Chronology May 1976- Dec 1987 

This chronology gives a detailed list of events since the murder of Seamus Ludlow. It also features many recent statements made by state authorities, human rights groups and politicians .

1 May 1976 - Louthman Seamus Ludlow (47), a Catholic forestry worker was abducted and murdered by Red Hand Commando/UDR, from north Down, after leaving the Lisdoo Arms pub in Dundalk, around midnight on the Saturday night. He was last seen thumbing a lift near Smith's Garage on the N1 Dundalk to Newry road, and it is believed that he was given a lift by the men who killed him. He was shot three times, and his body dumped on a ditch in a lane about a half mile from his home.

2 May 1976 - His body was found the next day, a Sunday,  about a half mile from his home in County Louth. Gardai blamed the IRA and family members, but there were no arrests.

The Ludlow family was never informed that the Gardai had soon identified Seamus Ludlow's loyalist killers; the family  were consistently told it was the IRA, and that there was no new information, even though it was known soon after that Loyalists from north Down were responsible.

3 May 1976 - The Irish Press reported: "A family of day-trippers from the North found the body of a middle-aged timber worker a few miles outside Dundalk yesterday afternoon, and Gardai at Dundalk were last night treating the death as murder.

"The man, Seamus Ludlow (40), from Thistlecross, on the main Dundalk-Belfast road, was found in a laneway about a half mile from his home with his body thrown across a hedge.

"He was taken to the Louth Infirmary, and the State Pathologist examined the body last evening. There were wounds on his side which were thought to have come from bullets.

"Mr. Ludlow, who was unmarried and lived with his mother, worked in a local timber yard."

Another newspaper report, in the Irish Independent,  of the same date:

"The body of a 49-year-old man with what are believed to be gunshot wounds, was found near Dundalk yesterday afternoon.

"The dead man was Seamus Ludlow, single, of Thistlecross, Mount Pleasant, Dundalk. Gardai are treating the matter as murder.

"The body was found by a Northern Ireland visitor on his way to a local tourist attraction the Stone of Proleek. It was lying in a laneway just off the Culfore Road linking the main Dublin Road with Ballymascanlon.

"The spot is about half a mile from where Mr. Ludlow lived with his married sister and widowed mother. He worked in a sawmill at Ravensdale.

"Last night, the State Pathologist Dr. J.H.A. Harbinson, was carrying out a post mortem at the Louth Co. Hospital."

4 May 1976 - The Irish Press newspaper, reported: "The Provisional IRA in South Armagh yesterday denied any involvement in the killing of Mr. Seamus Ludlow, a Co. Louth man, whose body was found south of the border on Sunday last. It claimed that the British Army's SAS squad had been responsible for the death, an allegation which the Army press Officer later described as "absolute rubbish".

"Mr. Ludlow, a 49-year-old bachelor, was last reported to have been seen alive in Dundalk on Saturday night and Gardai yesterday asked the public for its assistance in tracing his movements."

5 May 1976 - Seamus Ludlow, a loyal member of the Fine Gael party, with no paramilitary connections, was buried at the Catholic Calvary Cemetery, Ravensdale, County Louth, but no coalition government ministers were present. Patrick Donegan, Minister for Defence, made a private visit to the Ludlow home two hours after the funeral.

Eight members of the British Army's SAS regiment were arrested by Gardai, supported by the Irish Army, after crossing the border, separately, in three cars near Omeath. They crossed the border at the point of entry that was used by the men who are now known to have murdered Seamus Ludlow just four nights before.

+ 1 day - Kevin Donegan, a brother-in-law living at Dromintee in south Armagh, was taken away by British military helicopter, and questioned about Seamus Ludlow's murder by a British Army intelligence officer about the Garda line of inquiry. 

A group of British soldiers had earlier called to the Donegan home to question Mrs. Kathleen Donegan about her late brother's death and they made disgraceful allegations, including that one Seamus Ludlow must have done something to cause the IRA to murder him. The Ludlow family still demands an explanation for this. What was the true nature of the British Army's interest in the murder of a man in County Louth, beyond their jurisdiction?

+ three weeks - The Gardai abandoned the murder investigation, but the Ludlow family was never informed of this development. The family was led to believe that the murder inquiry was continuing, the case never closed. It has not yet been revealed who ordered this suspension, or why. The suspension of the original murder inquiry only became known to the Ludlow family and the general public in 1998.

16 May 1976 - John Keane, writing in the Sunday World newspaper, reported that a sum of £7.00 was found in Seamus Ludlow's pockets and this supported the theory that his death did not have a robbery motive.

The Irish Independent reported: " Murder squad detectives investigating the mystery killing of County Louth man Mr. Seamus Ludlow, whose bullet-riddled body was found across a hedge in a "lover's lane" off the main Dublin/Belfast Road between Dundalk and the South Armagh border a fortnight ago, are now working on the theory that the murder victim may have been mistaken for a leading South Armagh Republican.

"It is known that serious consideration is being given to the possibility that the 48-year-old bachelor who lived at Thistlecross, three miles from Dundalk, may have been mistaken by his murderers for a "top Provo" living in the south.

"Otherwise, the gardai feel, the killing was a straightforward sectarian one.

"In North Louth republican sources are known to have some concern over the suggestion that the Ludlow killing may have been one of mistaken identity and there is a certain degree of alarm over the possibility that some republicans who have moved south in recent years might now be on the "target-list" of some Northern loyalist para-military groups.

"The Provisional IRA in South Armagh has already accused the British army "or some loyalist sectarian group" of the murder and they have warned in a statement during the week that "the Provisionals have reserved the right to retaliate for all such sectarian outrages."

Though this press report points to a belief that loyalists were involved in Seamus Ludlow's murder, the Gardai were still telling members of the Ludlow family that the IRA was responsible.

19 August 1976 - Seamus Ludlow's inquest was conducted at Dundalk Courthouse, but the Ludlow family was excluded. Evidence of ballistics has never been made public. This information remains secret. The family still demands access to this information. The family obtained three inquest depositions only in 1998.
  
Kevin Ludlow, who is photographed here,  was absent, but the following deposition was admitted: "At 4.45 p.m. on the 2.5.1976, on being informed that my brother, Seamus Ludlow, was missing, I set out in the direction of his home in Culfore. When I reached the Bog Road, I saw a Garda standing on the road and I was informed by him that there was a dead body further on the road. I went in the direction of where the body was found and there I met Sergt. Gannon. I told him that my brother was missing and he brought me to the body. I identified the body to Sergt. Jim Gannon as that of my brother, Seamus Ludlow of Culfore, Dundalk."

Appended to this deposition was the following hand written note, placed by the coroner: "not in attendance away on holiday - just back Working in Newry. Could not be contacted. T.E. Scully."

Sergeant Jim Gannon, of Dromad Garda Station, submitted the following deposition: "I am a member of An Garda Siochana stationed at Dromad, Co. Louth. At approximately 3.20 p.m. on 2.5.1976, I arrived at the townland of Culfore, Dundalk, Co. Louth. As a result of a report, I searched a laneway there and found the dead body of a male person. The body was situated approximately 12 yards from the Ballymascanlan/Thistle Cross road. It was on the right hand side of the laneway lying on top of a hedge which was growing on top of a grassy bank. At 5.15 p.m. Kevin Ludlow, 328 Cox's Desmesne, Dundalk, arrived at the scene and I showed him the dead body. He identified the body to me as that of his brother, Seamus Ludlow of Culfore, Dundalk, Co. Louth. The body was later removed to the morgue at Dundalk District Hospital for postmortem examination. There I identified the body of Seamus Ludlow to Dr. Harbinson before he commenced the post mortem examination."

Attached to this deposition in the coroner's handwriting is the note "Serg. Gannon stated that he knew Seamus Ludlow before the event."

1978 - Writer Michael Cunningham investigated the murder of Seamus Ludlow for his book Monaghan County of Intrigue, and was given the runaround by Gardai and Coroners Office in Dundalk. He discovered that Gardai were told by members of the public, within days of the killing, of the presence of a British soldier in the Lisdoo Arms on the night of the murder; also the registration number of a car with three men parked outside the pub.

9 January 1978 - The death of Mrs. Annie Ludlow (81), Thistlecross, Mountpleasant. Mrs. Ludlow, the elderly mother of Seamus Ludlow, died without being told the full truth of the circumstances of her son's death.

November 1978 (exact date unclear) - In a letter to the late Michael Cunningham, Garda Superintendent R. Fahy, Dundalk,  replied to Mr. Cunningham's letter of 8 November in which the author asked various questions. Superintendent Richard Fahy stated inaccurately that "a member of the Ludlow family was notified in advance of the date and time of the inquest."

1979 - Two Garda Murder Squad detectives collected an RUC murder file in Belfast, with four Loyalist prime suspects named. The Ludlow family was never informed of this development. No further action taken by Gardai. The four suspects were never arrested until February 1998. Members of the Ludlow family have recently approached one of the detectives involved, the retired Garda Chief Superintendent John Courtney, requesting an explanation for this inaction in 1979, but he refused to talk to them.

24 February 1983 - The death of John Sharkey (55), Thistlecross, Mountpleasant, a brother-in-law and friend of the late Seamus Ludlow. John lived with his wife Nan, a sister of Seamus, in the Ludlow family home with Seamus and his mother, Mrs. Annie Ludlow.

2 April 1984 - The death of Tommy Fox (47), Mountpleasant, a brother-in-law, friend, neighbour and workmate of the late Seamus Ludlow. Tommy lived with his wife Eileen, a sister of Seamus Ludlow, in a bungalow next door to Seamus Ludlow's home. Together, they worked at the timber yard of Danny Phillips, Ravensdale. They worked a half day on 1 May 1976, the day before Seamus was murdered. Tommy Fox was later contacted by the writer Michael Cunningham, who conducted a personal investigation of the Seamus Ludlow murder in 1978.

1987 - Loyalist Paul Hosking was questioned about Seamus Ludlow's murder by RUC Special Branch, and he was told to forget it, because it was political. He gave a full account of his role, as a witness of the murder, to the RUC at that time. No further action was taken until 1998.

Continued...