Claudy bomb - the priest that got away with murder

[Chairman Meow]

So the report on the Claudy bomb is out, and it was the priest what done it. Also the government and RUC knew all about it, and covered it up to prevent further violence. Fucking unreal.

I have a personal interest in this atrocity. I'm from near Claudy, my dad reported on the story in great depth in 1972, and eight years ago in his role as a Derry journalist he received an anonymous letter purporting to be from another priest, saying that Father Chesney had confessed he carried the explosives in his car. Dad went to the cops, and that kicked off this enquiry. Dad was terrified when he came forward with this as he thought he would be setting himself up as a target, which since it was a massive cover up, he was! At least now (some of) the truth has come to light, albeit too late for justice.

What a fucked up place NI is, thank fuck I don't live there any more.

 

[Chairman Meow]

.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Error? What error?

 

[ymu]

Just saw this on the news. Fucked up.

Well done your da.

 

[N_igma]

Fucking mental, hope they get their justice.

 

[Chairman Meow]

Fucking mental, hope they get their justice.

Sure what justice can there be, 38 years on? Most of the perpetrators and families of the victims are dead.

Bloody Catholic church guilty as fuck too, again!

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/Relatives-await-Claudy-bomb-verdict.6490725.jp

 

[DotCommunist]

But was this, as claimed, the lesser of two evils? did the cover up contain a situation that would have gone even worse had it been known a clergyman was involved?

 

[N_igma]

Sure what justice can there be, 38 years on? Most of the perpetrators and families of the victims are dead.

Bloody Catholic church guilty as fuck too, again!

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/Relatives-await-Claudy-bomb-verdict.6490725.jp

Aye but hopefully someone out there can be held accountable.

I'm not sure the arrest of a priest would have escalated the situation. It's hard to tell really but I'm not convinced tbh.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I think it would have. I remember those times clearly.

 

[Chairman Meow]

That's rough (or no) justice though for the families of the victims though. I was just talking to my mum there about it, I was a three year old at the time and we were living about 12 miles away, so it frightened the shit out of her. And you can't let the guilty away with it, surely, even if it does seem to be pragmatic at the time.How much bitterness did it cause that Father Chesney was allowed to get away with it, and given safe passage? When dad got the letter, he told me his mate had come forward at the time pointing the finger at Chesney, so it was a pretty open secret he was guilty as fuck. I thought my dad was talking shite, until I saw his mate on the TV tonight saying he had come forward at the time.

 

[Pickman's model]

when i heard about this on the radio this morning i went to the books to find out more about this, but i was surprised to see there's no mention of claudy in 'the irish war' by geraghty, 'provos' by peter taylor, 'the ira' by tim pat coogan, 'the secret army: the ira' by j bowyer bell or 'a secret history of the ira' by ed moloney. it is mentioned in 'the provisional ira' by bishop and mallie, which says that eight people were killed there. oh - and it wasn't mentioned in thomas hennessy's 'the evolution of the troubles 1970-72' either.

 

[marty21]

missed this on the news tonight - but a colleague was very interested, he lost a cousin there, he's from the same village - he was glad the news has finally come out.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Well, they were terrible times and terrible things happened. I do think if he'd been arrested there would have been a massive reaction, just the same if a Protestant priest had been arrested. People would have said it was a conspiracy etc etc. I'm not saying any of this sorry mess was right, or that justice was served, just what I think the reaction would have been.

 

[Chairman Meow]

Well, they were terrible times and terrible things happened. I do think if he'd been arrested there would have been a massive reaction, just the same if a Protestant priest had been arrested. People would have said it was a conspiracy etc etc. I'm not saying any of this sorry mess was right, or that justice was served, just what I think the reaction would have been.

Oh don't get me wrong mrs m I agree, but two wrongs don't make a right either. The whole place was a fucking mess back then. The problem is, its all a bit precarious there even now, and I just hope this kind of crap doesn't make it all kick off again.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I would have loved a drink with your Dad, CM. He sounds great, no, amazing, and anyway I always get on well with people with the same hoarding propensities.

 

[Deareg]

it was such a fucking cess-pit of corruption that countless more of these types of cover-ups will be revealed in years to come and informers umasked, some kind of truth and reconcilliation committee as in south africa is going to have to be established if the people here are ever going to find any peace of mind

 

[Chairman Meow]

I would have loved a drink with your Dad, CM. He sounds great, no, amazing, and anyway I always get on well with people with the same hoarding propensities.

Aww mrs m that is lovely of you to say that. It still makes me sad that he was a man with such great stories to tell, and an interesting life lived, yet he died with no friends and living in squalor. I did bring him to a friends house for dinner once, he didn't want to go because he said he was shy, then they sat up all night comparing notes on rock stars (Bob Geldof, Shane Macgowan, Bono etc) and politicians (Paisley, Trimble, Eamon McCann etc) that they both knew personally.

Its a bit weird too, because probate is finally being granted after 18 months, and there Dad is in the news again! There is just no keeping my dad in his box at all ( there never really was )

 

[Chairman Meow]

*wee bit of a sob* again

Losing a parent, even one who was a bit of a nightmare, is a weird and LONG process.

 

[Chairman Meow]

shamelessly bumping for grief

 

[Proper Tidy]

Fair play, sounds a brave bloke

 

[ViolentPanda]

So the report on the Claudy bomb is out, and it was the priest what done it. Also the government and RUC knew all about it, and covered it up to prevent further violence. Fucking unreal.

I have a personal interest in this atrocity. I'm from near Claudy, my dad reported on the story in great depth in 1972, and eight years ago in his role as a Derry journalist he received an anonymous letter purporting to be from another priest, saying that Father Chesney had confessed he carried the explosives in his car. Dad went to the cops, and that kicked off this enquiry. Dad was terrified when he came forward with this as he thought he would be setting himself up as a target, which since it was a massive cover up, he was! At least now (some of) the truth has come to light, albeit too late for justice.

What a fucked up place NI is, thank fuck I don't live there any more.

I hope you don't mind that I just raised a glass in honour of your late father. He quite obviously had more honour and integrity in his little finger than those who covered up, whatever their professed motivation.

 

[ViolentPanda]

But was this, as claimed, the lesser of two evils? did the cover up contain a situation that would have gone even worse had it been known a clergyman was involved?

Given the political situation of the time, I suspect that fat Willie Whitelaw was worried about the Protestant paramilitaries taking "pre-emptive" action against the men-in-black-dresses, and triggering incidents of religious violence and the possible involvement of the RoI (who at the time had plenty of demented invasion fantasies in their wee heads).

 

[ViolentPanda]

I think it would have. I remember those times clearly.

So do I. The first half of the 1970s sometimes seemed like a long run of bomb blasts.

 

[ViolentPanda]

it was such a fucking cess-pit of corruption that countless more of these types of cover-ups will be revealed in years to come and informers umasked, some kind of truth and reconcilliation committee as in south africa is going to have to be established if the people here are ever going to find any peace of mind

Problem is that even if you convinced the players on both sides of the borders, and from all political points of the compass to participate, you can be sure that one player in the game would never agree to do so, and that's the British state. In terms of dirty dealings they've so much more they're guilty of than the republicans and the loyalists of the six counties, or the Irish state, but they'll never admit to it.

 

[Pickman's model]

So do I. The first half of the 1970s sometimes seemed like a long run of bomb blasts.

you make it sound like they were all bad

 

[trashpony]

It's worth listening to the interview on PM yesterday afternoon with the guy who led the report. He said that it was the police who asked for the priest's involvement to be covered up and that the UK government and catholic church colluded. Normally I'm the first to bash catholicism for protecting its hierarchies over the wellbing of the faithful but I think in this case the blame doesn't lie at their door entirely.

 

[co-op]

There is all sorts of weirdness about this story. My first thoughts when I heard that a priest believed to be involved had been kept out of trouble was that he must have been a Special Branch informer of some sort - although that would make this kind of subsequent publicity unlikely (although not impossible I guess - remember Anthony Blunt).

But the 'official' presentation of the story doesn't add up either; in 1972 the British state/conservative govt went on the offensive in a serious way - following up internment the previous year we had Bloody Sunday (seems pretty certain now that this was a deliberate escalation?) in January, the declaration of Free Derry and then Operation Motorman - which actually began on the day of the Claudy bombing. There doesn't seem to me to be any evidence that the British state was in the slightest bit concerned about upping the ante and playing the violence card. Indeed arguably that process of escalation continued for another couple of years, possibly culminating in the bombing of Dublin in 1974. So why the (alleged) sudden concern for the impact on inter-religious relations if a priest was arrested for involvement in a bombing?

Perhaps this revelation is part of a deal that gave the Nationalist side the Bloody Sunday inquiry?

 

[Pickman's model]

Perhaps this revelation is part of a deal that gave the Nationalist side the Bloody Sunday inquiry?

that's a stupid thing to say. especially since of the nine people who died four were protestant, and five were catholic. where's the basis for your implication that this was a sop thrown to the unionists?

quick question: when was the bloody sunday inquiry established?

 

[ViolentPanda]

that's a stupid thing to say. especially since of the nine people who died four were protestant, and five were catholic. where's the basis for your implication that this was a sop thrown to the unionists?

quick question: when was the bloody sunday inquiry established?

1998 IIRC.
Which means that any Claudy Inquiry would probably report around 2022.

 

[co-op]

that's a stupid thing to say. especially since of the nine people who died four were protestant, and five were catholic. where's the basis for your implication that this was a sop thrown to the unionists?

Ah. You think that the Claudy bomb plays evenly in terms of the two sides? It looks (to me) rather like the protestant commentators have felt it belonged to them as an issue. Obviously you think that's stupid of me.