Big Boys' Rules

further away from covert operations, a gulf has opened up between the standards of behaviour acceptable in the ‘Green Army’ and police and in undercover work. Patience and discipline have been fostered as professional virtues among soldiers going to Northern Ireland for uniformed tours of duty. The statement that a small cadre of SAS and surveillance operators has been responsible for the great majority of IRA deaths in recent years does, after all, also show that the 10,000 or so soldiers walking the streets of Northern Ireland have generally behaved with restraint when they have met people known to them as IRA members. During my research, one of the strongest testimonials to the improvement in the behaviour of the British Army in Northern Ireland during the 1980s was given to me by a republican in the Bogside area of Londonderry. Republicans have also admitted to me in private that the treatment of suspects by the RUC has improved since the inquiries into security forces brutality of the 1970s which prompted the introduction of safeguards against the abuse of detainees.

The cultures of the uniformed and covert security forces in Ulster have become so different that knowledge and supervision of the undercover units’ actions has lessened even within the Army and police. The SAS contingent in Ulster has become an élite within an élite. Reduced in strength during the early 1980s to little more than twenty men, SAS men wishing to join this troop must submit themselves to further scrutiny. The selection of these men is carried out by long-serving SAS NCOs who, increasingly during the 1980s, were drawn from the ranks of the Parachute Regiment – an organization with a reputation for action rather than for skills in tasks where tact or political sensitivity were required.

The 1980s saw the emergence of a pattern of aggressive special forces operations with the acquiescence of politicians and senior officers, who knew little of the operational detail, and who in any case were more easily convinced than their predecessors had been of the political benefits. This did not involve the killing of any and every IRA volunteer who could be found, as republican propagandists try to imply. Rather, it meant that those in possession of unusually specific intelligence about a forthcoming terrorist attack provided that knowledge, via a special co-ordinated system, to the SAS. With the honing-down of the SAS contingent in Ulster to an even tougher élite, it was understood that these soldiers would then take the opportunity to play big boys’ games by big boys’ rules.

Appendix IRepublican Terrorists: Cause of Death,

April 1976–November 1987 PROVISIONAL IRA

DateNamePlaceOrganization Responsible    1976   AprilPeter ClearyS. ArmaghSASJuneBrian CoyleLondonderryIRA/accidentJulyPeter McElcarTyroneIRA/accidentJulyPatrick CannonTyroneIRA/accidentAugustDanny LennonBelfastArmyOctoberPaul MarloweBelfastIRA/accidentOctoberFrank FitzsimmonsBelfastIRA/accidentOctoberJoseph SurgenorBelfastIRA/accident    1977   JanuarySeamus HarveyS. ArmaghSASAprilTrevor McKibbinBelfastArmyAprilBrendan O’CallaghanBelfastArmyJulyThomas TolanBelfastIRAAugustPaul McWilliamsBelfastArmy    1978   FebruaryPaul DuffyTyroneSASJuneDan Jos McErleanBelfastIRA/informer1JuneDenis HeaneyLondonderry14 CompanyJuneDenis BrownBelfastSASJuneWilliam MaileyBelfastSASJuneJohn MulvennaBelfastSASNovemberPatrick DuffyLondonderrySAS    1979   JanuaryFrank DonnellyBelfastIRA/accidentJanuaryLawrence MontgomeryBelfastIRA/accidentAprilWilliam CarsonBelfastLoyalistsJunePeadar McElvennaS. ArmaghArmyJulyMichael KearneyFermanaghIRA/informer    1980   JanuaryKevin DelaneyBelfastIRA/accidentAprilRobert CarrDownIRA/accidentJuneTerence O’NeillBelfastRUC    1981   FebruaryPatrick TrainorBelfastIRA/informerFebruaryJames BurnsBelfastLoyalists(?)MayCharles MaguireLondonderry14 CompanyMayGeorge McBreartyLondonderry14 CompanyJulyJohn DempseyBelfastArmy    1982   JanuaryJohn TorbittBelfastIRA/informerMarchSeamus MorganS. ArmaghIRA/informerAprilPatrick ScottBelfastIRA/informerAugustEamonn BradleyLondonderryArmyNovemberEugene TomanArmaghRUC/HMSUNovemberGervaise McKerrArmaghRUC/HMSUNovemberSean BurnsArmaghRUC/HMSU    1983   DecemberBrian CampbellTyroneSASDecemberColm McGirrTyroneSAS    1984   FebruaryJas YoungS. ArmaghIRA/informerFebruaryHenry HoganAntrim14 CompanyFebruaryDeclan MartinAntrim14 CompanyAprilRichard QuigleyLondonderryIRA/accidentJulyWilliam PriceTyroneSASAugustBrendan WattersDownIRA/accidentDecemberTony McBrideFermanaghSASDecemberDaniel DohertyLondonderrySAS2DecemberWilliam FlemingLondonderrySASDecemberSean McIlvennaArmaghRUCDecemberKieran FlemingFermanaghIRA/accident    1985   FebruaryMichael DevineTyroneSAS3FebruaryCharles BreslinTyroneSASFebruaryDanny DevineTyroneSASAugustCharles EnglishLondonderryIRA/accidentAugustJames McCannBelfastIRA/accidentOctoberDamien McCroryLondonderryIRA/informer    1986   FebruaryTony GoughLondonderryArmyAprilSeamus McElwaineFermanaghSASAugustPatrick MurrayBelfastIRA/informerSeptemberDavid McVeighS. ArmaghIRA/informerSeptemberJames McKernanBelfastArmy    1987   MarchGerard LogueLondonderryIRA/accidentAprilLawrence MarleyBelfastUVFAprilFinbar McKennaBelfastIRA/accidentMayPatrick KellyArmaghSASMayJames LynaghArmaghSASMayAnthony GormleyArmaghSASMayPadraig McKearneyArmaghSASMayDeclan ArthursArmaghSASMaySeamus DonnellyArmaghSASMayEugene KellyArmaghSASMayGerard O’CallaghanArmaghSASAugustEamonn MaguireS. ArmaghIRA/informerOctoberEddie McSheffreyLondonderryIRA/accidentOctoberPaddy DeeryLondonderryIRA/accident    Total78

HUNGER STRIKERS

DateNamePlace   1981  MayBobby SandsMazeMayFrancis HughesMazeMayPatsy O’Hara (INLA)MazeMayRaymond McCreeshMazeJuneJoseph McDonnellMazeJulyMartin HursonMazeJulyJohn DempseyMazeAugustKieran DohertyMazeAugustTom McElweeMazeAugustKevin Lynch (INLA)MazeAugustMichael Devine (INLA)Maze   Total11 INLA

DateNamePlaceOrganization Responsible    1977   DecemberColm McNuttLondonderry14 Company    1978   MarchThomas TrainorArmaghLoyalistsJuneJames McConnellLondonderryArmy    1980   OctoberRonnie BuntingBelfastLoyalists    1981   MayJames PowerMazeH/strikeMayEmmanuel McLarnonBelfastArmy    1982   DecemberSeamus GrewTyroneRUC/HMSUDecemberRoddy CarrollTyroneRUC/HMSU    1983   FebruaryLiam McMonagleLondonderry14 CompanyAugustBrendan ConveryTyroneRUCAugustJames MullanTyroneRUC    1984   JunePaul McCann      1987   FebruaryTony McCloskeyArmaghINLA/feudFebruaryMichael KearneyBelfastINLA/feudMarchThomas MaguireS. ArmaghINLA/feudMarchGerard SteensonBelfastINLA/feudMarchFergus ConlonS. ArmaghINLA/feudMarchEmmanuel GarganBelfastINLA/feudMarchKevin DuffyS. ArmaghINLA/feudOctoberJim McDaidS. ArmaghINLA/feud    Total19

Accidental Killings During SAS Operations

DateNamePlace   1978  JuneWilliam HannaBelfastJulyJohn BoyleAntrimSeptemberJames TaylorTyrone   1984  OctoberFred JacksonTyrone   1987  AprilOliver HughesArmagh   1988  JulyKen StrongeBelfast   Total6 Members of 14 Intelligence Company Killed by Republican Terrorists4

DateNamePlace   1974  AprilCaptain Anthony PollenLondonderry   1977  DecemberCorporal Paul HarmanBelfast   1978  AugustLance-Corporal Alan SwiftLondonderry   1984  FebruarySergeant Paul OramAntrim   Total4

Members of the SAS Killed by Republican Terrorists5

DateNamePlace   1980  MayCaptain Richard WestmacottBelfast   1984  DecemberLance-Corporal Alastair SlaterFermanagh   Total2 Republican Terrorists Killed by Security Forces in Total

Organization ResponsibleNumber killed14 Company of IRA/INLA7SAS of IRA25 (1983–87: 18)Other Army of IRA9 (1983–87: 2)

1The classification ‘IRA/informer’ includes those killed by the organization itself for alleged informing. In some cases those killed may not in fact have been passing information to the security forces.

2 Members of 14 Intelligence Company may also have opened fire during this incident.

3 Some sources suggest that soldiers from 14 Intelligence Company, not the SAS, were involved in this incident. I do not believe this is correct.

4 I have listed only those who I am confident belonged to this unit. However, there have been a number of army casualties who may have been members of 14 Company, but the evidence is uncertain. It is therefore safest to say simply that the unit had lost at least four soldiers in action by 1987.

5 Two members of the SAS died in car accidents while serving in Northern Ireland: Staff Sergeant David Naden was killed in 1978 and Corporal Tommy Palmer in 1983.

Appendix II Development of Covert Operations Units

Select Bibliography

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Asher, Michael, Shoot to Kill: A Soldier’s Journey Through Violence, Viking, London, 1990.

Bishop, Patrick and Eamonn Mallie, The Provisional IRA, Corgi, London, 1988.

Bloch, Jonathan and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, Dublin, 1984.

Deacon, Richard, ‘C’: A Biography of Sir Maurice Oldfield, Futura, London, 1985.

Dewar, Lieutenant Colonel Michael, The British Army in Northern Ireland, Arms and Armour Press, London, 1985.

Dillon, Martin, The Dirty War, Hutchinson, London, 1990.

Fitzgerald, Patrick and Mark Leopold, Stranger on the Line: A Secret History of Phone Tapping, The Bodley Head, London, 1987.

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