Operation Flavius
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Operation Flavius was the name given to an operation by a Special Air Service team in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988 tasked with neutralising a Provisional IRA cell. Daniel McCann, Seán Savage and Mairéad Farrell possibly intended to detonate a bomb prior to the changing of the guard at the governor’s residence.
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[edit] Allegations
It is alleged that their plan was to hide the bomb in a car so as to kill the British Army military band that were assembling for the parade. In order to ensure a parking space in a busy town area, it was necessary to reserve it on the preceding Sunday.
The SAS team was incorrectly informed that the IRA had already placed their bomb and were ready to detonate it. The three were stopped as they walked along the busy main road leading to the Airport and the Spanish frontier. McCann was then shot as the SAS claimed he made an 'aggressive move' towards a bag he was carrying. They stated he was intending to trigger a car bomb using a remote control device. After McCann was killed, it was claimed that Farrell made a move towards her handbag and was shot on similar grounds. SAS members again claimed that Savage moved his hand to his pocket and the SAS killed him also.
McCann was shot five times, Farrell eight times, and Savage between 16 and 18 times. All three were subsequently found to be unarmed, and without any kind of remote trigger. In a later search ingredients for a bomb, including 64 Kilos of Semtex, were later found in a car in Spain, identified by keys found in Farrell's handbag.[1]
An inquest was held, in which an Irish radio expert disputed whether a remote controlled explosive device was technologically feasible, casting doubt on the justification given. The car bomb found in Marbella was a conventional timer controlled device. An article after the inquest in the respected publication 'Wireless World' proved mathematically that it was possible. The jury at the inquest returned a verdict of lawful killing by a 9-2 majority.
[edit] Death on the Rock
The following year ITV broadcast a Thames Television documentary "Death on the Rock"[1] reflecting concerns about the shootings, which led to criticism of the British government.
British tabloids attacked the character and credibility of the witnesses, such that their statements in the documentary became discredited.[2]
The New York Times (June 13, 1989) stated: "Events leading up to the Gibraltar killings are depicted in a reconstruction made for a British television documentary. Questions abound. Was the I.R.A. trio, carefully followed for days, in fact lured into Gibraltar? Why did the police fail to photograph the bodies or gather forensic evidence? Why was the press - Britain's tabloids were jubilant - told lies about a huge car bomb being defused and about the three suspects having died in a gunfight? This documentary's understated observation: There was a strong air of Government cover-up and disinformation."[3]
Prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who was seen by many as notoriously anti-Irish, denounced the documentary as "trial by television".
The New York Times (June 13, 1989) stated: "Mrs. Thatcher, who has imposed a ban on live interviews with members of the I.R.A., has become the first British Prime Minister ever to need armed bodyguards 24 hours a day and an armor-plated car to take her to Parliament."[4]
In 1992, Thames was one of several TV companies which lost their ITV franchises, a move which some claimed was politically motivated, however critics of this idea would point out that they lost it in a fair auction. The British government initiated a "silent auction" thereby preventing ITV and other TV companies from comparing their bids with other companies thereby making it much easier for a company to be outbid.
[edit] European Court of Justice
In 1995 the European Court of Justice ruled that the killing of the three did not constitute a use of force which was "absolutely necessary" as proscribed by Article 2-2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It also ruled that the three had been engaged in an act of terrorism, and consequently dismissed unanimously the applicants’ claims for damages, for costs and expenses incurred in the Gibraltar Inquest and the remainder of the claims for just satisfaction.
The Irish Times, (April 15, 2006) stated: "The SAS shootings eventually produced a finding by the European Court of Human Rights that the killings were unnecessary."[5]
[edit] Siobhan O'Hanlon Falsely Accused
According to The Sunday Times an alleged fourth PIRA member, Siobhan O'Hanlon (a niece of Joe Cahill) was not with the others at the time of the shootings and survived (she died of breast cancer in 2006).
The Irish Times, (April 15, 2006) stated: "O'Hanlon always denied media allegations she had been the absent, fourth member of an IRA unit killed by the SAS in Gibraltar in March 1988. The Sunday Times named her as the fourth member of the IRA unit. She denied it immediately but the tag stuck, partly because she was unable to take an effective libel case but also because the Gibraltar killings began a spiral of almost unparalleled controversy. The Sunday Times had said she was a blonde and had recently had a baby: neither was true. On the day of the shootings, she was visiting her mother."[6]
[edit] References
[edit] See Also
- Death on the Rock-Wikipedia Article describing a documentary about the shootings.
[edit] Bibliography & Further Reading
- Fatal Encounter - The story of the Gibraltar killings by Nicholas Eckert ISBN 1 85371 837 8
- Death on the Rock - documentary about the shootings.
- Murder on the Rock - book about the shootings.
- Relatives for Justice Site.
- Summary and full judgement by the ECHR
- The New York Times (June 13, 1989) article
- A Child of Its Time, The Economist (London), 4 February 1989.
- Windlesham, P., and R. Rampton. The Windlesham/Rampton Report on 'Death on the Rock' {London} Faber, 1989.
