Maurice Gibson
Sir Maurice W. Gibson , PC (born May 1, 1913 in Belfast , † April 25, 1987 in Killean , County Armagh ) was a British Lord Justice at the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland . He was murdered in an IRA bombing in 1987 .
biography
Maurice Gibson graduated from Queen's University Belfast in law in 1937 and was admitted to the bar the following year . He then worked as a lawyer and lawyer. He was also Chairman of the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly and was elected Bencher in 1961 . In 1968 he was named the best lawyer in Northern Ireland by John MacDermott, Baron MacDermott , and in the same year he was appointed judge at the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland. In 1975 he was raised to lord judge on the Court of Appeal. When that he was an ex officio member in the House of Lords and as a representative of the House of Lords , the highest court of appeal justice. At the time of his death, he was considered the second highest judge in Northern Ireland after Robert Lowry, Baron Lowry .
He was also involved in youth work and worked with the scouts throughout his adult life . At the time of his death, he had been married to his wife Cecily for 46 years and had two children. Together they traveled several times to the Kilcar area in County Donegal , Ireland , where Gibson had purchased a plot of land in the 1960s with the intention of building a holiday home.
According to intelligence reports, the IRA had planned his assassination years before his death after he sentenced an IRA member to a long prison term after an bomb attack. In July 1984, his home in Donegal was arson.
attack
On April 14, 1987, the Gibson couple took a trip to England from Belfast to visit friends and relatives. On April 25th they reached the Irish capital Dublin by ferry from Liverpool . From there they started their journey home by car via the N1 , the main road connecting Dublin and Belfast. Officials from the Irish Garda accompanied them to the Northern Irish border . A few hundred meters beyond the border, the Gibson couple died in a remote-controlled car bomb. Her RUC escort to Belfast was just a few minutes' drive from Newry . Six people were also injured in the explosion, including three players from Ireland's national rugby union team .
The attack is seen as retaliation for the acquittal of RUC officials who shot three unarmed IRA members in November 1982. Gibson had repeatedly acquitted police officers and soldiers on charges of murdering suspected terrorists and congratulated them on their bravery. He had caused a stir with his comment that the killed IRA men had been sent to "the final court". The IRA used the same wording in its letter of assurance for Judge Gibson.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gibson, Maurice |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gibson, Maurice W. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British judge |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 1, 1913 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Belfast |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 25, 1987 |
| Place of death | at Killean , County Armagh |