| 1989 Jonesborough ambush | |
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| Part of The Troubles | |
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| Location | near Jonesborough, County Armagh, Northern Ireland |
| Date | 20 March 1989 15:40 (UTC) |
| Attack type | Shooting |
| Weapon(s) | 2 .223 Armalite rifles, 1 Ruger Mini-14, 1 7.62 Short rifle |
| Deaths | 2 Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers |
| Perpetrator | 2nd Battalion Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade |
The Jonesborough ambush took place on 20 March 1989 near the Irish border outside the village of Jonesborough, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Two senior Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers, Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan, were shot dead in an ambush by the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade. Breen and Buchanan were returning from an informal cross-border security conference in Dundalk with senior Garda officers when Buchanan's car — a red Vauxhall Cavalier — was flagged-down and fired upon by IRA gunmen. Buchanan was killed outright whilst Breen, suffering gunshot wounds, was deliberately shot in the back of the head after he had left the car waving a white handkerchief. They were the highest-ranking RUC officers to be killed during the Troubles.
Nobody was ever charged with the killings. There have been allegations that the attack was the result of collusion between the Gardai and Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). There have also been allegations, by former RUC Special Patrol Group officer John Weir, that Breen had links with loyalist militant group Down Orange Welfare. Canadian judge Peter Cory investigated the killings in 2003; his findings were published in a report. This led to the Government of the Republic of Ireland setting up the Smithwick Tribunal, a judicial inquiry into the double shooting which opened in Dublin in June 2011.
Contents |
On the afternoon of Monday 20 March 1989, Chief Superintendent Harry Breen (51) and Superintendent Robert Buchanan (55),[1] both senior, high-ranking Protestant officers in the RUC, were returning from an informal security conference with senior officers of the Garda Siochana in Dundalk, County Louth, Republic of Ireland. The unscheduled meeting had been arranged that morning by Buchanan over the telephone.[n 1] The meeting began at 2.00 p.m. inside the office of Garda Chief Superintendent John Nolan, where they had drawn up plans for a co-ordinated effort between the RUC and Gardai against the lucrative, cross-border Provisional IRA smuggling operations in the area.[2][3][4][n 2] The two RUC officers were travelling without a police escort in Buchanan's unmarked car, which was a red Vauxhall Cavalier with the registration number KIB 1204. It was not armoured-plated and didn't have bullet-proof glass.[4] Both officers were unarmed, as it was against regulations to transport weapons into the Republic of Ireland,[2] and they were not in uniform. Buchanan drove away from the Dundalk Garda station after the meeting had ended at 3.15 p.m. and turned off the main Dublin-Belfast road, taking a detour outside the town back to Northern Ireland.[5]
At around 3.40 p.m.,[6] they crossed the Northern Ireland border at Border Check Point 10.[2] It was a dark, overcast wintry day.[7] Yards up ahead, at the top of a hill on the tree-lined Edenappa Road outside Jonesborough, armed volunteers from the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade waited in ambush.[5] The site the IRA chose was in "dead ground", meaning that they could not be seen by the nearby British Army observation post. The secluded back road was considered to be the most dangerous in south Armagh and as such, a "no-go area" for the security forces as it was regularly patrolled by the local IRA.[8] According to the Cory Collusion Inquiry Report, which was the findings of an investigation into the shootings by Canadian judge Peter Cory, as Buchanan reached the hilltop he was flagged down by an armed IRA man standing in the middle of the road wearing Army battle fatigues and camouflage paint on his face. Another armed man, dressed likewise, stood in a ditch by the roadside. Buchanan, thinking that a British Army vehicle checkpoint was in progress, slowed down and stopped. At that moment, a stolen cream-coloured Litace van, which had been following behind the Cavalier, overtook the officers and pulled into the laneway of an empty house opposite Buchanan's car. Four more armed IRA men wearing battle fatigues and balaclavas leapt out of the van. They approached the Cavalier and immediately began shooting, mainly at the driver's side, hitting the two officers. Buchanan made two frantic attempts to reverse, but he was killed and the car reversed at an angle. It backed against a wall with Buchanan's foot still deeply pressed down on the accelerator. Breen, despite his gunshot wounds, managed to stumble out of the car, waving a white handkerchief at the gunmen in a gesture of surrender. According to eyewitnesses, one of the gunmen walked over to him and fired a shot into the back of his head. Breen died instantly.[2][9][10] A gunman then opened the car door on the driver's side and shot Buchanan once in the head, although he was already dead behind the wheel.[10]
After removing security documents from the Cavalier and personal belongings from Breen's body, the IRA gunmen drove away from the scene of the killings; they were heard by witnesses to have cheered and shouted "Hurrah" as the van sped northwards.[11]
The RUC at Forkhill received an emergency call at 3.45 p.m. reporting that there were two dead men on Edenappa Road. The police arrived on the scene at 3.54 p.m., where they found Breen lying dead on the roadside; alongside the body was his pen, a pair of eyeglasses and the white handkerchief that he had been carrying. His wallet, warrant card and pager were missing. His personal diary which contained the telephone numbers of other senior RUC officers was also taken. Buchanan's body was behind the wheel of his car, with his seatbelt still fastened. The police positively identified the dead men as Harry Breen and Robert Buchanan. Although the crime scene was cordoned off, the police were unable to remove the bodies or inspect the area due to a sudden snowstorm, therefore the bodies were not taken away until the following morning after they had been checked for booby-trap bombs. When the security forces inspected the scene, they found Kleenex tissue and a Lucozade bottle, but later forensic tests on the items did not find any fingerprints or saliva. Ballistic testing showed that the weapons used in the attack were two .223 Armalite rifles, one Ruger Mini-14 and a 7.62 Short rifle.[2] A total of 25 rounds had been fired in the attack, 11 of the bullets had struck the car's front windscreen. One of the Armalites had last been used in a helicopter attack at Silverbridge on 23 June 1988 and the other Armalite had been used in the killing of alleged Garda informer Eamonn Maguire on 1 September 1987 at Cullaville.[2]
It was learned during the RUC CID investigation that, on the afternoon of the shootings, the IRA had set up four checkpoints on each of the four roads leading out of Dundalk: the Dundalk-Omeath, Dundalk-Carrickmacross, Dundalk-Newry, and the Dundalk-Forkhill, where the ambush occurred.[9] Minutes before Buchanan and Breen arrived at the ambush, the two IRA men wearing camouflage paint had set up a roadblock on the Jonesborough side of the hill. They stopped three southbound vehicles, and after ordering the drivers to park their cars on alternative sides of the road at right angles, the occupants were told to lie down on the roadside with their hands over their heads. This had ensured that Buchanan would be forced to slow, allowing only one car to pass through at a time, which left him with insufficient room to flee.[2]
The cream-coloured van was spotted on 22 March by a helicopter patrol, but before the area could be secured for the police to investigate it, the van was destroyed by fire. It was found that it had been stolen from a church car park on 18 March.[2] Although the Provisional IRA claimed responsibility for carrying out the attack,[12] nobody has ever been charged with the killings.[2]
The funerals for the two officers were held on 23 March.
In 2005, in his statement before the Dail, then Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, described the killings as "an appalling act of savagery".[12]
A native of Banbridge, County Down,[3] Henry Alexander "Harry" Breen had joined the RUC on 5 May 1957. He served as a sergeant in Lurgan and then inspector in Newry and Banbridge before being promoted to the rank of superintendent in 1980. He held posts in the Complaints and Discipline and Inspectorate Branch. He received his last promotion on 8 February 1988 when he was made Chief Superintendent as the Division Commander in the RUC's "H" Division, which was based in Armagh city and encompassed a large area of County Armagh and south Down.[2] He was well respected within the force and had been commended twice and highly recommended another two times. He had been awarded the RUC Service Medal and the Police Long-Service and Good Conduct Medal. He was married to June and the father of two children: Gillian and David.[2] As the divisional commander for South Armagh, Breen was the most senior policeman to have been killed during the Troubles.[13][5]
Journalist Joe Tiernan described the six-feet tall, solidly-built Breen as a "hard man" with a cold, remote personality who seldom made trips to the Republic of Ireland.[9] Breen's former colleagues maintained that he had been a "gentleman of the old school, who always carried a dress handkerchief in his suit pocket".[4] An autopsy report found that he had been hit on both the left and right sides of his body. He had been wounded in the head, abdomen, upper-right shoulder and arm.[2]
Robert James "Bob" Buchanan held the difficult and potentially dangerous post of Border Superintendent for "H" Division. He was based in Newry. This post made him responsible for all cross-border matters and, in particular, the liaison between the RUC and the Garda Siochana. He had joined the RUC on 13 August 1956 and lived in the village of Moira, outside Lurgan. He was married to Catherine, by whom he had a son, William, and a daughter, Heather. He had written a book on the history of the Kellswater Reformed Presbyterian Church, located outside Ballymena, County Antrim; it was published after his death. In his spare time, he preached as a lay Presbyterian minister,[4] and, according to Tiernan, he was a deeply religious man much liked by the Gardai with whom he had a good working relationship. In the role of Border Superintendent, Buchanan often met with Garda officers in the Republic.[2] His job also meant that he was known to the local Provisional IRA.[2] He was 5'9 with a large, heavy-set build, and had been described as a man of utter integrity and a dedicated police officer.[14][2] He was scheduled to be promoted and transferred to Newtownards the week following his death.[15]
The autopsy found a number of fragment wounds on the right side of his head. He also had many fragment wounds on the front of his right shoulder and his upper chest; two major fragments had gone right through his chest. He had a lacerated lung and much internal bleeding. The autopsy also showed that he had been shot in the head at close range, most likely after he was already dead.[2]
On the radio news at 11.00 p.m. on 22 March 1989, the following statement was made:
| “ | In their statement the IRA says that after shooting the police officers dead they searched the vehicle in which the two RUC men were travelling from their security talks with the Gardai in Dundalk and they found the confidential documents. They say the documents relate to cross-border collaboration with the security forces but they don't give any further specific details. The IRA say that the two top officers were shot dead after their car came to one of a number of checkpoints which the IRA claims they were operating on the Monday. They also say that the policemen acted suspiciously and attempted to drive off. Then, according to the IRA statement, the IRA volunteers feared their own lives could be in danger and they took what they called 'preventative action' to prevent the RUC men's escape.[2] | ” |
The ambush outside Jonesborough had been carefully planned and successfully executed. Since the killings there have been allegations of collusion between the Garda Siochana and the Provisional IRA. Journalist Toby Harnden suggested that the IRA had been tipped off about the return route that Breen and Buchanan had planned to take by a rogue Garda known as "Garda X".[16] Just before he left Armagh police station to meet Buchanan at Newry station (whence they would travel south together in Buchanan's Cavalier), Breen had confided to Staff Officer Sergeant Alan Mains that he had a sense of foreboding about his trip to Dundalk because he had believed a named Garda detective sergeant was in the pay of a notorious IRA man living on the Armagh–Louth border and would pass on information to him.[2] Despite Breen's misgivings, however, at 1.50 p.m. the two officers left Newry for Dundalk and their 2.00 p.m. meeting with the Gardai. In the 11 weeks before the killings, Buchanan had attended a total of 24 cross-border conferences with the Gardai at the Dundalk, Carrickmacross and Monaghan Garda stations. He had driven his red Vauxhall Cavalier to all of the meetings. He reportedly had never been worried about his safety whilst driving unarmed through the staunchly republican, IRA-dominated south Armagh countryside as he believed that "God would protect him".[4] Breen had only attended one meeting in the Republic, in February 1989.[9]
Journalist Kevin Myers published an article in the Irish Times on 10 March 2000 regarding the allegations of collusion between the Garda mole and the IRA which had led to the deaths of Breen and Buchanan. Myers' article provoked David Trimble MP for Upper Bann, MLA (and future First Minister of Northern Ireland) to write a letter to the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD on 25 March 2000, calling for an inquiry into the allegations of collusion.[17] Jeffrey Donaldson, MP for Lagan Valley, used his parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons on 13 April 2000 to suggest that the named Garda detective sergeant passed on information to the IRA about the meeting in Dundalk which facilitated their ambush of the RUC officers. He also requested a Tribunal of Inquiry into the allegations.[18][17]
In his investigation, Judge Cory opined that the Dundalk Garda station was most likely under IRA surveillance during the conference as a Garda had seen a blue or grey-coloured Cavalier driving slowly through the station's car park whilst the meeting was ongoing, and the driver seemed to have been "looking around".[9] At 2.30 p.m., another car—a red Ford Capri with Northern Ireland registration plates—slowly drove past the station three times.[9] Superintendent Buchanan normally parked his car in front of the station.[15] Unknown to either Breen or Buchanan, the latter's Cavalier had already been identified by the IRA as an "RUC vehicle" and they had tailed the car on one of Buchanan's earlier visits to Dundalk.[15] The two policemen were also unaware that a British Army surveillance team had watched and noted IRA "dickers" following Buchanan's car but had failed to warn RUC Special Branch of this. Prompt notification by the Army or M15 would have precluded Breen and Buchanan from crossing the border on 20 March 1989 in a targeted car.[15] Shortly before coming upon the scene of the killings, a civilian witness had observed Army helicopters patrolling over the area.[19] At 11.00 a.m. on the morning of the killings, the Edenappa Road had been declared "out of bounds" by the security forces, yet this information was not relayed to the officers before they set out on their journey across the Irish border.[20] There had been unusually high levels of IRA radio traffic recorded in south Armagh that day.[21]
Judge Cory's investigation prompted the Irish Government to set up the Smithwick Tribunal, a judicial inquiry into the events surrounding the killings. The investigations by Judge Peter Smithwick were completed by July 2006 and the public hearings in Dublin began on 7 June 2011. They were originally scheduled to be concluded in November 2011, but a six-months extension was granted by the government. At the tribunal, Breen's family was represented by solicitor John McBurney and solicitor Ernie Waterworth represented the Buchanan family.
Before the public hearings began, members of the Smithwick Tribunal's legal team met with three former senior IRA volunteers, one of whom had a command role in the operation to kill the two officers.[22]
The Tribunal heard from retired Garda Chief Superintendent Tom Curran, who was based in Monaghan at the time of the killings. He stated that in 1988 an informer told him of an IRA death threat against Buchanan. The man had allegedly said: "There's a fella crossing the border there to see you and he is going to be shot." Curran — who had met Buchanan many times and regarded him as a friend — was worried and duly informed Eugene Crowley, the assistant commissioner of crime and security at Garda headquarters in Dublin, about the threat. Curran never told Buchanan about the threat as he didn't want Buchanan to think that the Garda Siochana was trying to stop him coming to the Republic. In 1987, Buchanan had called to Curran's office to discuss RUC concerns about the Garda detective sergeant at Dundalk station who was "unnecessarily associating" with the IRA. Buchanan asked Curran to convey his message to Garda headquarters, which he did in person. Assistant Commissioner Crowley (now deceased) did not, however, seem interested in what Curran had to say about the possible collusion. This detective sergeant was the same man whom Breen had discussed with Sgt Alan Mains before setting out for Dundalk.[23] This man was also on first name terms with the then RUC Chief Constable Sir John Hermon.[24] Breen's widow June maintained that many times before the ambush, Breen had given her instructions that in the event of his death Hermon was not to be invited to attend his funeral.[25]
Ian Hurst, a former member of Force Research Unit (FRU), sent a written statement to the Tribunal. In the document, Hurst alleged that up to 25 IRA operatives had been involved in the ambush, both directly and indirectly.[26] According to Hurst, about one quarter of them were British agents.[26] British agent and IRA Intelligence Officer Stakeknife had been aware of the plot as he was responsible for gathering the information that had led to the ambush. Hurst's evidence has led the chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party North Down Association (and former RUC officer) Colin Breen to suggest that, had the information been passed on by Military Intelligence to the RUC or Garda Siochana, the double killing could have been prevented.[26] Agent Kevin Fulton, who spied on the IRA for Military Intelligence, alleged that his senior IRA commander was told by another IRA volunteer that on the day of the killings, the South Armagh IRA was informed by one of the Gardai (known as "Garda B") that the two RUC officers were inside the Dundalk Garda station. Fulton had been in Dundalk that same day.[2][17]
Retired Garda Detective Sergeant Sean Gethins told the Tribunal that the IRA team at Jonesborough had initially planned to kidnap and interrogate Breen. He was to be questioned about internal security leaks that led to the May 1987 ambush of an IRA active service unit (ASU) by the SAS in Loughgall which had resulted in the deaths of eight IRA volunteers and a civilian. According to Gethins, Breen was targeted by the IRA after he had given television interviews in the days following the Loughgall ambush.[27] Kevin Fulton suggested British agents who took part in the ambush at Jonesborough had shot Breen and Buchanan lest they reveal the names of informants whilst under torture.[26] Ian Hurst, in his statement confirmed that the IRA's original plan had been to kidnap the two RUC officers and interrogate them at a secure location in the Irish Republic. Once the IRA unit had extracted all possible information from the two men, they would have executed them. Hurst claimed to have received the information from agent Stakeknife's long-term handler.[28] He also added that sanction for the ambush and killing of such high-ranking RUC officers as Breen and Buchanan would have come from the highest echelons of the IRA's Northern Command.[28]
A former RUC assistant chief constable told the Tribunal that Breen and Buchanan had been warned against going to Dundalk at a meeting on 16 March 1989, but that they had disobeyed orders. Breen's widow, however, denied that her late husband had attended the meeting as he had spent that day with her. Indeed Breen's diary recorded that on 16 March he was on leave.[29] The security conference with Gardai in Dundalk had actually been set up after a dinner at Stormont House on 6 March, which had been attended by both Breen and Buchanan.[17] It was there that Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tom King had suggested the meeting after receiving reports from an Army colonel about the cross-border smuggling activities of a well-known IRA man whose property straddled the Armagh/Louth border. According to Sgt Alan Mains, Breen was "specifically directed to speak with the Guards [Gardai] and the Army, and to come up with some kind of reply for the Chief Constable and the Secretary of State".[30] Breen allegedly had much information about the smuggler.[4] A former RUC Special Branch chief, however stated to the Tribunal that both Breen and Buchanan had been opposed to carrying out the operation against the smuggler as there was not enough substantial information on which to base it. When it was suggested to Tom King that the proposed operation was "ill-advised and dangerous", he reportedly struck the table and insisted that it was to go ahead.[31]
In November 2011, a retired RUC Special Branch detective inspector (known as "Witness 62") based at Gough Barracks, gave evidence at the Tribunal in which he named the leader of the Provisional IRA ambush unit. The named man, from Drumintee, County Armagh, is a former member of the IRA Army Council. He is described as having been one of the hardliners inside the Republican movement.[32][33] He was in charge of the North Louth/Drumintee unit that carried out the ambush with assistance from members of the Crossmaglen group. The highly-professional, experienced North Louth/Drumintee unit has been implicated in up to 80 attacks including a car bombing on the main Dublin to Belfast road at Killeen, Newry on 23 July 1988. Civilians Robert and Maureen Hanna, along with their seven year old son, David, were killed when the IRA team detonated a 1000-pound landmine as their jeep drove past having mistaken their vehicle for that of Judge Eoin Higgins.[34] The IRA were deeply divided over the Hanna family bombing with many violent altercations breaking out in Armagh pubs as a result. The unit leader has never been convicted of IRA membership nor any paramilitary-related offences.[34]
"Witness 62" added that on the day of the Jonesborough ambush, the IRA had placed a "spotter" on the road from Dundalk to observe which direction Breen and Buchanan would take to return back north. Having noted the road the RUC officers had taken, this "spotter" immediately alerted the ambush team that Buchanan was driving up the Edenappa Road. He concluded that "without a shadow of a doubt it [the ambush] was pre-planned".[35]
Former Special Patrol Group (SPG) officer and convicted murderer John Weir stated in his affidavit that he was given weapons for the Ulster Volunteer Force's Mid-Ulster Brigade by a group of County Down loyalists called Down Orange Welfare (DOW). The group was made up of former and serving members of the security forces.[36] Weir alleged that Breen belonged to this organisation.[36] Weir's affidavit was published in 2003 in the Barron Report, which was the findings of an official investigation commissioned by Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron into the UVF’s 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. At the time Weir allegedly met Breen at a DOW meeting, Breen was a chief inspector in Newry. The UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade was commanded by Robin "the Jackal" Jackson from 1975 to the early 1990s. Over 50 killings have been attributed to Jackson, according to David McKittrick in Lost Lives,[37] and he was an alleged RUC Special Branch agent.[36] Weir also claimed that Breen was fully aware of collusion between certain RUC officers and loyalist paramilitaries such as Jackson. Furthermore, he claimed to have witnessed a conversation between Breen and another inspector in which they were discussing with approval the association of two named RUC officers with Robin Jackson.[36] When Weir later told Breen of his own involvement in the sectarian killing of Catholic chemist William Strathearn (for which he was convicted), Breen had advised him to "forget about it".[36] Weir's allegations are strongly denied by Breen's former RUC colleagues.[4]
Investigative journalist Paul Larkin, in his book A Very British Jihad: collusion, conspiracy and cover-up in Northern Ireland, claimed that Breen was a leading officer in the SPG.[38] He dismissed claims of collusion between the Gardai and IRA, pointing out that, because South Armagh (known as "Bandit Country") was controlled by the IRA and was a "no-go area" for the security forces, the IRA would not have needed Gardai help to carry out the ambush.[38] Judge Peter Cory stated in his report that the Provisional IRA had developed sophisticated intelligence-gathering techniques which enabled them to monitor the telephone calls and radio transmissions of the police and Army.[2] Less than two years before the Jonesborough ambush, the IRA detonated a remote-controlled car bomb which killed Lord Justice of Appeal Sir Maurice Gibson and his wife, Cecily, Lady Gibson as they were returning home from a holiday. The couple was blown up shortly after their car crossed the Northern Ireland border on the main Dublin-Belfast road. They had just left their Garda escort and were approaching the rendezvous point with their RUC escort when the explosion occurred. Collusion was also suspected in the killings but the investigation into the bombing by Judge Cory revealed that the IRA had most likely carried out the attack without any assistance from outside agencies.[39]
Ian Lisles, a retired British Army brigadier who served 14 years in Northern Ireland—much of the time in south Armagh—suggested to the Tribunal that the IRA could not have mounted the operation in less than three hours; it most likely had required between five to eight hours of advance preparation. He maintained that the IRA were too professional an organisation to have attempted an ad hoc ambush on such short notice as would have been the case had the attack been carried out upon being alerted by a Garda mole as to the presence of the two senior RUC officers inside the Dundalk station.[6]