Norman Strong Murder 21st January 1981
The majority of people
who have commented on the murder of 86-year-old Norman Stronge and his 48-year-old
sons James at Tynan Abbey on the 21st of January, 1981, have done so
from two perspectives. Firstly, there were those people who knew the Stronge
family personally and were simply outraged by the cowardice of their murders.
Secondly, there were those who simply reported the facts as it was their job to
do. In this article, I would like to offer a view of the murders from within
the ranks of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan at that time when the murders were
sanctioned.
The Sinn Fein/PIRA view
of the murders of the Stronge Family were best summed up by, a member of The PIRA
Army Council, Gerry Adams when he said:
“The only complaint I have heard from nationalists or anti-unionists is that he
(Sir Norman) was not shot 40 years ago.”
Gerry Adams was/is
someone who murders women and children, in contrast to, Sir Norman Stronge,
former Speaker of the Stormont Parliament who had fought at the Somme and had
been awarded the Military Cross and the Belgian Croix de Guerre for bravery.
Murder at The Abbey
In 1980, a significant
event took place that has never been mentioned in relation to the lead up to
the murders of Norman Stronge and his son James at Tynan Abbey. In October 1980,
Jim Lynagh, who had recently served a sentence in The Maze/Long Kesh for
possession of explosives was before The Special Criminal Court in Dublin under the CRIMINAL LAW [JURISDICTION] ACT 1976.
In 1980 Jim Lynagh, Aidan McGurk and Laurence McNally were charged with the murder of a UDR man, Henry Livingstone. The Special Criminal Court held that the prosecution had not established a prima facie case and ordered the release of the three accused. Jim Lynagh, Aidan McGurk and Laurence McNally had murdered in cold blood Henry Livingston, as he lay on the ground McNally and Lynagh continued to fire bullets into his body.
Other Top Stories
In October 1980 Lynagh
was a Sinn Fein Councilor on Monaghan Urban Council and he was also OC
(Officer Commanding) Monaghan/East Tyrone PIRA. Jim Lynagh was an experienced and
intelligent PIRA operative; he made no apology for those who died at his hand.
This picture shows two people who were directly involved in the Stronge murders and one who sanctioned the murders. Actually there are three who were directly involved in the murders, the third is in the coffin.
The release of Jim Lynagh,
Aidan McGuirk and Laurence McNally were very significant, these were three very
seasoned operatives, although one did not have to be Special Forces to murder
an 86-year-old as he sat in his armchair watching TV.
Lynagh, McGuirk and
McNally reported back to The PIRA Command Staff in Monaghan Town. In 1980 The
PIRA Command Staff included Kevin McKenna (PIRA Chief of Staff 1983-1997), J.B.
O’Hagan (Asst Chief of Staff), Brendan McKenna (Adjutant), Vincent Conlon (Finance)
and so forth. There was an overinflated number of PIRA activists in Monaghan
Town, this was mainly due to the numbers that had arrived in Monaghan from
Tyrone, Derry, Armagh and so forth and claimed to be On-the-Run (OTR).
In the 1970s/1980s Goggle
did not exist and there were very few telephones. This lack of communication
and knowledge meant it could take weeks to check out someone who arrived in
Monaghan Town and claimed to be On The Run (OTR). For example, George Poytz
arrived in Castleblaney and claimed to be On the Run, he was in fact a British
Agent. The majority of Sinn Fein/PIRA activists in Monaghan Town were on Social
Welfare in the 1980s, this was mainly due to the economy being very depressed.
While there were
significant numbers of PIRA activists in Monaghan Town, only a few were of any
real value for the type of campaign being waged by Kevin McKenna. Kevin McKenna
was from outside the border town of Aughnacloy in County Tyrone, he was On The
Run and living in Monaghan from the 1970s. All non-loyalist murders committed
in and around Aughnacloy between 1970 and 1980 would have had Kevin McKenna’s
finger-prints on them. McKenna had no success in and around Aughnacloy from
1980 onward (success being measured in death).
Kevin McKenna had
personally murdered Cormac McCabe from Aughnacloy, when Cormac McCabe was
kidnapped from the Four Seasons Hotel, murdered and his body dumped at the
border. Kevin McKenna had also personally murdered school boy Columbia McVeigh,
Columbia McVeigh was not an informer, however, Columbia had been so badly tortured
that they decided to kill him and secretly bury him, his body has never been
found.
Kevin McKenna was a sectarian
killer and derived his greatest pleasure from murdering Protestants. I had
known Kevin from I was a small child as he was a good deal older than me. The decision
to murder Norman Stronge and James Stronge was taken very quickly, the Stronge
Family had not been high on PIRA hit list, however, The PIRA in Monaghan Town
had a great deal of information about The Stronge Family and their routine.
The decision to murder
Norman Stronge and his son James was taken immediately after the attempted
murder of Bernadette McAliskey in Coalisland, County Tyrone, by The Ulster Freedom
Fighters. On the 16th of January 1981 Bernadette
McAliskey (nee, Devlin) and her husband were shot by members of the Ulster
Freedom Fighters, who broke into their home near Coalisland, County Tyrone. The
gunmen shot Bernadette Devlin nine times in front of her children. The UFF
members who carried out this attack must have known that it would be the local
Protestant population that would pay the price for their actions.
Following the shooting of
Bernadette McAliskey and her husband by the UFF, The PIRA quickly convened a
meeting in Monaghan Town and the decision was taken to take out a high-profile
target. The most high-profile target immediately at hand to The PIRA in
Monaghan was Norman Stronge and his son James. The 8-man PIRA Unit led by Jim
Lynagh were ordered to kill everyone in Tynan Abbey and to burn the Abbey to
the ground.
Murder Most Foul
On the evening of the 21st
January 1981 the 8-man PIRA Unit lead by Jim Lynagh were driven to the border
between Monaghan and Armagh. Members of The PIRA Unit held two families hostage
and stole their family cars for the return journey to Monaghan. The 8-man PIRA
unit made their way to The Abbey where they blew of the heavy front doors with
bombs that had been made over the previous days by Jim Lynagh and Charlie Caufield.
When The PIRA members
entered the library they, Jim Lynagh and Seamus Shannon, summarily executed Sir
Norman and his son James as they sat watching TV. The PIRA Unit then planted
incendiary devices so that The Abbey and the bodies of Sir Norman and James
would be burned beyond recognition and could not avail of normal funeral
arrangement, for example, where their family could view the bodies during a
traditional wake and Christian funeral.
The burned remains of Tynan Abbey in 1981
As the PIRA Unit left the
scene in their stolen cars, RUC officers arrived and were fired upon by The
PIRA Unit, Lynagh, Shannon (Lynagh’s brother-in-law) McNally and McGuirk
focused heavy fire on the wind-screen of the RUC cars to try and kill the officers
inside. Later, both Lynagh and Shannon expressed frustration that they did not
know that the roofs of the RUC cars were not bullet proof, if they had known
this they could have climbed onto the roof of the RUC cars and killed the officers
inside. The RUC returned some fire, but the PIRA Unit made their escape across
fields and forest and into near-by Glaslough in County Monaghan.
The PIRA Unit made their
way to the home of Mr Harry Lavery in Glasslough and arrangements were made for
the PIRA Unit to return to Monaghan Town. On the morning of the 22nd
of January 1981 members of the Garda Special Branch Unit raided The Round House
Bar in Church Square in Monaghan Town and found some of The PIRA Unit hiding in
the basement. While The Round House Bar was owned by Mr Robert Loane, it was
being managed and operated by Owen/Eoin Smyth who was involved in the planning
of the Stronge murders.
This was The Round House Bar but eventually even the drunks walked away
Th remaining members of
The PIRA Unit had made their way back to Mullaghamatt Council Housing Estate,
where their uniforms were washed in a safe house and the weapons (one lost at
the scene of the murders) were returned to a PIRA Arms Dump in Rossmore Forest
Park, close to Mullaghmatt Council Housing Estate.
While An Garda Siochana
arrested most of the murder gang, there was no evidence available to the Gardai
in Monaghan other than a finger-print belonging to Seamus Shannon on one of the
cars used. While Owen/Eoin Smyth had been warned by Jim Lynagh not to go back
into the north again, as he would be arrested for the murders. Smyth, went into
the north and was arrested by The RUC, Smyth squealed like a rat to save
himself and would eventually only serve a few months in The Maze/Long Kesh
after admitting his role in two high-profile murders.
Seamus Shannon would face
extradition due to the finger-print evidence and Smyth’s touting. The Republic
of Ireland Supreme Court later rejected an appeal by Seamus Shannon against his
extradition to Northern Ireland to face charges of involvement in the Stronge
double murder. The Court rejected the defense that these were political
offences, saying that they were:
“so brutal, cowardly and
callous that it would be a distortion of language if they were to be accorded
the status of a political offence”. Shannon was extradited but later acquitted.
