Call for new inquiry into IRA funeral murders

A LEADING politician has called for the government to reopen their investigation into the death of two soldiers murdered by the IRA.

On the 25th anniversary of the shooting, Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott said detectives must resume their inquiries into the deaths of corporals Derek Woods and David Howes.

The soldiers were in an unmarked car when they were inadvertently caught up in a republican funeral in west Belfast and killed.

Mr Elliott said: “Although IRA men Alex Murphy and Harry Maguire were convicted of the murders, many others were part of the republican mob that lynched these two young men. I would appeal to the PSNI to renew their investigation into these murders.

“Irish republicans should provide the police with information so that those responsible can be brought to justice and clear their guilty consciences. Some senior members of Sinn Fein may hold the vital key which could help bring more people before the courts.”

The two-week cycle of violence that ended in the killing of two army corporals by the IRA began on 6 March 1988 when British special forces killed three IRA members in Gibraltar.

At these IRA funerals 10 days later, a lone loyalist gunman, Michael Stone, killed three more people.

One of those killed by Stone at Milltown Cemetery was Kevin Brady, who was a member of the IRA. His funeral was held three days later on Saturday, 19 March.

As Brady’s funeral cortege made its way down the Andersonstown Road in west Belfast, a car containing the corporals drove towards it and was subsequently cornered by mourners and black taxi drivers.

The victims were dragged from the car, attacked, then taken away to be shot despite the desperate pleas of Father Alec Reid, a key player in the nascent peace process.