the village of Jonesborough, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Two senior Royal Ulster Constabulary officers, Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan, were shot dead in an ambush by the...
.Harry Breen (who later held the rank of Chief Superintendent) and Superintendent Robert Buchanan were both shot dead on 20 March 1989 after being ambushed outside Jonesborough, County Armagh by the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade. The two RUC officers were travelling in an unmarked car after attending a cross-border security conference in Dundalk with senior Garda officers. These weapons were stored at Mitchell's farmhouse.
William Strathearn killing
Billy McCaughey
William "Billy" McCaughey was a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group and the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force in the 1970s. He was imprisoned for 16 years for murder from 1980 to 1996...
were arrested for their part in the killing and tried before a Diplock court. The story that emerged at the trial was that Weir and McCaughey had decided Strathearn should be killed as they erroneously believed him to be a member of the Provisional IRA. In order to carry the killing out they recruited two unidentified loyalists and drove them to Strathearn's home village of Ahoghill
Ahoghill
Ahoghill or Ahohill is a large village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, four miles from Ballymena. It has a population of 3,055 people . It is within the Borough of Ballymena....
where they knocked on the door of his house, which was also the village's main shop and chemist, and asked him to open up as they urgently needed medicine for a sick child. When Strathearn opened the door he was immediately shot dead and the four escaped in Weir's RUC car. It was also stated during the trial that the two gunmen had been Robin Jackson and his associate Robert John Kerr
Robert John Kerr
Robert John "R. J." Kerr , was a leading Northern Irish loyalist. He served as the commander of the Portadown battalion of the Ulster Defence Association's Mid-Ulster Brigade. Along with the Mid-Ulster Ulster Volunteer Force's brigadier Robin Jackson, Kerr was implicated in the killing of Catholic...
, while Weir had maintained he and McCaughey had stayed in the car during the killing.
Weir had been arrested at work in Magherafelt shortly before Christmas 1979 for his part in the murder and subsequently confessed his involvement at Castlereagh Holding Centre following interrogation. However during these interviews Weir also claimed that he had arranged the killing only because he had been ordered to by superiors officers from RUC Special Branch. He suggested that the actual gunman Jackson was "untouchable because he was a Special Branch agent". Weir had made an offer to testify against Jackson and Kerr but only on the condition that the murder charge against him was withdrawn. This offer was refused by the Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions who said
"Kerr and Jackson have not been interviewed by the police because the police state they are virtually immune to interrogation and the common police consensus is that to arrest and interview either man is a waste of time. Both men are known to police to be very active and notorious UVF murderers. Nevertheless the police do not recommend consideration of withdrawal of charges against Weir. I agree with this view. Weir and McCaughey must be proceeded against. When preceedings against them are terminated the position may be reviewed in respect of Jackson and Kerr".
Weir declared: "I think it is important to make it clear that this collusion between loyalist paramilitaries such as Robin Jackson and my RUC colleagues and me was taking place with the full knowledge of my superiors"
Two months prior to Weir and McCaughey's arrests, Jackson was arrested for possession of weapons, ammunition, and hoods. The three men were remanded in custody together in Crumlin Road Prison.
Weir pleaded not guilty but was convicted in June 1980 on the basis of admissions he had made during police interrogation. Although he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of William Strathearn, he was released on license on 1 February 1993. The SPG unit had been stood down in 1980.
Weir's affidavit
In January 1999, to assist journalist Sean McPhilemy who was being sued for libel, Weir made a sworn affidavit containing 62 paragraphs in which he outlined in detail the instances of collusion between his RUC and SPG colleagues, members of the UDR, and loyalist paramilitaries such as Robin Jackson. He implicated them in a series of sectarian killings and bombings carried out by the Glenanne gang. The role of Jackson, who had died in 1998 of cancer, featured largely in Weir's statement. Jackson was named, along with Mid-Ulster UVF brigadier Billy Hanna (the main organiser) and North Belfast UDA brigadier Davy PayneDavy Payne
David "Davy" Payne was a senior Northern Irish loyalist and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Defence Association during the Troubles serving as brigadier of the North Belfast Brigade. He was second-in-command of the Shankill Road brigade of the Ulster Freedom Fighters , which was the "cover...
, as having led one of the UVF teams that attacked Dublin on 17 May 1974 in three separate, no-warning car bombings which left 26 people dead and almost 300 people injured, mostly women. Weir had received the information regarding the 1974 car bombings and the perpetrators from his associates in the Glenanne gang. Fellow SPG officer and Glenanne gang member Laurence McClure had personally recounted to Weir each sectarian attack carried out by the gang; he also confirmed that the Mid-Ulster UVF unit led by Hanna and Jackson had exploded the car bombs in Dublin's city centre. Stewart Young, a prominent member of the Portadown UVF, told Weir he had headed the team that planted the Monaghan car bomb which had killed an additional seven people 90 minutes after the Dublin blasts. Hanna had also masterminded this attack, although he had allowed Young to lead the bombing unit, while he had gone to Dublin with his own team. Weir stated that UDR captain John Irwin had supplied the explosives, and James Mitchell's farm had been used for the construction and storage of the bombs. The farm was also utilised for the planning of other sectarian attacks. Weir learned from both Mitchell and McClure Hanna's central role in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings as Weir had never claimed to have personally met Hanna. Taking into consideration the fact that Hanna had died in July 1975, it was highly unlikely that he had done so.
Weir identified Jackson as the gunman in many shootings including the John Francis Green, O'Dowd
Reavey and O'Dowd killings
The Reavey and O'Dowd killings took place on 4 January 1976 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Volunteers from the Ulster Volunteer Force , a loyalist paramilitary group, shot dead five Catholic civilians – two from the Reavey family and three from the O'Dowd family – in two co-ordinated attacks....
, and William Strathern killings. Shortly before the killing of Catholic RUC sergeant Jim Campbell in February 1977, Weir was at Jackson's home when he had been invited to accompany Jackson on a mission to kill a Catholic RUC officer which Jackson claimed had been arranged by Billy McCaughey and a Special Branch officer. Weir had turned down the offer, and Campbell was shot dead outside the Cushendall
Cushendall
Cushendall and formerly known as Newtown Glens is a village and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.It is on the A2 coast road between Glenariff and Cushendun, in the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
RUC station as he locked up. He also linked Jackson to the 1975 Kay's Tavern bombing in Dundalk. While in prison, Weir had written a letter to a friend in which he suggested that Jackson had links to British Military Intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
and 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...
.
Weir claimed in his statement that shortly before he was sent to Newtownhamilton six months after the Strathern killing, his association with loyalist paramilitaries became known to senior RUC officers, who encouraged it. They also knew of his involvement in Strathearn's shooting death. He was summoned to a meeting with Chief Inspector Brian Fitzsimmons,Brian Fitzsimmons eventually rose to the rank of Assistant Chief constable and was one of the senior RUC Intelligence men killed in the 1994 Chinook crash in Mull of Kintyre, Scotland head of the RUC Special Branch in Newry who let Weir know he was aware of his UVF activities. Weir claimed "He told me he knew I had connections out there. That was why he wanted me to go out, make more connections, find out what was going on. He made it quite clear that the Special Branch was keeping an eye on me".. Although Weir took this to have been an endorsement on the part of Fitzsimmons, journalist Liam Clarke felt it was "partly a warning, and partly a bid for control of his informant". Fitzsimmons placed Weir under surveillance and assigned two Special Branch officers to "befriend him".
After his transfer to Newtownhamilton, Weir felt that his life was being placed in danger after Army Intelligence officers also made contact with him regarding proposed attacks against the IRA. A major from the Royal Green Jackets
Royal Green Jackets
The Royal Green Jackets was an infantry regiment of the British Army, one of two "large regiments" within the Light Division .-History:...
suggested he carry out an assassination against alleged Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade
Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade
The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army operated during the Troubles in south County Armagh. It was organised into two battalions, one around Jonesborough and another around Crossmaglen. By the 1990s, the South Armagh Brigade was thought to consist of about 40 members,...
commander Thomas "Slab" Murphy and his family. When he informed the two Special Branch men of this, Weir was advised against doing it. During this period Army Intelligence and the RUC Special Branch were involved in an internal power struggle in their mutual battle to defeat the IRA. Weir tried to avoid becoming embroiled in their rivalry but increasingly found himself "pulled in different directions by both sides". Weir told his Special Branch "minders" of his own plan to kidnap notorious IRA man Dessie O'Hare
Dessie O'Hare
Dessie O'Hare , also known as "The Border Fox", is an Irish republican paramilitary, who was once the most wanted man in Ireland....
at "The Spinning Wheel" pub he frequented in Castleblaney and they both encouraged it; however, when he and Jackson arrived at the pub, they discovered the publican had been warned and they were ordered to leave the premises. The Gardai phoned the divisional commander in Newry and made a complaint. This was when Special Branch decided to put a stop to Weir's activities and he was moved in April 1978 for his own safety to Dunmurry, a quiet suburb on the outskirts of Belfast with little opportunity for collusion with paramilitaries. He had no further contact with the UVF in Dunmurry nor in Magherafelt which was his final posting where he was arrested without warning in December 1979 for the murder of William Strathearn.
Weir's affidavit was published in the 2003 Barron Report which was the findings of an official investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings commissioned by Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron
Henry Barron
Henry Barron was an Irish judge. He sat on the Irish Supreme Court from 1997 until his retirement in 2000. He was the first Jew to hold this position....
. The Barron Inquiry interviewed Weir in February 2001; Mr Justice Barron concluded that "Weir's evidence overall is credible".
Aftermath
Weir's allegations have been the subject of inquiries by both the RUC and Garda Síochána. The RUC's report concluded in part that "as Weir is a convicted murderer his credibility must be in doubt". The RUC made no attempt to interview Weir. The Garda Síochána, who had interviewed him in April 1999, found him to have been "an impressive witness" and they "believed his allegations should be taken seriously".In 2004, the human rights group, 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...
, asked Professor Douglass Cassel (formerly of Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
) to convene an international panel of inquiry to investigate allegations of collusion in Northern Ireland by the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries in a series of sectarian attacks committed in the 1970s against the nationalist community. This panel also found Weir's evidence to have been credible and agreed with the Garda Síochána and the Barron Inquiry that his allegations "must be regarded with the utmost seriousness". The panel also published in their 2006 report that RUC ballistics evidence concerning the firearms used in the attacks corroborated his allegations.
In an interview with the RUC on 9 August 2000, James Mitchell staunchly denied Weir's allegations that had been levelled against him, and referred to Weir as a "damned liar and convicted murderer". Alleged Dublin bomber Davy Payne was also questioned about Weir's allegations and he also denied them. As did Stewart Young when asked about his purported role in the Monaghan bombing,
Weir has spoken to and communicated with several journalists including Sean McPhilemy, Liam Clarke, and Joe Tiernan. He was also interviewed by RTÉ
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
in June 1999. In 1994 he moved to Nigeria after he had been warned that his life was in danger from his former colleagues in the security forces and republicans. Weir has never married. According to journalist Kevin Dowling of the Sunday Mirror, Weir, who holds an Irish passport, was later deported from Nigeria.
The following statements by Weir appeared in the Irish current affairs magazine Politico in 2006:
"I'm lucky to be above the ground. My family has suffered. There is no sense in my saying that I feel sorry for what I have done. But I do believe that it is important that each side looks at the other's point of view. A long-lasting peace will depend on one side showing that they know the other side has also been wronged".