Case Studies in Murder IV - Saving Private Rudman
The three Rudman brothers were from West Hartlepool in Co Durham. Two of them, Thomas and Jack, were twins and all three joined the Light Infantry, a regiment with historic connections to Co Durham. It was formed by the amalgamation of the four remaining light infantry regiments of the Light Infantry Brigade including the Durham Light Infantry in 1968.
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| John Rudman |
On 14th September 1971 21 year old John Ronald Rudman was among soldiers dispatched to Coalisland following disturbances in the town. IRA murderers opened fire on the lead Land Rover with pump action shotguns, a rifle and a Thompson submachine gun.
Four women had what the News Letter at the time described as "miraculous escape" when their car was caught in the ambush.
They were returning from a party at Granville when they overtook the army convoy only to come under a hail of gunfire. The soldiers in some of the vehicles jumped out and took cover on the side of the road shouting anxiously for the women to get out of the area. The women later recalled how they had to lie on the floor of their car with one saying:
"There was no regard for human life at all. That such things can happen in a supposedly civilised country is incredible".
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| The four women who narrowly escaped in the attack in which Private John Rudman was murdered |
Private John Rudman was not as fortunate as the women. He was in a truck with 18 other soldiers and was hit in the back of the head. He died in the nearby South Tyrone Hospital.
The soldiers had come under fire from the grounds of Edendork Catholic Church - grounds which currently contain a large memorial to three IRA men killed by their own bomb when it exploded on the Omagh to Gortin road in June 1973.
There is no memorial to Private Rudman at Edendork Chapel.
Later a 75 lb unexploded bomb was found near the scene of the murder. Wires went into a field 150 yards away. Mercifully the bomb - probably designed to murder security services involved in the followup operation - was made safe by the bomb squad. The Army pointed out that the device could have killed many people passing on foot or in vehicles.
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| Thomas Rudman |
A year and 16 days later, on 30th September 1972, Private Thomas Rudman was shot by the IRA at the junction of Ladbrook Drive and Balholme Drive in Ardoyne, North Belfast.
Another soldier was injured when the ambulance taking Private Rudman away was fired on.
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| Press report on the return of Jack Rudman from Northern Ireland (click to enlarge) |
Thomas’s twin Jack had joined the regiment along with him and was also serving in Belfast at the time. Jack was sent home on compassionate grounds following the murder with the press reporting that he would not be returning to Northern Ireland.
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| Jack Rudman |
At the family home in Hartlepool Margaret Rudman appealed to the government and Army not to send a second member of a family to serve in Northern Ireland again if one had already been killed or wounded in the Province.
She also said:
“This was terribly wrong. Yet I knew it was going to happen, just as John and I both knew that he would never return from Ulster alive. Just before he left he confided that he did not think he would be home again. A few days after he had been killed, I had a vision of the man who murdered him. He had a scar.
“I mentioned his name to an army officer who came to see me and he said that a man of that name had been involved in John’s death. Then I had this premonition about the twins. I knew one of them was going to be killed. Maybe I should have told someone but they would probably have thought I was silly. But I want justice done and these murderers dealt with the same as they would be in this country, and I want to know what has happened”.
No one has ever been convicted of either of the Rudman murders.
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| The tragic story of the Rudman brothers - along with the decision to send Jack home - made the front page of the Belfast Telegraph on 2nd October 1972 |
Postscript
I am thankful for the following article being pointed out to me - IRA TRAGEDY BEHIND MEDAL GIRL SHELLEY.
In it you can read something of the family background of Shelley Rudman, a daughter of Jack Rudman born 9 years after he had been sent home from Northern Ireland, who won a silver medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics. Shelley Rudman has since been crowned skeleton bobsleigh world champion in 2013.
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| Shelly Rudman, daughter of Jack Rudman, carrying the UK flag at the Winter Olympics and with her silver medal |
Lost Lives by McKittrick et al.
The story of the Rudman family is referred to in passing in The Bloodiest Year 1972 by the always superb Ken Wharton.
Operation Banner: The British Army in Northern Ireland 1969 – 2007 by Nick Van der Bijl also references the Rudman brothers in passing but as is sadly typical of the book’s poor research der Bijl states that they “are thought to be the only brothers killed in Northern Ireland” - a claim which even if charitably taken to refer only to British soldiers is untrue.
A website on the Light Infantry
Microfilm records of the News Letter are held at Belfast Central Library
Photos of Thomas and John Rudman were sourced from CAIN
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