THE IRISH OBSERVER: Capt Cormac McCabe, Columba McVeigh, Kevin McKenna, Sinn Fein, PIRA

Monday, October 19, 2020

Capt Cormac McCabe, Columba McVeigh, Kevin McKenna, Sinn Fein, PIRA

Who Murdered innocent Protestant Mr Henry Livingstone in Tynan on March 6th, 1980?

Every word published here has been known to the authorities for decades, much of it has been sworn in Court or Sworn in Affidavits. If anyone has any issue with any of the content you may contact me by DM on my Twitter Account, any attempts to silence the Truth will be reported as Harassment and Civil Proceedings will be issued.

Murdering Protestants

Kevin McKenna often referred to his ancestor Niall McKenna, who in 1641 murdered over 2,000 Protestants and drove many tens of thousands of Protestants from their land and homes. The English Civil War delayed plans by the British to retaliate against Niall McKenna, and this retaliation would only occur when Cromwell arrived in Ireland in 1649 whereupon hundreds of the McKenna Clan were slaughtered and exiled.

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 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.

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.

Murders of Capt Cormac McCabe and Columba McVeigh

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 'Lou' 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.

Murder of Capt Cormac McCabe

In 1974 the IRA murdered Cormac McCabe, who was aged 42. Cormac McCabe was a married Father of two. Mr McCabe was known to this author. Cormac McCabe was Headmaster of Aughnacloy Secondary School and Part-time UDR Captain abducted from the Four Seasons Hotel in Monaghan Town while he was off duty. Out for a meal with his wife and handicapped daughter when taken by The PIRA Unit lead by Kevin McKenna and his side-kick Hensey McKenna (OTR south Derry).

Cormac McCabe’s body would be found 500 yards inside the Northern Ireland border the next day, he had been shot in the head. Kevin McKenna had murdered a number of Protestants in and around his home town of Aughnacloy, and this earned him the nick-name ‘The Executioner’.

Kevin McKenna (in 1975), PIRA Chief of Staff, 1983-1997

Cormac McCabe was shot in the head by a man who was well known to him, Kevin McKenna. According to Kevin McKenna, Cormac McCabe was interrogated, but refused under threat of torture and death to reveal any information other than his name and rank, as required under The Geneva Convention, Cormac McCabe refused to seek mercy, from a man who had murdered friends and neighbours of Mr McCabe’s.

Cormac McCabe Murder circumstances

In 1974 the Headmaster of the Protestant Secondary School, in Aughnacloy, County Tyrone, Cormac McCabe was kidnapped by the PIRA from the Four Seasons Hotel in Monaghan while he was having dinner with his family and he was murdered. Cormac McCabe was also a part-time UDR Captain but would have been well liked in Aughnacloy.

Cormac McCabe was not well informed about who owned the Four Seasons Hotel at that time, Alan Clancy was the owner of the Four Seasons Hotel and he was a bag-man for Sinn Fein/PIRA. The PIRA regularly patrolled the car-park of the Four Seasons Hotel in anticipation of loyalist attack. There was a revolver kept in the safe in the hotel and this would be handed out to PIRA members patrolling the car-park each night and then returned at the end of the night if there were no issues.

Cormac McCabe was kidnapped by a senior PIRA member from Aughnacloy, Kevin McKenna (PIRA Chief of Staff 1984-1997) who was on the run and living in Monaghan Town. Hensey McKenna was also involved in the murder, Hensey was on-the-run following his role in The Claudy Bombing in 1972, and living in Monaghan. Jeff McKenna from Augher and others provided logistical support.

Murder of Columba McVeigh

Kevin McKenna told me that in 1975 Sinn Fein/PIRA activists in Dungannon/Donaghmore had raised concerns about a school boy called Columbia McVeigh, allegations were being made by xxxxxxx xxxxxx that Columba was being viewed as an informant and people were not happy that action was not being taken.

Kevin McKenna initially ignored calls for action against Columba McVeigh but then Columba McVeigh was in Dublin and had meet Sinn Fein/PIRA members from Tyrone. Columba was not alleged to be involved in anything in Dublin.

It was often the case that some Sinn Fein/PIRA who went on-the-run to The Republic liked to make themselves important and involved, even if they were neither, those who identified Columba in Dublin probably fell into this category.

17-year-old school boy Columba McVeigh kidnapped, tortured, murdered and secretly buried by Sinn Fein/PIRA in 1975.

Kevin McKenna came under increased pressure, from xxxxxx and Bridget McCartan, the suggestion being that Columba had been moved to Dublin by his ‘handlers’ to infiltrate The PIRA in Dublin.

Columba was brought back to Monaghan and simply told that Kevin McKenna wanted to talk with him. To my knowledge Columba traveled from Dublin to Monaghan without fear. Columba McVeigh was brought by James Fox to a PIRA safe-house in north Monaghan and was meet there by Kevin McKenna and Hensey McKenna.

Kevin McKenna admitted to this author that Columba McVeigh was not an informer and this was proven by his interrogation, however, he had been so badly beaten about the head by his PIRA captures that the decision was taken to kill and secretly bury him.

The key consideration for Kevin McKenna was whether to allow Columba McVeigh to return to Tyrone with his grievous and life changing injuries where he could be used by Catholic Priest, Father Dennis Faul and others to highlight Sinn Fein/PIRA brutality against their own community, or simply dispose of the problem.

Capt Cormac McCabe, Columba McVeigh, Kevin McKenna, Sinn Fein, PIRA