4 October 2001 - A confidential British police report into the death of Derry man Samuel Devenny - after an horrific RUC beating in his own home - which has remained secret for more than thirty years - has revealed the extent of the assault on the Devenny family on 17 July 1969.

Police Ombudsman Mrs. Nuala O'Loan has presented the Devenny family with the contents of the 1970 Drury report into the death of Mr. Devenny. Earlier in 2001, the Devenny family asked the Ombudsman to carry out an investigation into their father's death - just as the Ludlow family has done regarding the RUC's handling of the Seamus Ludlow case. 

The Ombudsman has yet to conclude her inquiries in the May 1976 Ludlow murder, though she did point out that it may not be within her remit to look so far back. Her handling of the Devenny case may, hopefully, hold out hope that she can also help the Ludlow family get to the truth behind the RUC's handling of their love one's sectarian murder in County Louth.

The Ludlow family takes heart from the fact that Mrs. O'Loan has revealed the contents of the secret Drury Report and that she has upheld the Devenny family's complaint that the RUC has never communicated to them directly about this brutal assault on the late Mr. Devenny - who tragically died three months later - and his family. 

The long suppressed Drury report concluded that four RUC officers knew what happened but were afraid of retribution from their colleagues if they spoke out. No RUC officers were ever charged in relation to this attack and for thirty years the truth - including access to the withheld Drury Report - was denied to the Devenny family.

The Ludlow family applauds the Devenny family's determination to establish the full truth behind the death of their late father.

Further information can be found on the Pat Finucane Centre's website.

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5 August 2001 - The following anonymous Loyalist hate message was sent through another Seamus Ludlow campaign website's e-mail form to the Ludlow family. The writer poses as an admirer of the British SAS campaign against what he/she calls "terrorist from both sides", but the last sentence gives the game away. 

This is just  another shameful apologist for the loyalist murder gangs intent on perpetuating cruel lies about an innocent victim of the UDR and Red Hand Commando death squad. It is of course interesting that the anonymous writer does not question the fact that Seamus Ludlow was murdered by the Red Hand Commando - far from it, he/she proudly boasts that they were responsible, and feels that he/she has the right to insult the Ludlow family by denigrating the memory of their loved one. Ironically, he/she objects to our previous answers to others of his kind! Well, that is just too bad!

It is not the Ludlow family's custom to publish every pathetic jibe that comes from such despicable supporters of the loyalist killers, but there are occasions when they should be shown up for the evil and disgusting liars that they are!

As stated previously, the Ludlow family will not accept instruction from those who only insult the memory of an innocent victim of Loyalists, nor has the Ludlow family the slightest interest in the twisted "cruel and unnecessary" opinions of bigots like these!

The hate message reads (We have not corrected various misspellings)::

 A few fair comments.

 My heart bleeds after your pathetic sob story. Ludlow was a terrorist who got no more than he deserved.
I note with disgust your comment about the SAS, may I point out that they are best special forces unit in the world, who have done so much to rid Northern Ireland of evil terrorists from both side? Yes, that does include Loyalists as well, check it out and see!
Your nasty jibe at that individual who posted the comment on the Defend The RUC Website was cruel and unecessary.
I hope that you people are treated with the contempt you deserve, after all, the RHC didn't cross the Border to simply kill an innocent & decent Catholic now did they?

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1 August 2001 - In their much discussed "package" of proposals to the North's political party leaders, aimed at delivering the "full and early implementation of the Good Friday Agreement", Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary of State Dr. John Reid MP and the Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen TD included the following on a number of contentious cases of alleged or actual "collusion":

18. Both Governments want the new policing arrangements now being established to focus on the future. But they accept that certain cases from the past remain a source of grave public concern, particularly those giving rise to serious allegations of collusion by the security forces in each of our jurisdictions. Both Governments will therefore appoint a judge of international standing from outside both jurisdictions to undertake a thorough investigation of allegations of collusion in the cases, of the murders of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan, Pat Finucane, Lord Justice and Lady Gibson, Robert Hamill, Rosemary Nelson and Billy Wright.

19. The investigation of each individual case will begin no later that April 2002 unless this is clearly prejudicial to a forthcoming prosecution at that time. Detailed terms of reference will be published but the appointed judge will be asked to review all papers, interview anyone who can help, establish the facts and report with recommendations for any further action. Arrangements will be made to hear the views of the victims' families and keep them informed of progress. If the appointed judge considers that in any case this has not provided a sufficient basis on which to establish the facts, he or she can report to this effect with recommendations as to what further action should be taken. In the event that a Public Inquiry is recommended in any case, the relevant Government will implement that recommendation.

Significantly, for the Ludlow family, the two governments have not included the murder of Seamus Ludlow, a clear case of collusion involving the Gardai, RUC and British Army and the Loyalist killers, at least in the cover-up after the crime was committed,  in this private judicial inquiry process. Significantly, also, they promise a degree of openness to relevant families that has not at all been evident in recent Belfast and Dublin contacts with the Ludlow family.

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3 July 2001 - A letter from John O'Donoghue TD, Minister for Justice, Dublin, to fellow Minister Dermot Ahern TD.

Mr Dermot Ahern TD
Minister for Social; Community
and Family Affairs
Aras Mhic Dhiarmada
Store Street
Dublin 1


3 July, 2001

Dear Dermot,

I refer again to your further representations (your ref: SC/876) regarding the late Mr. Seamus Ludlow.

The Victims Commissioner, Mr. John Wilson, in his report "A Place and a Name" stated in respect of Mr. Ludlow's case "I am aware of the family's strong wish that the full truth of the case should be brought to light. I am swayed by their argument that a criminal trial will not necessarily bring out the full facts of the case. I recommend that an enquiry should be conducted into this case along the lines of the enquiry into the
Dublin/Monaghan bombings."

You will be aware that the Government decided in principle in September 1999 to establish an enquiry into the case of Mr Ludlow as well as the bombings in Dublin/Monaghan and Dundalk. This proposed inquiry - which would be carried out on the same basis as the present inquiry into the Dublin/Monaghan bombings - has not found favour with the relatives of Mr. Ludlow or their legal representatives. This fact was clear from our meeting with them on 23 May last. In the circumstances, I am considering how best to progress the matter, and I shall put proposals to this end before Government as soon as I am in a position to do so.

With every good wish.

Yours sincerely

John O'Donoghue TD
Minister for Justice, Equality
 and Law Reform

(This letter was featured in the Dundalk Democrat of 18 August 2001.)

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1 July 2001 - In a full page article by Donna Carton in the Irish editions of the British newspaper The Sunday Mirror, in which a member of the Ludlow family spoke at length about the family's campaign for truth and justice, the following comments from the Department of Justice were cited:

The Department of Justice said yesterday that it too wanted to discover the full truth behind the Ludlow murder but insisted an inquiry along the lines of the Dublin/Monaghan probe was the best approach at this stage.

A Department spokesman said: "The Government decided in September 1999 to establish an inquiry into bombings in Dublin/Monaghan and Dundalk as well as the Ludlow case.

"The minister has met with Mr. Ludlow's relatives and their representatives in December, 1999, and twice in May, 2001, and proposed that the same process as applied in the Dublin, Monaghan and Dundalk inquiries should apply in relation to Mr. Ludlow, i.e.. an investigation by a judge and referral to the Joint Oireachtas Committee.

"This course of action would not prejudice the possibility of a public inquiry if that were then considered necessary."

The spokesman said that "efforts will continue to be made to resolve the impasse" between the Government and the Ludlow family

It is to be hoped that efforts to "resolve the impasse between the Government and the Ludlow family" are not confined to further attempts at persuasion of the family to accept exactly what has been firmly rejected - the proposal for a private inquiry followed by an open hearing before a very much weakened Joint Oireachtas Committee. The Ludlow family have been firm in their demands for a public inquiry and attempts to exclude that outcome will merely prolong the impasse.

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1 July 2001 - Chris Anderson, writing in The Sunday Mirror, reports that the Dublin authorities are furious over British "silence" and lack of cooperation on the continuing private Dublin and Monaghan bombings probe of Mr. Justice Henry Barron. It is reported that the retired judge, who is continuing the private inquiry begun by the late former Chief Justice Liam Hamilton:

 has told relatives of the victims that the British authorities had not provided information in their possession on the explosions.

Mr. Barron told the relatives that as a result of the British non-cooperation he could not indicate when the commission would complete its inquiries.

This, of course, gives the Ludlow family little confidence in this  private  process of inquiry as a suitable process into the murder of Seamus Ludlow, where there can be no doubt that a considerable amount of evidence is in the hands of the RUC and the British authorities in Belfast. 

This failure to get at all the evidence, combined with the recent undermining of the Joint Oireachtas Committee investigation into the shooting dead by gardai of John Carthy at Abbeylara, by the Gardai and the Department of Justice, does nothing to persuade the Ludlow family that they were wrong in rejecting such a private inquiry process.

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29 June 2001 - In an article in the Dundalk local newspaper The Argus, headlined "Deputy seeks a forum to process cases such as that of  Seamus Ludlow", it is reported that County Louth TD, Seamus Kirk:

 has asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, John O'Donoghue, to examine the feasibility of establishing a truth and reconciliation forum to process such cases as the Seamus Ludlow murder and other unexplained deaths.

In a written reply, Mr. O'Donoghue stated that the Victims' Commissioner, Mr. John Wilson had stated in his report "A Place and a Name" that in respect to Mr. Ludlow's case, he was "aware of the family's wish that the full truth of the case should be brought to light."

The Victims Commissioner had also said that he was "swayed by their argument that a criminal trial will not necessarily bring out the full facts of the case" and recommended that an enquiry should be conducted into the case along the lines of the enquiry into the Dublin/Monaghan bombings.

Mr. O'Donoghue said that the Government decided in principle in September 1999 to establish an inquiry into the case of Mr. Ludlow as well as the bombings in Dublin/Monaghan and Dundalk.

"This proposed inquiry - which would be carried out on the same basis as the present inquiry into the Dublin/Monaghan bombings - has not found favour with the relatives of Mr. Ludlow or their legal representatives," he said. "In the circumstances, I am considering how best to progress the matter, and I shall put proposals to this end before Government as soon as I am in a position to do so."

He added that insofar as other cases are concerned, the report of the Victims Commission had recommended "that the Government, taking  heed of the need to preserve confidentiality and safety of information, should, on request from the families of victims, produce reports on the investigations of murders arising from the conflict over the last 30 years where no one has been made amenable".

He was currently preparing an implementation plan in respect to the reports' recommendations which he hoped to bring to Government shortly.

It is interesting here that it is implied rather strongly that the Dublin authorities had "decided in principle in September 1999 to establish an inquiry into the case of Mr. Ludlow as well as the bombings in Dublin/Monaghan and Dundalk", since it is clear that the murder of Seamus Ludlow was completely excluded from the original remit of the late Mr. Justice Hamilton when he was tasked by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 1999 with investigating  in private the Dublin/Monaghan and Dundalk bombings only. 

While the Ludlow family have consistently rejected any proposal for a private inquiry it is still interesting that it appears that the Ahern government wasn't even prepared to offer that as an option when the late Mr. Hamilton was first appointed to look into the Dublin, Monaghan and Dundalk bombings.

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17 June 2001 - In an article published by the Sunday Business Post newspaper, Maol Muire Tynan, Political Editor, referred to the Ludlow family's recent unsuccessful meeting with Mr. John O'Donoghue, Minister for Justice. This interesting article also featured an interview with Ludlow family member Jimmy Sharkey:

Jimmy Sharkey, a nephew of the dead man, said his family would not meet the minister again "because he is wasting our time and doesn't want to hear what we have to say". A spokesman for the minister denies the claim.

Sharkey told The Sunday Business Post that a meeting with O'Donoghue last month ended unsatisfactorily and that the minister was "very hostile to us".

"We have met the minister twice: in December 1999 and again on May 23 last," Sharkey said. "At the first meeting, he left the table and went to stare out the window. One of his senior officials had to conclude the meeting. In May, the family took the lead and asked the questions, but he became rather hostile and threw his arms up in the air, closed the file and left the room without saying goodbye."

The Minister for Social Community and Family Affairs, Dermot Ahern, and the other Fianna Fail TD for Louth, Seamus Kirk, remained in the meeting for some time afterwards with the family and their solicitors.

A Department of Justice spokesman said the minister believed the matter should be investigated by a judge and referred to the Joint Oireachtas Committee. He said that this course of action "would not prejudice the possibility of a public inquiry if that were then considered necessary".

Responding to the claim that the minister was unsympathetic, the spokesman said that anyone who knows John O'Donoghue would realise this is not "the way he does business."

The murder was considered by the former minister, John Wilson, and the Victims' Commission which recommended that because a file on the case was with the DPP in the North, no proposal should be made which would endanger the prosecution of any guilty party. Now that the DPP has decided not to press charges, Ludlow's relations claim there is no impediment to a public inquiry.

"We are not buying into taking part in the Barron inquiry into the Dublin/Monaghan bombings. This is a completely different case," Sharkey said.

Sharkey insists that the present approach will yield no results: "John O'Donoghue told us he would think about giving us access to the Garda files. We sat for two years waiting to see what he would come up with. This is a waste of time."

See the full Sunday Business Post story.

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