Exclusive: Who Murdered innocent Protestant Mr Henry Livingstone in Tynan on March 6th, 1980
Murdering Protestants
One of the tactics adopted by
Kevin McKenna (PIRA Chief of Staff, 1983-1997) was to murder non-military/civilian
Protestants and then issue a press statement through P.O’Neil (Seamus
McGarrigle) that they (The PIRA) believed that the innocent victim was a member
of the British military. This tactic was specifically used against the sons of
Protestant farmers in rural border areas, eventually the Protestants would be
driven from their land, this tactic would become formalised and more widely
used with the adoption of a policy of ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ by The Sinn Fein/PIRA
leadership in 1986.
Sunday Times, March, 1998, by Liam Clarke.
Targeting Mr Henry Livingstone
Mr Henry Livingstone was an
innocent Protestant who worked hard on his farm at Cortynan, Tynan, County
Armagh. Kevin McKenna who was the Commanding Officer of The PIRA in Monaghan in
1980 sanctioned the murder of Mr Livingston as he fitted the profile which fitted
with McKenna’s sectarian campaign in the border counties.
Other Top Stories
Other Top Stories
The PIRA Unit who were dispatched
by Kevin McKenna to murder Mc Livingstone were Sinn Fein Councillor on Monaghan
Urban Council, Mr James ‘Jim’ Lynagh who was 25 years old in 1980. Lynagh was
already a seasoned killer at the age of 25, he had served a sentence in The
Maze/Long Kesh for possession of explosives. Jim Lynagh would be OC (Officer
Commanding) the PIRA Unit that would murder Mr Livingstone.
The second PIRA member on the
PIRA team would be Laurence McNally aged 28 from County Tyrone, who was
On-The-Run (OTR) and living in Monaghan Town. The third member of the PIRA team
would be 22-year-old Aidan McGurk, who was also from Tyrone and OTR living in
Monaghan Town.
The Murder of Mr Henry Livingstone
The 3-man PIRA team were
delivered to the border by another PIRA operative from Monaghan Town and the
driver then returned to Monaghan as The PIRA team intended to steal Mr
Livingstone’s car after they had murdered him.
The 3-man PIRA team took up
position in a hay shed on Mr Livingston’s farm. When Mr Livingstone entered the
shed The PIRA team opened fire and Mr Livingstone fell to the ground badly
injured, he called out to The PIRA team to halt firing, however, Jim Lynagh and
Laurence McNally stepped forward and fired another 6 shots into Mr Livingstone
as he lay wounded on the ground, killing him instantly. For The PIRA team it
was a job well done.
The Escape
The 3-man PIRA team then stole
Mr Livingstone’s car and made their way back to the border where they abandoned
the car and made their way back to Monaghan Town after being picked up by
another PIRA member. The PIRA team were picked up in Monaghan Town by Gardai
within a couple of hours of the murder.
Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act 1976
The 3-man PIRA team were
charged by Gardai under The Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act 1976, this was the
first prosecution brought under this law. While there was forensic evidence to
show that all 3-PIRA men had discharged a firearm and there was mud and straw
on their clothes to match that of Mr Livingstone’s Hayshed, the Court in Dublin
found that there was not enough evidence to convict for murder, the men walked
free.
In January 1981: Jim Lynagh,
Laurence McNally and Aidan McGurk would be part of an 8-man PIRA team to murder
Sir Norman Strong and his son James at Tynan Abbey.
Jim Lynagh would be shot dead
by the SAS at Loughgall in 1987 and Laurence McNally would be shot dead in 1991
by the SAS in Tyrone.
In 1981, Aiden McGurk, 24, and
James Ginley, 27, were charged in a special non-jury Dublin court with
possession of explosives and membership in the outlawed Irish Republican Army, after
they were found by Gardai sleeping as they waited to detonate a landmine by
command wire. In July 1992 Aidan McGurk would face prosecution for PIRA
membership, initially convicted and later acquitted.
Mr Henry Livingstone, Murder,
Sinn Fein, Provisional IRA
