A Date In History I - 2nd August PIRA Murders of RUC Officers

There have been a few times in the course of this project when I have thought that the PIRA murders committed across the decades looked particularly poignant when listed together in an “On This Day” format. Looking at the cases in this format can also prove instructive when it comes to PIRA tactics.

As I prepared tweets for 2nd August I thought that date was just one of those days, particularly when it came to the PIRA campaign against the RUC.

1978 Shot on Duty - Reserve Constable John Lamont

Reserve Constable John Lamont

21 year old John Lamont was on beat duty in George Street Ballymena. He had just escorted a young female officer back to the station after she had patrolled the town.

Shortly before midnight a car pulled up behind him which had been hijacked in Toomebridge and he was short four times. Reserve Constable Lamont was given first aid by customers at the nearby Coach and Horses bar but was dead on arrival at Waveney Hospital.

On the day of the murder Sinn Fein were using comments by Catholic Primate of Ireland, Tomas O Fiaich, about the conditions in which Republican prisoners were living for propaganda purposes in the United States. It was the British government of course which was responsible for the “dirty protests”and not the prisoners who created the filthy conditions themselves. NORAID collection tins were said to be overflowing.

No thought was given to the young man who had worked in a Ballymena shoe shop - or the young lady he had been due to marry in a short time. 

Reserve Constable John Lamont was the first member to the security forces to be murdered in Ballymena in the Troubles.

1979 The Hoax Robbery - Constable Derek Kerr Davidson

Constable Derek Kerr Davidson

Springfield Road RUC station received a call reporting a burglary in Clondara Street off the Falls Road. A woman told police she had returned from holiday to find her home had been broken into. As was practice when the RUC went into a Republican area in response to such a call, uniformed officers protected detectives as they made their investigations. One of those who went to the call out was a Scotsman who had been in the RUC since January, Constable Derek Kerr Davidson. As he climbed out of the Land Rover he was shot by gunmen who had taken over a nearby house and were holding the occupants hostage.

Constable Davidson died instantly and left a widow and a four year old daughter.

In a statement read in Catholic churches in west Belfast the following Sunday it was noted:

“This kind of killing is murder, no matter who the victim is or what kind of uniform he wears, and no special circumstances can justify it. We object to the unwarranted interference with the lives of our people which make them hostage in their own homes when the house is invaded and taken over by force so that they can be used as a base for these appalling crimes which have stained our streets with blood”.

At the inquest it was noted that the RUC had “come knowing the risk, into areas like this to help people. … One must feel it is a particularly treacherous kind of murder. One must marvel at the bravery of the police. This, happening day in and day out in this city and it is far from being the first case of a policeman being ambushed in a hoax errand of mercy."

1981 The Landmine - Constables John Smyth and Andrew Alfred Woods

Constable Andrew Woods

2nd August 1981 is remembered by Republicans as the date when PIRA Hunger Striker and TD for Cavan-Monaghan Kieran Doherty passed out into eternity (I plan to write a blog on the subject of what the PIRA Hunger Strikers were actually in jail for but that’s for another day).

Two names less well known are those of Constables John Smyth and Andrew Alfred Woods. At 11:45 that Sunday morning they were part of a two vehicle patrol from Omagh RUC station making their way back from attending a fire. As they drove over a culvert a 600 lb bomb was detonated via a command wire from a nearby quarry. The blast left a 10 foot deep crater in the road.

At the funeral of John Smyth the Presbyterian Moderator asked:

“While these murders of law-keeping officers continue how can anyone talk of Hunger Strikers or of others who are in prison guilty of murders or other heinous crimes?”

One wonders if the Very Rev Dr Ronald Craig would ask today if anyone talks of Constable Smyth or the widow and three children under five left without a father when they hear of some Hunger Strike commemoration.

John Smyth's family at the unveiling of a plaque in his memory

Constable Woods was survived by his widow and six children.

1988 The Under Car Bomb - Detective Constable John George Warnock 

Detective Constable John George Warnock

Finally we have the case of Detective Constable John George Warnock in 1988. 

He was a crime prevention officer in Lisburn who parked his car about 100 yards from the city’s RUC station at 9am that morning. He returned to the car in Seymour Street at 3:30pm and drove off travelling some distance before a bomb under the vehicle detonated. Detective Constable Warnock was killed instantly and 18 others, including a baby, some children, an 87 year old man and a disabled pensioner who was thrown from his wheelchair by the force of the blast injured.

45 year old John Warnock was planning to announce his engagement on the day of his murder.

Conclusions

What do these events tell us about the PIRA campaign against the RUC and what do they tell us about the RUC? Is there anything more to link them other than the date?

Reserve Constable John Lamont wasn’t just an RUC officer but also worked in a shoe shop in the town in which he was murdered. As I’ve noted on this blog before I suspect that people who have grown up since the Troubles ended tend to forget that many of those in the security forces served part time and led working lives just like the rest of their community. But as I’ve also noted the vast majority of RUC officers were murdered while on duty, like Lamont. The RUC generally didn't wear as much protective armour as soldiers (i.e. helmets and the like) while on patrol and were therefore easier targets on duty. Indeed in the aftermath of the Lamont murder questions were asked about the protection worn by RUC officers while on patrol with the local MP, Dr Ian Paisley, saying:
"Every policeman should have his own personal flak jacket and, as far as possible, should never be required to do duty on his own".

The methods employed to murder Constables John Smyth and Andrew Alfred Woods and Detective Constable John George Warnock display a callous disregard for human life and safety. Bombs attached to cars which could be driven around and landmines were indiscriminate weapons which could, and did, kill and wound others in addition to the intended targets. 

In the cases of Constable Derek Kerr Davidson and Constables John Smyth and Andrew Alfred Woods the officers were responding to or returning from callouts which wouldn’t seem out of place for any police officer in the western world - one responding to what was believed to be a robbery and the others returning from a fire.

Tellingly for all the PIRA attempts to vilify the RUC they still knew that they would respond to a call for help from someone who had been robbed - even when that person lived in the Republican heartland of West Belfast. And they were quite prepared to hold people in the community they claimed to be the defenders of hostage and steal their cars to facilitate murders which took advantage of that fact.

A note on sources

To write this blog I have drawn material from the following sources:

Lost Lives by McKittrick et al

The Thin Green Line The History of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC 1922 - 2001 by Richard Doherty

Constabulary Heroes 1826-2009: Incorporating RUC GC/PSNI by Sam Trotter

Wasted Years, Wasted Lives Volume 2 by Ken Wharton

I have sought to be careful but if anyone spots factual errors in the above piece please email me at onthisdayni@gmail.com , message the Facebook page or PM me on Twitter.