Murder of Paul Quinn

Paul Quinn (c. 1986 – 20 October 2007) was a young man from County Armagh in Northern Ireland who was murdered in 2007. His family subsequently accused the Provisional Irish Republican Army of his murder, though no-one has ever been convicted in relation to his death.

Attack, torture, and murder in Tullycoora

On 20 October 2007, a native of Cullyhanna, County Armagh, Paul Quinn, then 21 years old, was lured to a farm at Tullycoora, near Oram in County Monaghan, where three of his friends were held hostage. When he arrived at the farm, a group of some ten or more men beat him with iron and nail-studded bars for upwards of half an hour, breaking every major bone in his body. Quinn was taken at around 18:00 to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, where he died two hours later.[1]

Accusations of Quinn family

Quinn's parents, Breege and Stephen, have said that members of the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade were responsible. Their son had had "run-ins with the Cullyhanna ASU on a number of occasions", and had "floored" the son of one of the active service unit (ASU) leaders in a pub row.

Following the incident, the mother of the young man appeared at Quinn's family home with a hammer in her hand and told the family their son would have to leave Ireland.[2][3][4] The murder is believed to have arisen as a result of a dispute between Quinn and the local IRA.[5]

IMC report

In November 2007, the Independent Monitoring Commission's John Grieve, stated that "We do believe that those involved ... included people who are members or former members, or have associations with members or former members, of the Provisional IRA."[6]

Further reports

An Irish Independent report of September 2007 stated:[1]

The people believed locally to have been responsible for directing the murder of Paul Quinn, who had every major bone in his body broken in a prolonged beating with iron bars and pickaxe handles by nine men, are brothers, both long-serving IRA men who are heavily involved in fuel smuggling. They are also closely associated with Thomas Murphy, the local IRA boss who holds sway over what is now a crime empire in the border area.

In October 2011, his parents were featured in an RTÉ news report, stating they still believe people living locally "know all about" the murder and have called on them to go to An Garda Síochána or the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to "get it off their chest'."

Reactions

His Eminence Seán Cardinal Brady, Archbishop of Armagh, spoke out against the murder and appealed for the arrest of those involved.[7]

In November 2007, the Ulster Unionist Party peer, Lord Laird of Artigarvan, invoked parliamentary privilege in the House of Lords to name the alleged killers, stating that the killing arose from a dispute between Quinn and the son of Vincent Traynor, whom he described as "a local IRA chief". He also raised at Westminster allegations by the Quinn family and other locals that one of the men used as 'bait' in the Quinn death is under threat from the South Armagh Provisionals.[8][9][10]

Discovery of body of Gerard Evans

The murder of Paul Quinn led indirectly to the discovery of the body of another victim of the Provisional IRA, Gerard Evans, a 24 year old from Crossmaglen, who had gone missing after being kidnapped by the organisation in 1979. In 2009 the Sunday Tribune newspaper received information from an Irish republican and former IRA volunteer about the location of Evans' body, who stated that he had been influenced in coming forward by the circumstances of Paul Quinn's death. The information provided led to the location of Evans' body in 2010.[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Provos still getting away with murder and with a barrage of shamfaced lies". Belfast Telegraph.
  2. ↑ "Loss of face led to brutal IRA killing". Irish Independent. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "SF denials on savage killing fall on deaf ears". Irish Independent. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams' slur on our murdered boy". Irish Independent. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  5. ↑ "Paul Quinn's mother tells Haass post-Good Friday Agreement victims must be remembered". BBC News. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  6. ↑ "Violence - Draft List of Deaths Related to the Conflict in 2007". CAIN. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  7. ↑ "Archbishop Seán Brady's statement on the murder of Paul Quinn". catholicbishops.ie. 23 October 2007. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  8. ↑ Henry McDonald (27 January 2008). "Update on Quinn murder". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "Peer names IRA 'executioners' who beat man to death". Daily Mail. 13 November 2007. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  10. ↑ ATWadmin (13 November 2008). "Read This – The Look of Peace". atangledweb.org. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  11. ↑ 'Masked IRA man's map leads to a body in Louth', 'Sunday Tribune, 17 October 2010.
  • "Violence - Draft List of Deaths Related to the Conflict in 2007". Conflict Archive on the Internet.
  • Dominic Bradley (20 October 2014). "Bradley raises anniversary of Paul Quinn with Justice Minister". Social Democratic and Labor Party.
  • Henry McDonald (28 October 1007). "Quinn murder hunt: two flee to England". The Guardian.
  • "Man still in custody in Paul Quinn murder inquiry". Irish Independent. 17 November 2008.
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