NEW evidence has been uncovered on the 50th anniversary of the shooting dead of a New Lodge member of the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional IRA.

Billy Reid (32) was killed by the British Army in Academy Street in Belfast city centre on May 15, 1971.

Reid is reported to have shot the first British soldier on duty killed in the Troubles, Gunner Robert Curtis in the New Lodge on February 6, 1971.

On the 50th anniversary of his death, legacy archive and research organisation, Paper Trail has uncovered new evidence about British Army activity in the area on the day of Reid’s killing.

Ciaran MacAirt explained: “Billy Reid’s life is commemorated to this day in our community and he is immortalised in the famous ballad by Brian Lyons. These are invaluable historical records written from the perspective of the British Army and offer us some differing views on the narrative. 

“We learn that it was Call Sign 60 – a Recce Platoon – of 1st Battalion Royal Highland Fusiliers that ‘happened’ upon the IRA car as it was driving out of a city centre cul de sac. 

“Recce Platoons in the British Regular Army are among the most experienced and highly trained platoons in each regiment. The British military logs record, though, how swiftly the IRA reacted to the surprise and two British Fusiliers were injured – one seriously. 

“The Recce Platoon Sergeant is recorded as Sgt X fired 10 x 9mm bullets from his Browning, allegedly hitting one person six times and another four times. Two IRA escaped.”

“Also of interest is the 1 RHF that one of the IRA suspects who escaped fitted the description of a named IRA man who was recently named as a suspect in the killing of the three Scottish Fusiliers a few weeks before this. 

“We know from previous files that the British Army received a lot of intelligence about the attack in its aftermath so may have already had this suspect’s name. A massive British Army operation was mounted to try and capture them and we can only guess what would have happened if 1 RHF had been successful in its pursuit.

“Only the swift and aggressive reaction of Billy Reid allowed the other two IRA Volunteers to escape but he was killed and his submachine gun recovered – not the old Thompson gun in the ballad, but a Sterling submachine gun.”

You can read the full report by Paper Trail here.