March 1977: Get Tough!
March 1977 saw Elvis Presley begin his final concert tour. In a month of finals, across the pond, Brian Faulkner took part in his final hunt before his untimely death.
Political Developments in March 1977
March 1977 began with the BBC programme 'Tonight' investigating interrogation techniques employed at Castlereagh holding centre. This programme subsequently led Amnesty International to conduct its own investigation which was published in June 1978. The reaction to the programme also led to the publication of the Bennett Report from the British government in March 1979. Both these reports were critical of the methods used to interrogate people suspected of paramilitary involvement.
On the 3rd, Brian Faulkner died in a riding accident during a hunt. Faulkner had been Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1971 to 1972 and had been Chief Executive in the power-sharing Executive of 1974.
Eight members of the SAS were each fined £100 in a Dublin court on the 8th of March for carrying guns without a certificate. The men had been found in the Republic of Ireland and were arrested.
Twenty-six members of the UVF were sentenced in a Belfast court on the 11th of March to a total of 700 years in prison. The imprisonment of so many members of the UVF is believed to have helped curtail paramilitary activities by this group.
On the 12th of March, Secretary of State Roy Mason denied that his officials were engaged in 'black propaganda'.
March finished with reports that the Ulster Unionist Party was boycotting the United Ulster Unionist Council.
Shootings in March 1977
01/03/77 - The INLA shot Magistrate Robert Whitten on Thomas Street, Portadown, County Armagh. He died of his wounds on the 19th of June 1977.
02/03/77 - Donald Robinson (56), an English businessman, was shot dead by the IRA at his place of work near University Street, Belfast.
04/03/77 - Senior Department of Public Prosecutions official Rory O'Kelly (59), was shot dead by the IRA in Coalisland, County Tyrone.
07/03/77 - The UVF shot dead Catholic civilian Myles Scullion (47) at his home in Craigavon.
09/03/77 - UDR soldier John Reid (53) was shot dead by the IRA on his farm near Caledon, County Tyrone.
10/03/77 - Civilian Norman Sharkie (18) was shot dead by the IRA during a bomb attack on a business on York Street, Belfast.
13/03/77 - RUC officer William Brown (18) was shot dead by an IRA sniper while on patrol in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh.
14/03/77 - James Nicholson (44), an English businessman, was shot dead by the IRA as he left the Strathearn Audio factory, Stockman's Lane, Belfast.
15/03/77 - UDR soldier David McQuillan (36) was shot dead by an IRA unit in Bellaghy, County Londonderry.
16/03/77 - An IRA sniper, hidden in the grounds of a church at Omeath, fired two shots at the British Navy patrol ship HMS Vigilant in Carlingford Lough. Royal Marines onboard returned fire. No hits were recorded by either side.
16/03/77 - Civilian Alexander Watters (62) was shot while cycling along the road between Tobermore and Draperstown, County Derry.
17/03/77 - The UDA shot dead Catholic civilian Daniel Carville (35) as he drove along Cambrai Street, Belfast.
25/03/77 - UDR soldier David Graham (38) was shot dead by an IRA unit in Coalisland, County Tyrone.
28/03/77 - Civilian Hester McMullan (63) was shot dead by an IRA unit in Crosskeys, County Antrim. Her son, an RUC officer, was the intended target.
30/03/77 - Francis Cassidy (43), a Catholic civilian, was found shot with his throat cut in the Highfield area of Belfast. Members of the UVF gang known as the 'Shankill Butchers' were responsible for the killing.
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Bombings in March 1977
24/03/77 - The IRA planted a bomb in a lecture theatre on the campus of Ulster Polytechnic, Jordanstown north of Belfast. Lord MacDermott, the former Lord Chief Justice, was giving a guest lecture at the time of the explosion and he and four lecturers in the audience were injured. Lecturer in law at the Polytechnic Nuala O'Loan was among those injured. O'Loan later became the Police Ombudsman (1999 to 2007).
25/03/77 - Civilian Larry Potter (27), from County Monaghan, was killed by a UVF booby-trap bomb on his minibus in Greenisland.
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Some recommended reading based on research for this instalment.
Wasted Years, Wasted Lives Volume 1: The British Army in Northern Ireland 1975–77 by Ken Wharton.