The Ludlow family invites you
to support its demand for public inquiries into the murder by a
British Army UDR and Loyalist Red Hand Commando murder gang of an
innocent Irishman near his Dundalk, County Louth, home, on 2 May
1976. This page is a brief review of this case to
date.
Above (left and right): These are
photographs of the late Seamus Ludlow, aged 47 years, of
Thistlecross, Mountpleasant, Dundalk, County Louth, in the Irish
Republic. A Catholic bachelor, employed as a forestry worker, Seamus
lived with his elderly mother, Mrs. Annie Ludlow, in his lifelong
home in County Louth, along with a married sister, Mrs. Nan Sharkey,
her husband and their family.
Seamus was abducted and murdered by armed
Loyalists and British soldiers outside the town of Dundalk on the
night of 1st. and 2nd. May 1976. He was last seen thumbing a lift
home from the pub at around midnight before he
disappeared.
Despite false claims, that were
encouraged by the Irish Gardai, that Seamus Ludlow had been murdered
by the IRA because he was an informer, it is now known that both
the Gardai and the RUC in the North of Ireland were aware at least
in 1979, if not even earlier, that the killers were in fact
Loyalists. They knew that they included at least two locally
recruited members of the British Army.
This truth was exposed to the public on 8
March 1998 by journalist Ed Moloney,
Northern Editor of the Sunday Tribune, who interviewed
one of four Loyalist suspects who had been arrested by the RUC. The
sensational revelations spurred the Ludlow family to intensify their
demand for a public inquiry.
The killers all came from the Comber and
Newtownbards areas of north Down. Information which would have
identified these killers was suppressed for more than 20 years,
allowing these men to remain free and at liberty to kill again. Why
were these men being protected? Why were they above the
law?
This is a photograph of the simple
memorial sited at the location of Seamus Ludlow's
murder. This is located north of Dundalk, in a narrow lane off
the Bog Road, near Ballymascanlan Hotel and Proleek Dolmen,
and less than half a mile from the victim's lifelong
residence. The simple inscription reads: "In loving
memory of Seamus Ludlow Cruelly murdered by UDR and Red Hand
Commando links on 2nd May 1976
RIP". Ed Moloney delivered an address here on the 25th
Anniversary of Seamus Ludlow's murder. |
Four Loyalists were arrested by the RUC
in February 1998. They were all released without charge, pending an
investigation report being sent to the Northern Ireland Director of
Public Prosecutions (DPP). On 15 October 1999, the DPP ruled that
none of the suspects would be charged with any offence, even though
two of them had signed incriminating statements while in RUC
custody. One of these men, Paul Hosking, went further by telling his
story to Ed Moloney, a journalist with The Sunday Tribune. Ed's
report appeared on 8 March 1998. The Ludlow
family account of the garda cover-up appeared in the following
week's issue of the Sunday Tribune.
Left: This graphic appeared on the Ulster Television
current affairs programme UTV Live Insight on 25 October 1999.
The figures represent the four loyalists who are alleged to
have been involved in the murder of Seamus Ludlow.
Photographed at bottom right is Paul Hosking, who has spoken
to the RUC, and to journalists, about his involvement as a
witness to the crime.
The others are described as: two
former members of the illegal Red Hand Commando death squad
who were also serving members of the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment
(UDR), one of whom was a captain in that discredited force,
which is now known as the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR). The
fourth man, known as Mambo, is also described as a Red Hand
Commando figure who may also have been an agent for some
branch of the British
forces. |
It is claimed that the
cover-up was inspired to protect this man who is alleged to be the
actual killer of Seamus Ludlow.
Left: In this photograph members
of the Ludlow family, accompanied by Jane Winter, Director of
British Irish Rights Watch, London, are holding a press
conference at Buswell's Hotel, in Dublin, on 18th. February
1999.
The press conference was called
to launch an independent BIRW
report on the murder of Seamus Ludlow and the ongoing
denial of justice to the innocent victim of collusion with
British state killers.
The Ludlow family has demanded public inquiries on both
sides of the border to uncover exactly why Seamus
Ludlow's murder was never properly
investigated.
They want to know why Seamus
Ludlow's name was smeared by the authorities and why his
killers were never brought to justice by the Gardai or by the
RUC, who had identified them many years ago. They demand full
truth and justice for an innocent victim who never received
either from the authorities in the past.
The
Ludlow family wants to know who gave the orders for the
cover-up of the evidence and the smearing of the victim. Who
was being protected, and why? Why was the Ludlow family
excluded from their loved-one's inquest on 19th. August 1976.
Will those individuals responsible for the abuses of authority
in this case ever be brought to account for their
actions?
|
The Ludlow family is supported in their
demands by several distinguished human rights groups. British Irish
Rights Watch (BIRW), the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and by
the Pat Finucane Centre and a large number of local and national
politicians on both sides of the border and in Britain.
As stated above, BIRW have
compiled an independent Report on the murder of Seamus Ludlow, in which they support the Ludlow
family's demands for truth and justice. The BIRW report has been
circulated to the Irish and British authorities. Jane
Winter, Director, BIRW, launched her independent report at the
Ludlow family's press conference on 18 February 1999. A copy of an
updated BIRW Report was later given to Mr
Justice Henry Barron who was appointed to head a private
inquiry by the Irish government.
|
In this
photograph, Kevin Ludlow, the only surviving brother of Seamus
Ludlow can be seen with his nephew Jimmy Sharkey. Together
they have led the Ludlow family's campaign for truth and
justice for many years. |
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