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Date |
Name |
Age |
Sex |
Reli-gion |
Affili-ation |
Alleged Perpe-trator |
Location Town / Area |
Location County / Country |
Details |
Category |
Arrests / Prosecutions |
Sources |
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27-Jan-99 |
Eamonn Collins |
45 |
M |
C |
Former IRA |
IRA |
Newry |
Co Down |
Battered to death and stabbed repeatedly close to his home in Newry. He had been a member of the IRA, but later became a vocal critic. He at one time agreed to testify against former associates, but then refused to testify and disowned his prior statements.[1] Blood from a person other than Mr Collins was found on the scene, and police were using DNA testing to identify that person, believed to be a well-known IRA hitman who was living in the Republic as of April 2001[2]. Mr Collins’s widow said she believed ‘thuggish republican elements’, not the Armagh IRA, were responsible for his death[3] The victim was the author of 'Killing Rage', a book which detailed the violence of the IRA [4] He also gave evidence against leading South Armagh republican Tom 'Slab' Murphy in a libel case Murphy brought against the Sunday Times. Murphy lost [5] |
On 13 April 1999, four men were arrested and six cars were removed for examination in dawn swoops on homes in south Armagh. The men were thought to be held in connection with the investigation into Mr Collins’s murder.[4] |
[1] Lost Lives, no. 3631[2] Police hold DNA clue to Collins’s killer, by Liam Clarke, Sunday Times, 23 April 2001[3] Collins not murdered by IRA says widow, by Niall Blaney, Irish News, 10 February 1999[4] SF angered as four held in Collins probe, by Aeneas Bonner, Irish News, 14 April 1999[5] The Murky World of Informers, BBC News, 12 December 2001 [6] Why Collins died by Ed Moloney, The Sunday Tribune |
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15-Mar-99 |
Rosemary Nelson |
40 |
F |
C |
Civilian |
LVF |
Lurgan |
Co Armagh |
Solicitor blown up in loyalist booby-trap bomb placed beneath her car. The device exploded as she was driving away from her home in Lurgan. Before her death, Ms Nelson had complained about death threats against her by members of the security forces. Family members and NGOs have alleged that there may have been collusion in her death. The Red Hand Defenders claimed responsibility for the killing.[1] Her case is one of the six being investigated by Hon. Peter Cory, a Canadian judge. |
[1] Lost Lives, no. 3632 |
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17-Mar-99 |
Frankie Curry |
46 |
M |
P |
RHC |
UVF |
West Belfast |
Co Antrim |
Shot at least six times, including three times in the head while he was on the ground, as he walked through a park to visit his mother. The killing was part of an LVF/UVF feud. The RUC had warned him twice in the previous year of death threats.[1] Mr Curry appeared to be affiliated with a range of loyalist paramilitary organisations throughout the years, including the Red Hand Commando, the UDA, and possibly the UVF, the LVF, and the Red Hand Defenders[2]. |
Loyalist feud |
As of December 1999, four men had been arrested in connection with the murder, but none of them had been charged[3]. |
[1] Loyalist killer warned by RUC, by Aeneas Bonner, Irish News, 2 December 1999[2] Lost Lives, no. 3633[3] Loyalist killer warned by RUC, by Aeneas Bonner, Irish News, 2 December 1999 |
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09-May-99 |
Brendan ‘Speedy’ Fegan |
24 |
M |
C |
Civilian |
IRA / DAAD? |
Newry |
Co Down |
Shot repeatedly in the head by two masked gunmen in a Newry bar. Although his last words were reportedly, “It’s the Provies, it’s the Provies,” it is speculated that it was a drugs-related killing. Mr Fegan was a well-known drugs dealer whose life had been threatened before.[1] Newspapers report he was killed by the IRA/DAAD, though they vigorously deny the allegations[2]. One source alleged that Mr Fegan was suspected of being a police informer in the Republic and in Northern Ireland[3]. |
Drugs-related killing? |
[1] Sources deny Provos gunned down Speedy, by Aeneas Bonner, Irish News, 11 May 1999[2] 13 victims of the IRA’s policing drive, by Maeve Connolly, Irish News, 23 February 2002[3] Flanagan says IRA suspected of killing dealer, by Jim Cusack, Irish Times, 14 June 2000 |
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05-Jun-99 |
Elizabeth O’Neill |
59 |
F |
P |
Civilian |
LVF |
Portadown |
Co Armagh |
Protestant married to a Catholic, living on Protestant estate in Portadown. A brick was thrown through a window into her living room, followed by a pipe bomb; the bomb exploded as she attempted to remove it.[1] |
Philip Joseph Blaney (37), a former Special Branch agent, was found guilty of manslaughter, causing an explosion, possession of a pipe bomb, and possession of a firearm in January 2003. At his trial, Mr Blaney was said to be part of a four-man team of loyalists that had attacked two houses in the estate because of mixed relationships.[2] Mr Blaney did not throw the bomb at Mrs O’Neill’s house, as he was in charge of throwing the brick into the other house, so he was not charged with murder[3]. In July 2003, William James Fulton was awaiting trial on a total of 64 charges, including aiding and abetting the murder of Mrs O’Neill, a number of attempted murders, possession of guns and explosives, supplying Class A and B drugs, and belonging to and directing the activities of the LVF[4]. |
[1] Fulton in court on terror charges, UTV, 13 June 2003[2] Relief as mother’s killer is convicted, by Simon Doyle, Irish News, 10 January 2003[3] Court told loyalist gang killed Portadown woman, Irish News, 11 June 2002[4] Bail situation is astonishing, Irish News, 23 July 2003 |
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13-Jun-99 |
Paul ‘Bull’ Downey |
37 |
M |
C |
Civilian |
IRA / DAAD? |
Belleeks |
Co Armagh |
Shot in the head after being abducted from the car park of a hotel. Mr Downey’s body, stripped to his underwear, was discovered by a farmer at a south Armagh roadside. Mr Downey was a known drugs dealer, and the killing was believed to be drugs related.[1] A year earlier, he allegedly sold the RIRA a cache of Uzi sub-machine guns, machine pistols with silencers, revolvers and handguns [2] |
Drugs-related killing |
[1] Unionists pin drug dealer’s murder on IRA, by John Manley, Irish News, 15 June 1999[2] Real IRA ready to blitz Britain, by Henry McDonald, The Observer, 26 November 2000 |
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29-Jul-99 |
Charles Bennett |
22 |
M |
C |
IRA? |
IRA |
West Belfast |
Co Antrim |
Disappeared 25 July 1999 and was found four days later on waste ground near a GAA pitch with his hands tied behind his back, his face covered, and shot in head and neck at close range. Private security sources say they believe the IRA was responsible because Mr Bennett had stolen a weapon from the IRA.[1] Another source said he was killed for allegedly passing information to the RUC[2]. An RUC detective told the inquest that he blamed the PIRA [2] |
A 45-year-old man was originally charged with the murder, but the murder charge was withdrawn in December 1999[3]. |
[1] Lost Lives, no. 3637[2] Terrorists still killing despite agreement, by Jim Cusack, Irish Times, 1 August 2001[3] Bennett accused released, Irish News, 23 December 1999[4] IRA is blamed for 'cowardly murder, by Anne Madden, Irish News, 05 May 2001 |
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06-Oct-99 |
Patrick Campbell |
22 |
M |
C |
INLA |
Unknown |
Walkinstown, Dublin |
Republic of Ireland |
INLA man beaten and stabbed in a battle between INLA and a Dublin crime gang after users of an industrial estate turned to INLA for protection. Mr Campbell died five days after the attack, probably from the knife wounds to his legs that hit arteries and caused a significant loss of blood.[1] |
Daniel Finnegan (20) was charged with the murder, but the prosecution dropped the charge against him in July 2001, after the trial had begun, because it was discovered that he could not have caused the injuries from which Mr Campbell died. Mr Finnegan pleaded guilty to the second charge against him, engaging in a violent disorder.[2] Declan Duffy and Patrick O’Toole (27 and 23 in 2001) pleaded guilty to possession of a shotgun and to falsely imprisoning four men against their will during the confrontation and were given nine years and seven years in jail, respectively[3]. |
[1] Prosecution drops charges, Irish News, 27 July 2001[2] Prosecution drops charges, Irish News, 27 July 2001[3] Jail terms for two involved in INLA clash, by Diarmaid MacDermott, Irish News, 16 January 2001 |
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