Thank you for visiting our website and please call again to
hear more about the Ludlow family's campaign for a public inquiry
into this innocent man's murder on 2 May 1976, and the
subsequent state free cougar dating sites find sex with a milf cover-up.
Seamus Ludlow, who
was born 4 December 1929, died at the hands of the
British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment, and Red Hand Commando
killers from County Down, in the north of Ireland.
The murder of Seamus Ludlow nearly 34 years ago raises issues that must be
answered: a murder investigation abandoned by the garda after only
19 days; the garda smearing of the victim Seamus Ludlow through
cruel lies told to the family; a rushed inquest held in the absence
of and without the knowledge of the Ludlow family; the British
Army's unexplained abduction and interrogation of Seamus Ludlow's
brother-in-law; an RUC file naming four loyalist suspects covered-up
since 1979; and, recently revealed, a prior warning from the RUC about
Seamus Ludlow's killer which may have passed unheeded by the garda!
These issues can only be raised properly at a public inquiry The
Ludlow family has been struggling against UK and Irish State
indifference for many years to get a public inquiry. Shamefully, the
UK government clearly has no regrets about the illegal activities of
its agents and death squads during the Troubles. It simply ignores
the families of victims like Seamus Ludlow!
It seems extraordinary that the Dublin government has little if any
desire to uncover the truth behind this awful murder and the
appalling garda cover-up that followed!
Latest developments in this campaign can be followed
on our What's New and Press
Coverage pages. Much has already been
written about Seamus Ludlow's cruel death, and much of it has distorted
the facts. The shocking photograph at right only came into the
Ludlow family's milf dating sites for finding sex with older women possession in 2006 in advance of the fresh inquest
that was held into the death of Seamus Ludlow. The photograph shows
the brutal reality of a murder that was covered up for more than
twenty years.
The photograph shows a real man, a good and decent
man who was loved by his family, cruelly murdered by sectarian thugs
who have been protected ever local milfs hookup with local sluts since by the garda and the RUC/PSNI.
This is not a case that can or should be left in the past. The
Ludlow family will see to that!
The Ludlow family has already exposed the vicious smear
campaign that was used to blacken the reputation of the innocent
victim and to protect his loyalist/British Army murderers. The family has exposed it both
on the web and in the press and on TV.
The Ludlow family had hopes that in the very near future
there would be confirmation of a public inquiry from the
Dublin Department of Justice. Shamefully, the Dublin authorities
have resisted the Ludlow family demand from day one!
Latest
indications are that there will be no inquiry at all! The Irish
government has no interest in getting at the truth!
Meanwhile, the Garda have wasted more than two years on another pointless murder
investigation that never had any serious possibility of securing
prosecutions.
The Ludlow family was finally informed in April
2009 that the Garda investigation was being wound up. There would be
no prosecutions! See The Irish News, 28 May 2009: Gardai
have closed file on 1976 Seamus Ludlow murder: family.
This site will be updated with further
information. Follow the links at the left margin and above to get to other
pages. The Ludlow family's search for truth and
justice is led by Kevin Ludlow, the only surviving brother of Seamus
Ludlow. Kevin Ludlow had maintained close contacts with the Gardai
ever since his brother was murdered in May 1976. On several
occasions he was deliberately misled - told that the IRA was
involved and that his brother must have been an informer!. He was even told that a member
of his own family was involved in his late brother's murder! Worse
still, he was given the name of a particular relative.
With his nephew Jimmy
Sharkey, he has worked tirelessly to uncover the full truth behind
his brother's murder and the reasons for the Gardai's failure to
solve the crime. It has now been established that the killers'
identities have been known to the Garda since February 1979, and to
the RUC since 1977 or even earlier. Despite, this neither the Garda nor
the RUC took any action until twenty years later!
One of these UDR/Red Hand Commano killers was
later convicted and jailed for another murder, while the second UDR
soldier remained in the British Army for many years before retiring
on pension - even though he was an identified suspect for Seamus
Ludlow's murder as early as
1977!
The Ludlow family has been patiently waiting for
justice throughout the last three decades and more. Their patience
was met with lies and deceit throughout.
Inquiry followed inquiry without result!
Investigation files from 1976 and 1979 gathered dust without appropriate action and
such files, in addition to the 1990s Murphy inquiry report, continue to be withheld from the Ludlow family.
The Ludlow family was for a long period of time waiting on the publication of a private Barron
Inquiry report. The completed Barron Report, named after retired
judge Mr Justice Henry Barron (1925-2010), who was appointed by the government
to look at the case, was passed to
the Irish government in October 2004. It was finally published
on 3 November 2005.
.Mr Justice Barron, a
member of Ireland's tiny Jewish community, sat on the Irish Supreme Court
from 1997 until his retirement in 2000. He passed away on 25
February 2010, aged 83. See his obituary
on Times online.
The Barron Report was finally published
on 3 November 2005. The report names the four loyalist suspects who
have eluded justice since 1976! Mr Justice Barron was highly critical of the
Irish Garda for not going after the alleged killers of Seamus Ludlow
in 1979,
though he did not find evidence for collusion, among the files he
was allowed to see. Such evidence may well exist in the files that
are missing or destroyed. It may also exist in files withheld by the
British authorities!
The publication of the Barron Report
attracted intense press interest - see our Press
Coverage page.
The Ludlow family issued a statement,
to the press on 5 November 2005 in response to the Barron Report.
Download
the Barron Report from the Oireachtas website (pdf file)
Read
these excerpts from the published Barron Report:
PREFACE
THE
WORK OF THE COMMISSION
THE GARDA
INVESTIGATION
INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION
INFORMATION
RECEIVED FROM RUC
COMPLAINTS
OF LUDLOW-SHARKEY FAMILY
FURTHER
INQUIRIES
RESPONSE TO LUDLOW FAMILY COMPLAINTS
DECISION OF
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS (NORTHERN IRELAND)
THE
INQUEST
ALLEGATIONS OF IRA INVOLVEMENT IN LUDLOW MURDER
The Barron Report was set to be examined by an Oireachtas
sub-committee. On 6 December 2005 the Joint Oireachtas Sub-Committee
on Justice published
its formal request for public submissions
in the national press. Submissions were sought from anyone who could
assist the oireachtas committee and the Ludlow family to uncover the
truth behind the murder of Seamus Ludlow.
The examination of the Barron Report by the Joint
Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's
Rights, including seven meetings in open session, began
on 24 January
2006. The first meeting of the sub-committee on
Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, chaired by Mr Sean
Ardagh TD, heard oral submissions from the Ludlow family, followed
by submissions from Justice
for the Forgotten and British
Irish Rights Watch, London.
A transcript of Justice for the Forgotten's
oral submission before the Oireachtas Sub-Committee on 24 January
2006 can be found on their excellent website>>>.
A Word file transcript of these submissions to the
oireachtas sub-committee can be downloaded from the Oireachtas
website at: http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/committees29thdail/jcjedwr/first-Ludlow-debates.doc.
Excerpts from this transcript
are also available on this site.
Press coverage of the seven open hearings of the
oireachtas sub-committee can be found on our Press
Coverage page.
The oireachtas sub-committee produced a final report
on 29 March 2006. The Ludlow family hoped that it would call for a public
inquiry, but such hopes were dashed by a report that instead called
for a"commission of inquiry" pursuaint to the Commissions
of Investigations Act 2004. Another private inquiry, albeit one with
powers to compel attendance of witnesses, powers of entry, and
powers to order the discovery and/or the inspection of documents.
Although it can conduct its investigation in public, where it
coinsiders it proper to do so, this is still a private inquiry where
the Ludlow family will be denied an active role in aiding the
inquiry. The Ludlow family will have no overtsight or access to the
evidence and witnesses seen by the inquiry.
More than two years later there is no evidence that
such a limited "commission of inquiry" - or any kind of
public inquiry - will ever take place!
See the Ludlow family press
release issued in response to this disturbing outcome of the
Joint Oireachtas Committee hearings. Download a copy of this Final
Report of the Oireachtas Sub-Committee from the Oireachtas
website..
Significant progress was also made with a fresh inquest,
held over two days on 5-6 September 2005. The inquest, delayed since it was ordered by the
Irish attorney general in July 2002, brought significant information
into the public domain for the first time.The
inquest also attracted considerable interest from press and broadcast
media. Again this coverage can be accessed through our Press
Coverage page.
A jury of 6
men and four women unanimously returned a verdict that Seamus
Ludlow's death was an Unlawful Killing, caused by gunshot wounds,
with the medical cause of death being shock and haemorrhage.
A number
of important points also emerged from the inquest:
-
Retired Dt Supt. John Courtney, who
received a file naming four suspects, from the RUC in February
1979, stated that he was made aware of the four strong suspects
in 1979 but was not given permission from Garda headquarters to
pursue the investigation further. This was the first public
admission that the murder investigation had been blocked by the
Garda authorities in Dublin.
-
The same four suspects were questioned
in 1998 and two of the men gave similar accounts of their
involvement. Again, this was a first public admission.
-
No Garda was recorded as being given
responsibility for contacting the Ludlow family for the first
inquest in August 1976.
-
Seamus Ludlow was not murdered by the
IRA nor was he a member of the IRA. The suspicion of IRA
involvement had been excluded from the murder investigation
within three months of the murder, though the Ludlow family were
never informed. Indeed, family members were still being told
this lie nearly twenty years later!
-
No trace of the victim's clothing or of
two of the fatal bullets can be found.
See The
Dundalk Democrat, 7 September 2005, for a detailed report of the
inquest.See further information on our Whats
New page.
The Ludlow family finally met with An Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern, at the Department of the Taoiseach, Government
Buildings, Dublin, on 22 January 2008, after seeking such a meeting,
without success, for almost ten years.
The hour-long meeting was also attended by the
Ludlow family solicitor James MacGuill, and by Jane Winter, of
British Irish Rights Watch, London, a gallant supporter of the
Ludlow family and other families in their search for truth and
justice.
The Ludlow family put forward proposals for a
short focused inquiry to uncover the truth behind the cover-up that
followed the murder in the Republic of Ireland. It was pointed out
that the potential witesses and all the documentation relevant to
such an inquiry are in the Irish State. Six months later no formal
response to these proposals had yet been received from the attorney
general or the government, though there were indications that the
proposals were likely to be rejected!
Mr Ahern has now been succeeded as Taoiseach by
Brian Cowan TD and still the Ludlow family waits for justice!
Further information regarding this cordial
meeting with Mr Ahern can be found here>>>.
The
Ludlow family has established an Appeal Fund (see below) to help
with securing the necessary funds for a campaign which will continue
to drain available resources for some time to come. Any donations,
to the Appeal's account at the Bank of Ireland, Dundalk, of whatever
size, will be deeply appreciated.
The Ludlow family thanks its many friends at home and
abroad for supporting their campaign for truth and justice. There
are too many to mention individually but British Irish Rights
Watch (BIRW),
London, the Pat Finucane Centre, Derry,
Relatives for Justice,
Belfast, and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Dublin, and
An Fhirinne are
particularly deserving of our gratitude. The Ludlow family also
appreciates the support now being received from good friends in the
United States of America. Web addresses for these
organisations are given below.
BIRW has produced an independent report
on the murder of Seamus Ludlow.
Bank of Ireland 78 Clanbrassil Street Dundalk County
Louth Ireland
Account No. 70037984
Thank you.
October/November 2005:
A group of supporters kindly produced a music CD in aid of our Seamus Ludlow Appeal Fund.
The CD which is no longer available raised valuable funds for
this campaign. The
CD features as its leading track
An Ode To Seamus Ludlow
written exclusively for the CD by Phil McCabe and brought to life by
the voice talents of Tom Moore. To Phil and Tom and to all who helped
produce this excellent CD, a sincere vote of thanks.
Find out
more.>>>
Remember:
You can download to your computer a complete copy of the Barron
Report on the murder of Seamus Ludlow from the Oireachtas
website (pdf file)
You
can also download
the Final Oireachtas Sub-Committee Report on the murder of Seamus
Ludlow from the Oireachtas website (pdf file)
Visitors
are welcome to leave messages on our
new Bravenet guestmap You can indicate your country or state
of origin by using the map supplied.
The
Ludlow family supports the campaign by the Rooney and Watters families of
Dundalk for an inquiry into the murderous Dundalk Bombing of 19 December 1975
which resulted in the sectarian murder of Jack Rooney and Hugh Watters.
A Barron Report on this
other sectarian attack in Dundalk, and other attacks along the
border, was published 5 July 2006.
An Oireachtas sub-committee
also held public hearings on the Dundalk bombing and issued a
further report on 29 November 2006.The Oireachtas report found
damning evidence of British state collusion between UK army and
intelligence agencies and loyalist terrorists in this and other
atrocities along the border
Download:
Also visit:
Relatives for Justice: http://www.relativesforjustice.com/
Pat Finucane Centre: http://www.patfinucanecentre.org
British Irish Rights Watch: http://www.birw.org/
Irish Council for Civil Liberties: http://www.iccl.ie/
Celtic League: http://www.manxman.co.im/cleague/index.html
Justice for the Forgotten: http://www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org/
The 1st. Barron Report on the May 1974
Dublin and Monaghan bombings can be downloaded in pdf format from: http://www.irlgov.ie/oireachtas/Committees-29th-D%E1il/jcjedwr-debates/InterimDubMon.pdf
Download the MacEntee Commission of
Investigation's Final Report
on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974 from the Justice
for the Forgotten group's campaign website.
The 2nd.Barron Report on the Dublin Bombings of 1972 and 1973, and
other incidents along the Irish border, can be
downloaded in pdf form from: http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/committees29thdail/jcjedwr/Dublin_Barron_Rep031204.pdf
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