Colin Duffy

Colin Francis Duffy (* 1967 ) is a former volunteer of the Provisional IRA and is considered one of the best known Irish Republican dissidents in Northern Ireland .

He lived in Lurgan , County Armagh during the Northern Ireland Conflict and, according to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), was believed to have held a leading position in the Provisional IRA in north Armagh. After the end of the Northern Ireland conflict in 1997, he is said to have joined the provisional successor organization Real IRA and, after founding the New IRA in 2012, was active in its management level.

He has been suspected of being involved in a number of assassinations against former or active security forces and has been charged three times with murder, but has never been convicted.

Sam Marshall murder case

In January 1990, Colin Duffy, along with Tony McCaughey and Sam Marshall, were arrested for possession of ammunition, but were released on parole by March. As a requirement, they had to report to the RUC station in Lurgan twice a week, although these dates were only known to the three men, their lawyers and the police themselves. After one of these appointments, on February 7, 1990, the three men were shot at by two masked men after leaving the police station, killing Sam Marshall. The perpetrators drove a red rover that was stolen on March 6 and found burnt out on a motorway after the attack.

Duffy and McCaughey also reported on a red Austin Maestro they are said to have met three times on the way to the police station. This vehicle was only confirmed by the police in 1994 as a vehicle of a surveillance operation, which, however, should not have been Duffy or his companions. The incident caused a sensation and resulted in a press conference by the Republican party Sinn Féin , at which the RUC was accused of being involved in the murder. In connection with the murder, two members of the Protestant paramilitary organization Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) were later convicted of car theft and aiding and abetting.

In 2012, the Police Historical Inquiries Team (HET) published a report that the maestro was part of a British Army surveillance operation in the area that included five other vehicles on the day of the murder . Two soldiers on this mission followed Duffy and his companions after leaving the police station and said they had partially observed the attack. Despite this presence of security forces in the area of ​​the crime scene, the two perpetrators escaped undetected and were never caught. Ballistic examinations revealed that the weapons had also been used in three other murders.

John Lyness murder case

On June 24, 1993, ex-soldier John Lyness was shot dead in front of his home in Lurgan. Lyness had been with the Ulster Defense Regiment (UDR) for around twenty years and had only left the service the previous year. Colin Duffy was arrested as a suspect on June 28, 1993 and charged with murder on July 1. His lawyer was Rosemary Nelson, who represented a terrorist suspect in a murder trial for the first time. The trial took place in a court without a jury . On July 5, 1995, Duffy was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder. The court relied primarily on two anonymous witnesses who allegedly saw Colin Duffy carry out the crime.

His lawyer appealed and made the disputed judgment known to a large group of people. Among other things, she notified journalists, non-governmental organizations, US counterparts and Irish government officials and made material available for review. One of the anonymous witnesses was identified as Lindsay Robb, a loyalist activist with the Ulster Volunteer Force who was convicted of arms smuggling in 1995. On September 24, 1996, Duffy's verdict was overturned for the unbelievability of this witness. Lindsay Robb confessed to being contacted by the RUC four years later, and Colin Duffy should be incriminated. In 2005 Lindsay Robb was murdered in Scotland .

John Graham and David Johnston murders

On June 16, 1997, the two RUC constables John Graham and David Johnston were shot dead by two attackers during a foot patrol in Lurgan. These were the last police officers of the Northern Ireland conflict to be murdered by the IRA. About a week after the murder, Colin Duffy was arrested and charged with murder on June 25, 1997. In October 1997 the charges were dismissed for lack of evidence. Duffy's lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, was able to convince the court of the mental instability of a witness who had also been put under pressure by the police.

Rosemary Nelson murder case

Duffy's attorney, Rosemary Nelson, was the first woman to have her own law firm in Lurgan and has been with Colin Duffy since 1993. She stood up for the survivors of Sam Marshall after the attack in 1990 and called for an extensive investigation into the murder case. She was able to successfully defend her client in the John Lyness murder case as well as in the John Graham and David Johnston murders. She publicly criticized the RUC and complained about insults and lack of cooperation by the police, also using her national and international contacts.

On March 15, 1999, Rosemary Nelson was killed in Lurgan by an explosive device on her vehicle. Loyalist paramilitaries belonging to the Red Hand Defenders (RHD) were suspected . The attorney's murder attracted a great deal of attention both at home and abroad and led to a lengthy investigation, at the end of 2011 of which the RUC was charged with maladministration in dealing with Nelson and their safety.

Massereene shootout

On March 7, 2009, two British soldiers, Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar, were shot dead in front of the Massereene barracks in Antrim , two of their comrades and two civilians were injured. These were the first soldiers from Great Britain to be murdered in Northern Ireland since the end of the Northern Ireland conflict in 1997. The fire-damaged vehicle was found hours later in Randalstown, eight miles away. Colin Duffy's DNA was found on a latex glove. On March 14, 2009, Colin Duffy and two other people were arrested on suspicion of murder.

In January 2012, however, Duffy was acquitted because the DNA could have got into the vehicle by other means. Brian Shivers, who was also accused, was sentenced to life in prison, but was also acquitted in 2013 on the basis of insufficient evidence.

David Black murder case

On November 1, 2012, prison worker David Black was shot dead from a moving vehicle on the M1 motorway . He was on his way to work at HM Prison Maghaberry in Lisburn. The perpetrator vehicle used, a Toyota Camry registered in Ireland , was discovered burned out at Lisburn after the crime. It was the first murder of a prison officer in Northern Ireland since 1993. A day later, Colin Duffy was arrested and interrogated near Belfast , but was released shortly thereafter without charge. Although there were further arrests up until 2017 and even prominent political figures such as David Cameron and Hillary Clinton called for the crime to be investigated quickly, the murder remains unsolved.

Crumlin Road shootout

On December 5, 2013, shots were fired at a police convoy on Crumlin Road in north Belfast. The day after, Colin Duffy and two other men were wiretapped in a covert operation near Duffy's house while they were alleged to have been talking about the gunshots, the weapons used and other attacks.

Since no direct involvement of Colin Duffy could be inferred from the video and audio recordings, the charges of attempted murder were withdrawn on January 23, 2017. According to the judge, however, the evidence is sufficient to uphold charges of terrorism, conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks and membership in an illegal organization. Recordings of Duffy from an MI5 operation in Spain were also mentioned.

literature

• To Serve Without Favor: Policing, Human Rights, and Accountability in Northern Ireland by Julia Hall
• Who Killed Rosemary Nelson? by Neil Root and Ian Hitchings

swell

• The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry Report

Individual evidence

1. ↑ UK: Court set for ruling on Irish human rights challenge to anti-terror laws
2. ^ Prominent republican Colin Duffy to stand trial on dissident republican charges
3. ^ Top Dissident Republican Colin Duffy remanded on membership charge
4. ↑ Notorious republican beats THIRD murder charge as he is cleared of killing of two soldiers as they collected pizza
5. ^ Dissident republican Colin Duffy due in court charged with directing New IRA terror gang
6. ↑ HET publish report on Sam Marshall killing in Lurgan
7. ↑ HET called to review 1997 RUC murders
8. ↑ Massereene murders: Colin Duffy found not guilty
9. ^ Dissident republican Colin Duffy arrested over murder of prison officer David Black
10. ↑ Two released without charge in prison officer murder probe
11. ↑ Colin Duffy: Attempted murder charge dropped but faces directing terrorism charges with two others
12. ^ Colin Duffy, Henry Fitzsimons and Alex McCrory face terrorism trial