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The Irish Sun, 25 January 2006: Now give us justice Public inquiry call as family rap loyalist murder cover-up By Sun Reporter The anguished family of murdered forestry worker Seamus Ludlow yesterday plewaded with TDs for justice - 30 years after he was shot dead. Relatives accused the gardai of a COVER-UP following the 1976 killing of Mr Ludlow, 47, near Dundalk, Co Louth, by a four-man loyalist gang. And they renewed their calls for a PUBLIC INQUIRY into the shooting - described by the Barron Report as a "random sectarian killing of a blameless Catholic civilian". Mr Ludlow's nephew Jimmy Sharkey told the all-party Oireachtas Justice sub-committee: "The Barron Report left a lot of unanswered questions. The forum for these to be addressed is an independent public inquiry. It is the bottom line for us. Nothing less. Nothing more." The murdered man's brother Kevin Ludlow said the family had still not received any apology from gardai who investigated the case. He said: "It's a shame to think of the way the gardai acted. We were treated very badly. Nothing only lies from the gardai. The Baron Report said the RUC told gardai in 1979 that it believed four named loyalists were involved in the killing, but this information was not pursued by the Garda at the time. Mr Ludlow said gardai had blamed the IRA. "We shouldn't have to go through all of this for 30 years," he added. "It wasn't fair what was done to us. They were covering up the whole thing all the time." The family's solicitor James McGuill said the last 30 years had been an "appalling experience" for "an ordinary law-abiding family". It had been made worse for them by the State authorities they had to deal with, added Mr McGuill. Download the Barron Report from the Oireachtas website (pdf file) SUPPORT THE SEAMUS LUDLOW APPEAL FUND Bank of Ireland 78 Clanbrassil Street Dundalk County Louth IrelandAccount No. 70037984 Thank You.
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