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Arrest in infamous murder of British army officer Robert Nairac

By
KENNETH HAYNES
,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 5:04 PM
Updated Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 5:15 PM
Read more: Robert Nairac, Northern Ireland Conflict, War and Conflict, Crime, Murder and Homicide, County Armagh

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Robert Nairac talking to children in the Ardoyne area of Belfast
Robert Nairac talking to children in the Ardoyne area of Belfast

A man has been arrested for the murder of undercover British army officer Robert Nairac, one of the most infamous killings of the Troubles during the 1970s.

32 years after Nairac went missing, Kevin Crilly, 59, from Jonesborough County Armagh, has been charged with the killing.

Nairac, a Grenadier Guardsman who was 29 when he disappeared in South Armagh in 1977, was one of up to a dozen people secretly kidnapped, killed and buried by the IRA during the Troubles.

Crilly, who appeared in a Northern Ireland court today, is already facing charges of kidnapping and falsely imprisoning Nairac, who was abducted by the IRA’s South Armagh brigade from a pub parking lot in Drumintee, near the border between the North and the Republic.

The British officer was beaten, then taken by car to the Ravensdale forest across the border, tortured for hours and shot dead.

Nairac’s body has never been recovered, though former members of the IRA say that his remains were disposed at a local meat processing plant.

The Catholic military man was later hailed as a hero by his colleagues, and was awarded a posthumous George Cross, the highest civil decoration of Britain, for his resistance to his abductors and bravery under "a succession of exceptionally savage assaults.”

Crilly was informed of his murder charged at Newry magistrates court. He was later granted bail.

A man from Dundalk, County Louth was convicted of murdering Nairac in 1985, and released in 1997. Five men from South Armagh were also charged in connection with the murder. One was acquitted, found guilty of manslaughter and given 10 years, while the two others were convicted and sentenced to life.

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Arrest in infamous murder of British army officer Robert Nairac | Irish News | IrishCentral


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Posted by Ulster1 on Nov 13, 2009, 11:24 PM EST
To plasticpaddy. I am not ill-informed. If I were to get caught for killing a soldier, I would definitely choose the UK over the USA. At least I would not face the death penalty, and could be out for good behavior in 25 years (at most).
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Posted by plasticpaddy on Nov 13, 2009, 10:51 PM EST
Thank god for British Justice. Bite your tongue! Do you know absolutley anything about the torture great Irishmen suffered at the hands of your British justice. Shame on you for your ignorance.
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Posted by Ulster1 on Nov 13, 2009, 04:43 PM EST
In the USA this killer--out on bail--would be held without any rights or a trial in Guantanamo indefinitely! He would endure torture, routinely. Thank God for British Justice. What the IRA killer did to this army officer makes the shooting at Fort Hood look restrained: The British officer was beaten, then taken by car to the Ravensdale forest across the border, tortured for hours and shot dead,[and] ... former members of the IRA say that his remains were disposed at a local meat processing plant.
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Posted by REMITROM on Nov 12, 2009, 11:01 PM EST
"A man from Dundalk, County Louth was convicted of murdering Nairac in 1985, and released in 1997." Typical of British "justice" when it comes to Irishmen!
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Posted by plasticpaddy on Nov 12, 2009, 11:16 AM EST
I wonder what the situation would be regarding his conviction. Will he be eligible to be released under the Good Friday Agreement after serving a part of any possible sentence?
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Posted by Downunderyan on Nov 12, 2009, 05:32 AM EST
I do deplore allforms of violence, but please remind me which country was found guilty of torture, cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners by the European Court of Human Rights? Which country indulged in centuries of blood lust, torture, degrading and inhuman treatment of the Irish whilst trying to erase them from the face of the earth through war, disease, famine and other more refined forms of degrading and inhuman treatment (dispossession, perecution of religious beliefs, deprivation of housing and education to name a few)? England has never apologised for anything they've inflicted on the Irish, with one notable exception in the form of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, who was a humble man of working class background. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"!


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