We look at the stories that were making the headlines this week in the Andersonstown News in 1980
IN GOOD COMPANY: Stiff Little Fingers drummer Jim Reilly was snapped by our camerman during a visit home to Turf Lodge in October 1980
Loyalist death campaign continues
AN organisation closely linked to the UDA has said that the granting of political status could lead to a murder campaign against Catholics.
The new Ulster Political Research Group, a front organisation for the UDA, issued the statement this week following the news of hunger strikes in the H-Blocks. This is interpreted as a warning that the ‘selective’ murder campaign at present being carried out against H-Block activists, will be broadened to include any unfortunate Catholic in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ‘selective murder campaign has already claimed the lives of John Turnly and Miriam Daly, with Ronnie Bunting and Noel Lyttle being the latest victims.
If this threat is carried out, the Catholic community could face the prospect of a return to the 1972-75 era, when hundreds of Catholics were killed because of their religion.
Our Political Corres-pondent writes: The use of violence against the Catholic community as a whole, in an attempt to intimidate the IRA has been a fundamental part of loyalist strategy ever since the founding of the ‘Northern Ireland’ state. Pogroms have been used in every decade to bludgeon the Catholics into subservience. Usually the loyalist militants had the backing of the state institutions in their intimidatory actions, and these latest killings would seem to follow this pattern.
Ronnie Bunting’s home was raided almost weekly by the ‘security forces’ as was Miriam Daly’s shortly before her death. Noel Lyttle had only been released from Castlereagh Interrogation Centre the day before his death. People also report that the Donegall Road security barrier was left open on the night of the murders, even though it had not been opened for months before that, hence facilitating a quick getaway for the killers. Some people think that the circumstances surrounding the killings would suggest some degree of connivance by people in authority and recent court cases involving members of the RUC and UDR in loyalist violence also adds credibility to this theory, and the full deployment of RUC men in Catholic areas following British army withdrawals will now cause considerable concern following these latest killings.
Deirdre Campbell's 21st birthday party in the Celebrity Club
Ronnie Buntings interrogation
FOLLOWING his arrest and questioning in Castlereagh in August, Ronnie Bunting gave the following statement to the Association for Legal Justice, date 11.8.1980.
I was arrested along with Sean Flynn and Francis Barry (Troops Out Movement) after a public meeting in the Markets area (time of arrest 9pm, Friday 8.8.80.) We were all brought separately to the Grand Central. I was illegally photographed by the army despite my protestations. I refused to answer any questions.
The three of us were transferred to Castlereagh under Section 11. First night no interrogations. I ate no food during my stay. On Saturday I was fingerprinted and interrogated. I refused to answer any questions. Gave name and address. One plainclothes man asked me to punch him. It would cost me six months in jail, “but think of the satisfaction”. The first two interrogators said I would be glad to hear a soldier was dead and 14 police hurt, but many others were dead and injured.
Second interview: Plain-clothes about 45, silver hair and big beefy dark haired cop. I refused to answer anything but name and address. The young one said how would it go for me on the Shankill? It could be arranged that I would get three slugs in the head, then these people could inspect me on the slab in the morgue. The silver haired man had vainly but ingenuously tried to strike up a conversation with me. The beefy cop said twice, “You are a bad bastard and we’ll get you.”
Third interview: I had requested to see the duty inspector twice to complain about the death threats. My requests were ignored (plain-clothes, early forties, country intonation). When this person realised I wasn’t going to answer questions he said I’d be killed by him. The method would be a shotgun. I would be unrecognisable in the coffin. When I got what I deserved, my “daddy” wouldn’t be there to “hold my hand”. I got a lot of sardonic remarks about my father attending my court case. The coffin would be burned to destroy my lice-ridden and flea-ridden body. The older cop’s partner, straight-haired, blondish. The older cop said ‘look at my face’. This is the face you’ll see before I kill you.’ I broke my silence and asked these cops their names. They refused to give their names.
I was told if. My father killed me, any Irish court would award him a medal. They wouldn’t convict him. I was told my family would suffer what the Trainor family in Portadown suffered. I complained to two doctors and the duty inspector (uniformed) about these death threats.
Maudie Hamilton, Maria Creanor and Helen Lear, Bridie Byrne, Bernadette McComish, Bronagh Brown and Eileen Sloan at Deirdre Campbell's 21st birthday party in the Celebrity Club
Dr Who man in Andersonstown
“I WAS top of the class in English, but average or below average in my other subjects in school.”
These were the words of Terrance Dicks, script editor of the early Dr Who television series and internationally known author of over 50 Dr Who books, who visited Andersonstown last Thursday as part of the activities organised by the Belfast Education and Library Board for Children’s Book Week.
In the afternoon he visited La Salle Boys’ School where he gave an informal and very entertaining talk on his writing career to an audience of teenage boys and girls drawn from various schools in the area.
During the talk he encouraged anyone who may be thinking of writing, either for pleasure or professionally, and gave them some practical advice. He suggested that they should try to get their work published in school magazines, local papers, science fiction fanzines or on radio, and then perhaps to try to write some children’s books.
“The thing to do is to keep on doing it, to keep on sending it in, and wait for the break. Don’t be discouraged by a rejection.”
Sarsfield won the Under-13 Football League Championship in October 1980
