Gardaí investigating 1972 Belturbet bombing that killed two teenagers release new details

Gardaí investigating co-ordinated no-warning loyalist bombs in three counties, which killed two teenagers and left other victims with serious injuries, have released the most comprehensive information to date on up to nine suspects they are trying to locate.

Photofit images of some of the suspects have also been released by Garda headquarters as part of a major drive to catch the bombers after new lines of inquiry emerged.

Nobody has ever been charged with the murders of 15-year-old Geraldine O’Reilly and 16-year-old Patrick Stanley, who died when a car bomb exploded in Belturbet, Co Cavan, on the night of December 28th, 1972. On the same night other bombs exploded in Clones, Co Monaghan, and near Pettigo, Co Donegal, causing significant damage and injuring people.

Chief Supt Alan McGovern of the Cavan-Monaghan-Louth Garda division on Monday said there were “people out there who know who carried out these crimes”. They could still help gardaí to “get answers” for the murdered children, the other victims and their families, he said.

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“They may not have been able to speak at that time or since. Perhaps relationships have changed, and with the increasing passage of time, maybe they feel able to speak or as they are getting older, now may want to speak before an opportunity to do so is lost,” Chief Supt McGovern said.

An RTÉ documentary broadcast in 2020, on the anniversary of the bombings, revealed British intelligence about a potential suspect was not passed on to the Irish authorities. The programme also claimed British army, RUC and UDR personnel held a secret meeting to discuss Border security shortly after the bombing. However, the minutes of this meeting and other intelligence documents held by the British state are to remain sealed until 2057.

[ Who killed the children of Belturbet? ]

At 10.01pm on December 28th, 1972, a bomb in a blue Morris 1100 exploded on Fermanagh Street, Clones, seriously injuring two men. At 10.28pm a red Ford Escort exploded outside Farrelly’s Bar and McGowan’s Drapery on Main Street, Belturbet, killing teenagers Patrick Stanley and Geraldine O’Reilly and injuring eight other people. The third bomb exploded at 10.50pm outside Britton’s pub in Mullnagoad, near Pettigo, after it was left outside the premises in a container. One woman was injured.

The investigation team based at Ballyconnell Garda station, under a senior investigating officer, has now released information about up to nine people, many of them seen in stolen cars in the build-up to the bombings, one of whom appeared to have lost a number of fingers.

The people of interest now being sought include:

– A man driving a stolen red Ford Escort, of whom a photofit as been created based on details noted at a checkpoint on Aghalane Bridge – spanning the Border between counties Cavan and Fermanagh.

– A man depicted in a photofit of the driver of a Blue Ford Cortina, registration number BIA 477, stolen from Main Street Belturbet, and a young woman who was travelling as a passenger in that car. The man is described as being about 18-years-old, 5ft 8in and being of thin build with a long thin pale face and long dark brown curly hair. He is described as having a “very conspicuous nose” and was wearing a dark blazer, double breasted with wide lapels, collar and tie. He also “wore a silver or steel band around his wrist”. The young woman he was with was aged between 18 and 19 years old and was described as being “fairly tall” with blonde hair coming down over her shoulders, parted in the centre and pushed away from forehead. She was “sharp featured” with a pale complexion and long dark overcoat, which was possibly red, over a polo neck pullover.

– That Blue Ford Cortina they were in was stolen from Belturbet on the day of the bombing and the registration plates – BIA 477 – have never been recovered, with gardaí now seeking details on those plates.

– Two other men are also believed they have got into that Blue Ford Cortina – registration number BIA 477 – and are being sought. Both are described as dark haired and were about 20 years old. They were said to be taller than the driver of the car, who was about 5ft 8in, and their hair was not as long as the driver’s. Both men were described as wearing “dark conservative clothes” as well as being “well groomed” with “Northern accents” and were “well dressed”.

– Three other people who were in Belturbet on the day of the bombing were also being sought. One was described as being aged between 25 to 28 years old and was 5ft 11in to 6ft in height with dark brown or black bushy hair described as being “not too long, sidelocks”. He had a broad or round face with “fresh smooth complexion”. He was “very well built” and wore a black leather or plastic “wet look” jacket with a zip fastener, high collar turned up at back and side pockets with the word “Dunlop” in white lettering on the breast or sleeve of the jacket. He had large grey or white squares on his trousers and spoke with Northern accent. The second man was described as being aged 23 to 25 years old and was between 5ft 7in and 5ft 9in. He had “straight dark coloured hair, medium length and was well groomed”. He was described as having a “long oval shaped face, pointed chin, light build, wearing [an] expensive looking black jacket [with] side pockets, bell bottom trousers, collar and tie”. The third man is described as being “somewhat similar” to the description of the second person.

– Another person being sought was a man seen driving a stolen Morris 1100 in Northern Ireland on the day of the bombings and who was described as “having missing fingers”. That car – a blue Morris 1100 with a registration number of 431 LZ – contained the Clones bomb and had been stolen from a car park in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, between 6.30pm and 7.35pm on the evening of the bombing.