La Mon bombing - victims to approach ICRIR for names of those responsible, 46 years later

by Grainne Ní Aodha and Jonathan, McCambridge, Belfast Telegraph, December 12th, 2024

Relatives of those killed in the 1978 La Mon House Hotel bombing are to ask the Troubles information recovery body set up under the controversial Legacy Act to name those responsible for the IRA atrocity.

It comes after a report from the Police Ombudsman said there was no evidence of RUC collusion in the original investigation into the attack.

The report also said there had been an “earnest endeavour” to bring those responsible to justice.

Twelve people were killed and scores injured when the IRA exploded a bomb at the hotel on the outskirts of Belfast.

Survivors of the attack and family members of some of those who died have said they will continue with their campaign to find out the identities of those responsible.

Delivering a long awaited report, the Police Ombudsman said that despite concerns informants may have been involved in the bombing, “collusive behaviours” were not a feature of the investigation.

Senior director of investigations with the Police Ombudsman's office, Paul Holmes, said they did not find evidence or intelligence that would support the suggestion of malpractice by police officers and found no intelligence which could have forewarned of, or prevented, the bombing.

He said: “The substantial police investigation files, associated documentation and intelligence records reviewed by this office, together with explanatory accounts from a number of former police officers and other inquiries, lead me to conclude that there was earnest endeavour by the RUC to bring those responsible for the bombing of La Mon House to justice.

“However, maintenance of the investigation did not have the same rigour and this manifested in the loss of investigative material and the failure to interview the person arrested in 1991 in relation to the bombing.

“I am of the view, based on all available evidence and information, that collusive behaviours were not a feature of this RUC investigation.

“The evidence and intelligence viewed by the Police Ombudsman's investigation attributes responsibility for directing, enabling and perpetrating the bombing of La Mon House to the Provisional IRA.”

The Ombudsman's report published yesterday considered the effectiveness of the RUC investigation, including the resulting prosecutions against two men.

West Belfast man Robert Murphy was convicted of 12 counts of manslaughter in 1981, while the other was acquitted during his trial in 1980 after he alleged he had been assaulted by police while in custody.

At the 1980 trial the judge said he could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the man's statements had not been “adduced by torture or inhuman or degrading treatment” and the statements were excluded. The case was dismissed in the absence of other evidence.

Mr Holmes said the judge's comments and trial outcome pointed to “a violation of the rule of law by the police officers involved”.

He also said a loss of records and exhibits from the original investigation was “frustrating” and affected investigators' ability to properly assess the RUC's response.

Mr Holmes said: “My ability to provide a definitive view on the effectiveness of the RUC investigation, including whether all appropriate lines of inquiry were pursued, has been hindered by the unavailability of certain documentation generated by the investigation.

“It has not been possible to establish the circumstances in which these records were lost. However, this is a recurring, systemic issue in legacy cases and is not unique to this investigation.”

Ombudsman investigators said they could access the majority of records generated by the RUC investigation and concluded the initial response to the attack was prompt and well managed.

Axel Schmidt of Ulster Human Rights Watch said it had been “a long and challenging road for the victims and relatives of one of the worst terrorist atrocities of the Troubles”.

Mr Schmidt said the families had asked the Ombudsman to provide them with the identities of the bombmakers and the IRA leaders who sanctioned it.

He said: “Sadly, the Ombudsman, for security reasons, was unable to make available all the security intelligence.

“It is important to note that the investigation carried out by the Police Ombudsman did not reveal any collusion between the terrorists and any branch of the RUC. The people here today are satisfied with that outcome. This campaign for answers and some measure of justice will go on.

“Our next step will be to lodge a request with the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery to ascertain who were the people responsible for the bombing and the role the Republic of Ireland played in allowing terrorists to make the bomb and provide protection from arrest and prosecution...”

The PSNI said: “While the Police Ombudsman's report has identified some investigative failings, it also highlights that the investigation was well-resourced, comprehensive and effective. The report has found that police held no intelligence prior to the attack that could have prevented it and also found that there was no evidence that any persons were protected from prosecution.”

RUC Special Branch carried out 200 La Mon suspect interviews

By Connla Young, Security Correspondent, IRISH NEWS, December 11, 2024

RUC Special Branch carried out around 200 suspect interviews in the days after the La Mon bombing that claimed the lives of 12 people. Three married couples were among the dead when the firebomb ripped through the hotel on the outskirts of east Belfast in February 1978, which also resulted in 30 people being injured.

The attack was later claimed by the IRA.

Those who died were attending an Irish Collie Club event when the bomb went off outside a function room.

A Police Ombudsman report published on Wednesday revealed that “collusive behaviours were not a feature of the RUC investigation of the bombing”. It also confirms that the ombudsman found no evidence that anyone involved in the attack was “protected”.

“This investigation identified no intelligence that, if acted upon, could have forewarned of, or prevented, the bombing,” it also states. It has now emerged that in the days after the attack, between February 18–24, 35 people were arrested as part of a “disruptive lift” designed to “disrupt the activities of PIRA”.

Of around 300 police interviews carried out between February 18-28, two-thirds, or 200, were undertaken by RUC Special Branch. The report sets out that while initial interviews were generally carried out by CID officers there were times that Special Branch were the only officers to carry out the task.

The report says “the limited number of surviving interview notes” reflect that were Special Branch “were deployed to the investigation to augment the available CID resources”. The report, which runs to more than 130 pages, confirmed that seven suspects, each attributed a cipher A-G, believed to have been involved have been identified.

Two of those, referred to Person A and Person B in the report, were later prosecuted. Person B was convicted of 12 counts of manslaughter in 1981 and Person A acquitted during his trial in 1980. At the time, a judge said he could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that statements made by the man had not been “adduced by torture or inhuman or degrading treatment” by the RUC.

It has emerged that Person A was arrested on February 18, 1978, and released without charge. He was again detained in September 1978 and admitted to being a member of the IRA and supplying the La Mon bomb.

He claimed that when asked for a bomb a day before the La Mon attack by a member of the IRA, he refused “as it was required for another attack”.

He was later told to go to an address in west Belfast where he was told by Person G, described as ‘high up’ in the IRA, “to provide a bomb that would be used at La Mon House or he would be shot”. He later handed the bomb over.

During interview, he told police it was ‘his team’ that had carried out the attack, although he denied being present.

Elsewhere in the report it states that in late February 1978 “the RUC received intelligence identifying PIRA Belfast as having carried out the bombing at La Mon House”.

“Also in late February 1978, intelligence stated that the bombing at La Mon House had not been directed or sanctioned by Belfast PIRA leadership.”

The report adds that intelligence suggested the IRA’s 1st battalion, which covers west Belfast, “carried out the attack without first seeking permission from their higher leadership structure”.

Under a section headed ‘post-incident intelligence’, it is claimed one person arrested, who was “suspected to be a senior member of PIRA speculated to police that elements of the British State may have been responsible for the bombing in order to ‘stir things up’ between the Protestant and Catholic communities”.

The ombudsman’s report highlighted that some records and exhibits from the original investigation had been lost over the years.

Investigators found that some enquiries appeared not to have been carried out by the RUC.

It has also emerged that investigators have retained DNA linked to the IRA bomb.

A sample was found on adhesive tape found on the remnants of the device after it exploded.

According to the report the now defunct Historical Enquiries Team reported that it asked for tests to be carried out and when analysed “no profile was obtained due to an insufficient quantity of DNA”.

Andrea Nelson said the report had delivered a number of important findings

Andrea Nelson, who was 14 when her parents Paul and Dorothy, were killed was satisfied with the ombudsman’s report.

“From what I have seen so far this has been a diligently undertaken piece of work that has found no evidence of collusion or paths to preventing La Mon, which was very important to hear for the families,” she told The Irish News.

“And there’s no evidence that the investigation was impeded in any way by persons seeking to protect informants and they also acknowledge that the family liaison practices of 40 years ago are not what is deemed to be good practice these days.”

Ms Nelson said she intends to read the report “in detail”.

“We are given some hope in terms of the DNA evidence that is still held by the forensic service and which the advances in DNA typing over the last decade or so may result in there being a profile retrieved from that DNA,” she said.

Paul Holmes, Senior Director of Investigations at the Police Ombudsman, said he could ‘neither confirm nor deny’ when asked if there was any indication of the involvement of a state agent at the time or someone who subsequently became a state agent.

“We haven’t identified any malpractice or suspicion of malpractice in relation to the handling of any informant when it comes to the La Mon House bombing,” he added.

Mr Holmes said he concluded there “was earnest endeavour by the RUC to bring those responsible for the bombing of La Mon House to justice”.

Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson, said: “While the Police Ombudsman’s report has identified some investigative failings it also highlights that the investigation was well resourced, comprehensive and effective.

“The report has found that police held no intelligence prior to the attack that could have prevented it and also found that there was no evidence that any persons were protected from prosecution.”

Another tough and frustrating day in pursuit of justice 46 years on from atrocity

Allison Morris, Belfast Telegraph, December 12th, 2024

It's hard to imagine the horrors that the survivors of La Mon have had to live with for the last 46 years. The sights, the sounds, the burning smells of the firebomb that claimed a dozen lives and injured many others.

The La Mon victims have put up a brave and relentless fight for justice, trying to piece together the events before, during and after that night in February 1978.

The Police Ombudsman's report released yesterday follows an 11-year investigation. When legacy families receive such reports there are often cries of whataboutery. The La Mon survivors' journey shows that such investigations do not come easy to families and require long, arduous and often retraumatising campaigns for justice, carried out at the expense of survivors' mental and emotional wellbeing.

There were 500 people, both guests and staff, in the hotel at the time of the IRA bombing. Some survivors spoke of furniture blocking fire exits as they tried to flee the inferno that tore through the popular restaurant and hotel.

The Ombudsman found two telephone warnings were called in, one wasn't received until after the bombs had detonated, the other at 8.51pm.

“Records show that there was then a six-minute delay before the RUC were notified of this call at 8.57pm,” the watchdog found.

“The reason for the delay was later attributed to an emergency telephone line being out of order.”

Even had that not been the case, the warnings would never have allowed enough time to evacuate the busy premises.

The scene that met first responders that night was a horrifying one. Some of the bodies were incinerated. The explosion, amplified by explosives being attached to a petrol canister mixed with sugar, created a fireball that ripped through the function room.

On February 20, 1978 the PIRA issued a statement admitting responsibility. Over 40 individuals were arrested and questioned about the bombing.

Two members of the organisation were later charged with the murders.

One, Robert 'Spud' Murphy — named only as (Person B) by the ombudsman — received life imprisonment, after pleading guilty to 12 counts of manslaughter.

The other, Eddie Brophy (Person A), was acquitted following legal arguments that his confession had been forced.

Brophy later survived a loyalist murder attempt but died of natural causes in 1997.

The bomb crew are thought to have left from the Turf Lodge area of west Belfast on the day of the bombing.

A red Volkswagen Golf car, containing Person B and Person D, was seen at Ardmonagh Gardens. Later the same car was observed with the yellow Fiat that was carrying the bomb.

Assisted by Ulster Human Rights Watch, the La Mon families had complained that the original RUC investigation was flawed, further adding that there was a lack of liaison between the survivors and police, with few updates.

They also asked the Ombudsman to investigate if there was collusion between the RUC and IRA informers, either before or after the bombing.

In terms of the investigation, the police watchdog found 100 detectives from both the RUC's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Special Branch were involved in the murder investigation.

In the context of the significant pressures and challenges faced by the RUC at that time they said, “the police investigation was well resourced and received direction from the highest levels of the RUC”.

However, as with other legacy cases, documentation is missing, preventing proper scrutiny of the original investigation. The loss of forensic exhibits is also unexplained.

“My ability to provide a definitive view on the effectiveness of the RUC investigation, including whether all appropriate lines of inquiry were pursued, has been hindered by the unavailability of certain documentation generated by the investigation,” senior investigator Paul Holmes said.

The Ombudsman investigator upheld the families' concern at the lack of communication from the police during the investigation.

“The position with what is now known as family liaison within police investigations is in marked contrast to the arrangements that were in place in 1978.

“The frustration of the victims and survivors of the bombing at La Mon House is understandable, and I acknowledge that their concerns in this regard are legitimate.”

In regard to the role of potential IRA informers, Mr Holmes said: “Of some 300 interviews conducted of suspects between 18 and 28 February, two-thirds were undertaken by Special Branch detectives.

“This tends to support the suggestion that, in addition to their main function of intelligence gathering, Special Branch were deployed to the investigation to augment the available CID resources.”

However, the Ombudsman's report concluded that considering the circumstances surrounding the inadequate warning: “It is my view that no responsibility in this regard can be attached to any person other than those who perpetrated the attack.”

This will be another tough week for the relatives of the 12 La Mon victims, Sarah Cooper, Gordon Crothers, Margaret Joan Crothers, Christine Lockhart, Elizabeth McCracken, Ian McCracken, Daniel Magill, Carol Mills, Sandra Morris, Thomas Neeson, Dorothy Nelson and Paul Nelson.

However, they can hold their heads high in the knowledge that they have relentlessly pursued justice for those who died in such horrific circumstances.