Police Ombudsman loyalist murders report: Who were the victims?
- Published
Relatives of those killed and injured in the bookmakers attack gathered to remember them on Saturday
The Police Ombudsman has found "collusive behaviour" by police in a number of loyalist murders, including the 1992 attack at the Sean Graham betting shop.
A report by Marie Anderson, external also identified "significant" investigative and intelligence failures.
Police apologised for the "failings identified".
The report found no evidence that any of the shootings was preventable.
The Police Ombudsman's report considers details of RUC conduct in relation to eight loyalist attacks between 1990 and 1998.
These attacks resulted in 11 murders and one attempted murder.
All of the victims were Catholic.
Here's a look at each of the cases and the victims.
The attempted murder of Samuel Caskey on 9 October 1990
On the day of the attempted murder Mr Caskey was shot when walking to his parents' home at Dromara Street off the lower Ormeau Road in south Belfast.
The route taken by Mr Caskey took him through an entry linking Artana Street with Dromara Street, where he was shot in the back.
He managed to run from the scene and found his way to a nearby house where he remained until the arrival of an ambulance and police.
No organisation claimed responsibility for this shooting.
No-one has been prosecuted for the attack.
The murder of Harry Conlon on 14 October 1991
Mr Conlon, 54, was a driver for STS Taxis of Avoca Park, Andersonstown.
At 21:00 on the day of his murder he was dispatched to two locations from his base.
Following the first fare, it is believed that Mr Conlon collected a fare from the Devenish Arms Inn at Finaghy Road North, Belfast, to be taken to the Errigle Inn, Ormeau Road.
At 22:17 he was found in Finnis Drive, Belfast, in his taxi, having sustained fatal gunshot wounds.
In a call to the BBC, the UDA/UFF claimed responsibility for the murder of Mr Conlon.
No-one has been prosecuted in connection with the murder.
Mr Conlon's son, Paul Conlon, said the report contained "devastating details regarding the killing of our father".
The murder of Aidan Wallace on 22 December 1991
Aidan Wallace, 22, was in the Devenish Arms Inn, Finaghy Road North in Belfast on the day of his murder.
Two gunmen entered the premises and indiscriminately opened fire at customers and staff.
Mr Wallace, who was playing snooker with his brother, was fatally wounded and three others, including an eight-year-old boy, sustained gunshot wounds.
Police believed that the gunmen escaped in a stolen car, which was recovered later that day in Locksley Place, Finaghy.
That evening an anonymous caller, using a recognised codeword, rang the BBC and claimed responsibility on behalf of the UFF.
No-one has been prosecuted for his murder.
Intelligence received by the police indicated that the attack on the Devenish Arms Inn was in retaliation for an Irish Peoples Liberation Organisation (IPLO) attack at the Donegall Arms, on 21 December 1991, during which two Protestant men were murdered.
Three other men were also injured in this attack, two of whom were allegedly members of South Belfast UDA/UFF.
The murders of Christy Doherty, Jack Duffin, Peter Magee, William McManus and James Kennedy on 5 February 1992
The five people who died in the betting shop attack were, from left, Willie McManus, Christy Doherty, Jack Duffin, James Kennedy and Peter Magee
Five people - Jack Duffin, 66; Willie McManus, 54; Christy Doherty, 52; Peter Magee, 18; and James Kennedy, 15 - died in the attack on Sean Graham Bookmakers on the Ormeau Road.
Seven more people were wounded.
Fifteen customers and members of staff were in the betting shop when two masked men entered the premises and opened fire with two guns.
Later, the BBC got a message from an anonymous caller using a recognised UDA/UFF codeword claiming the attack.
Among other comments, the caller referenced Teebane, an IRA bombing in County Tyrone just over two weeks previously in which eight Protestant workmen were killed.
No-one has been prosecuted for the murders or attempted murders at the Sean Graham betting shop.
Last week, settlements were reached in High Court actions over alleged state collusion in the killings.
Jack Duffin was a married father of three sons and was a stonemason by trade.
Willie McManus was a married father of four and had worked as a crane driver.
Christy Doherty was one of five brothers and four sisters and lived in the Lower Ormeau Road.
Peter Magee was one of six siblings, one of whom was his twin brother Martin.
James Kennedy, who was only 15, was the second of five boys and was a pupil at St Joseph's Secondary School.
He lived with his brothers and mother and father, Kathleen and Jackie in Stanton Street.
The murder of Michael Gilbride on 4 November 1992
On the day of his murder, Mr Gilbride, 36, arrived outside his parents' home at Fernwood Street where he often had lunch.
As the married father-of-three got out of his car a gunman fired three shots resulting in fatal injuries.
The gunman was believed to have fled on foot though an unoccupied house situated directly opposite the murder scene, and into a rear alley.
Shortly before 13:00 that day an RUC patrol heard three shots on the Ormeau Road.
The officers responded and found Mr Gilbride lying on the road behind his car, which was parked outside his parents' home.
In an anonymous telephone call to the BBC on the same day, a caller using a recognised codeword, claimed the attack on behalf of the UDA/UFF.
No-one has been prosecuted in connection with his murder.
The murder of Martin Moran on 23 October 1993 (died 25 October 1993)
A Chinese restaurant on the Dublin Road, Belfast, received a call placing an order for a takeaway to be delivered to a property at Vernon Court.
The caller gave no name.
The takeaway was delivered by Mr Moran, a 22-year-old father of one, from the Ormeau Road, who arrived at the address shortly before midnight.
He knocked on the door, waking up the occupants who were in bed.
The occupant heard three gunshots as he got out of bed and immediately telephoned police.
The police arrived shortly thereafter and found Mr Moran lying on the doorstep of the delivery address.
He had sustained three gunshot wounds and was taken to Belfast City Hospital where he died from his injuries on 25 October.
The murder of Mr Moran was not claimed by any organisation.
The ombudsman said that, in light of the intelligence held by police, she was of the view that this was a sectarian murder carried out by loyalists in retaliation for the bombing of Frizzell's Fish Shop on the Shankill Road less than 12 hours earlier.
No-one has been prosecuted in connection with his murder.
The murder of Theresa Clinton on 14 April 1994
On the day of the 34-year-old mother of two's murder, a man wearing a crash helmet and holding a rifle entered a house on Balfour Avenue in the lower Ormeau Road.
The family who lived in the house retreated to the rear of the property.
As they telephoned 999, they heard a burst of gunfire, followed by the sound of a car driving away.
They discovered that the living room window of their neighbour's house had been smashed.
James (Jim) Clinton, his wife Theresa Clinton and their children were the occupants.
He was in his bedroom when he was woken by the sound of glass breaking.
He heard his wife scream, followed by gunfire. He ran downstairs and found her lying on their settee, fatally injured.
A concrete block had been used to smash his living room window.
The next day a BBC reporter got an anonymous telephone message from a caller who claimed the attack using a recognised UDA/UFF codeword.
No-one has been prosecuted in connection with Mrs Clinton's murder.
The murder of Larry Brennan on 19 January 1998
Lawrence (Larry) Brennan, 51, was a driver for Enterprise Taxis on the Ormeau Road, Belfast.
The father-of-two was from the Markets area of Belfast.
At approximately 19:20 he left the depot in his car, which was parked on the Ormeau Road.
As he was sitting in the driver's seat, Mr Brennan was shot through the driver's side window and fatally wounded.
The gunman then crossed the road and fled on foot along Deramore Avenue.
No paramilitary group claimed responsibility for the murder
The next day the RUC received information that an anonymous telephone caller had claimed 'the Spanish Republican Party' was responsible for the murder.
They researched this claim but their enquiries revealed that this organisation did not exist and concluded the call was a hoax.
Police intelligence indicated the attack was carried out by South Belfast UDA/UFF, in direct response to the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) murder of a member of that organisation earlier the same day.
No-one has been prosecuted in connection with his murder.
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