Case Review

The Ludlow family invites you to support its demand for public inquiries into the murder by a British Army UDR and Loyalist Red Hand Commando murder gang of an innocent Irishman near his Dundalk, County Louth, home, on 2 May 1976. This page is a brief review of this case to date. 
 

Above (left and right): These are photographs of the late Seamus Ludlow, aged 47 years, of Thistlecross, Mountpleasant, Dundalk, County Louth, in the Irish Republic. A Catholic bachelor, employed as a forestry worker, Seamus lived with his elderly mother, Mrs. Annie Ludlow, in his lifelong home in County Louth, along with a married sister, Mrs. Nan Sharkey, her husband and their family.

Seamus was abducted and murdered by armed Loyalists and British soldiers outside the town of Dundalk on the night of 1st. and 2nd. May 1976. He was last seen thumbing a lift home from the pub at around midnight before he disappeared. 

Despite false claims, that were encouraged by the Irish Gardai, that Seamus Ludlow had been murdered by the IRA because he was an informer, it is now known that both the Gardai and the RUC in the North of Ireland were aware at least in 1979, if not even earlier, that the killers were in fact Loyalists. They knew that they included at least two locally recruited members of the British Army. 

This truth was exposed to the public on 8 March 1998 by journalist Ed Moloney, Northern Editor of the Sunday Tribune, who interviewed one of four Loyalist suspects who had been arrested by the RUC. The sensational revelations spurred the Ludlow family to intensify their demand for a public inquiry.

The killers all came from the Comber and Newtownbards areas of north Down. Information which would have identified these killers was suppressed for more than 20 years, allowing these men to remain free and at liberty to kill again. Why were these men being protected? Why were they above the law?

This is a photograph of the simple memorial sited at the location of  Seamus Ludlow's murder. This is located north of Dundalk, in a narrow lane off the Bog Road, near Ballymascanlan Hotel and Proleek Dolmen, and less than half a mile from the victim's lifelong residence. The simple inscription reads: "In loving memory of Seamus Ludlow Cruelly murdered by UDR and Red Hand Commando links on 2nd May 1976 RIP".  Ed Moloney delivered an address here on the 25th Anniversary of Seamus Ludlow's murder.

Four Loyalists were arrested by the RUC in February 1998. They were all released without charge, pending an investigation report being sent to the Northern Ireland Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). On 15 October 1999, the DPP ruled that none of the suspects would be charged with any offence, even though two of them had signed incriminating statements while in RUC custody. One of these men, Paul Hosking, went further by telling his story to Ed Moloney, a journalist with The Sunday Tribune. Ed's report appeared on 8 March 1998. The Ludlow family account of the garda cover-up appeared in the following week's issue of the Sunday Tribune.

Left: This graphic appeared on the Ulster Television current affairs programme UTV Live Insight on 25 October 1999. The figures represent the four loyalists who are alleged to have been involved in the murder of Seamus Ludlow. Photographed at bottom right is Paul Hosking, who has spoken to the RUC, and to journalists, about his involvement as a witness to the crime.  The others are described as: two former members of the illegal Red Hand Commando death squad who were also serving members of the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), one of whom was a captain in that discredited force, which is now known as the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR). The fourth man, known as Mambo, is also described as a Red Hand Commando figure who may also have been an agent for some branch of the British forces.

It is claimed that the cover-up was inspired to protect this man who is alleged to be the actual killer of Seamus Ludlow.

Left: In this photograph members of the Ludlow family, accompanied by Jane Winter, Director of British Irish Rights Watch, London, are holding a press conference at Buswell's Hotel, in Dublin, on 18th. February 1999. The press conference was called to launch an independent  BIRW report on the murder of Seamus Ludlow and the ongoing denial of justice to the innocent victim of collusion with British state killers.  The Ludlow family has demanded public inquiries on both sides of the  border to uncover exactly why Seamus Ludlow's murder was never properly investigated.  They want to know why Seamus Ludlow's name was smeared by the authorities and why his killers were never brought to justice by the Gardai or by the RUC, who had identified them many years ago. They demand full truth and justice for an innocent victim who never received either from the authorities in the past.  The Ludlow family wants to know who gave the orders for the cover-up of the evidence and the smearing of the victim. Who was being protected, and why? Why was the Ludlow family excluded from their loved-one's inquest on 19th. August 1976. Will those individuals responsible for the abuses of authority in this case ever be brought to account for their actions?

The Ludlow family is supported in their demands by several distinguished human rights groups. British Irish Rights Watch (BIRW), the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and by the Pat Finucane Centre and a large number of local and national politicians on both sides of the border and in Britain. 

As stated above, BIRW have compiled an independent Report on the murder of Seamus Ludlow, in which they support the Ludlow family's demands for truth and justice. The BIRW report has been circulated to the Irish and British authorities. Jane Winter, Director, BIRW, launched her independent report at the Ludlow family's press conference on 18 February 1999. A copy of an updated BIRW Report was later given to Mr Justice Henry Barron who was  appointed to head a private inquiry by the Irish government.

To Top

Webspace donated and hosted by Thirtytwo.Net
 Page last updated on 06 August 2005