MP claims Marks killed four soldiers in bomb blast

MP claims Marks killed four soldiers in bomb blast

26 April 2017

A FORMER IRA commander in Downpatrick has been named in the House of Commons as the man who personally detonated a 1,000lb bomb that killed four UDR soldiers 27 years ago.

Colum Marks, who was himself shot dead a year later by police in Downpatrick as he tried to launch a rocket attack on a passing security force patrol, was singled out as the leader of a 16-man  IRA unit that carried out the devastating attack.

Strangford DUP MP, Jim Shannon, made the claims during a special adjournment debate in the Commons into the Ballydugan Road bombing, which was one of the UDR’s single biggest losses of life during the Troubles.

The debate into what became known as the Holy Week Massacre, was granted to Mr Shannon by the Speaker of the Commons and took place on Wednesday afternoon.

The MP, a former member of the UDR, knew three of the soldiers who died in the blast and is in regular contact with members of their families.

The attack on the UDR patrol took place on April 9, 1990, as a two Land Rover patrol drove on the Ballydugan Road towards Downpatrick. The four men — private John Birch, lance corporal John Bradley, private Michael Adams and private Steven Smart — were killed instantly in the blast that left a 15 foot deep crater in the road.

Mr Shannon said they were killed for no other reason than they were in the service of “Queen and country”, doing their job like the police officer killed outside the House of Commons recently.

“The disgusting actions of what is estimated to have been the 16 man and woman team that planned, co-ordinated, carried out and helped to cover up the attack are remembered by all right-thinking people in the Province,” said Mr Shannon.

“Like too many people in the Province, I have been touched by the actions of men like the leader of the South Down Provisional IRA who was responsible for the murder of the young UDR men at Ballydugan.

“That vile, evil, despicable excuse for a human was a man called Colum Marks. He was the IRA commander for South Down when he was shot. It is no coincidence that when he was shot the activity of the IRA in South Down stopped immediately. That is obviously an indication that he was the person not only pulling the strings and dictating, but taking part in action that was completely unacceptable,” the MP continued.

“Colum Marks headed up the gang and carried out the atrocity, lying in wait with his detonator in a forest just across from Ballydugan. Colum Marks is the man who pushed the button and blew the four UDR men to smithereens.”

Mr Shannon also claimed that Marks was involved in the murder of another UDR man, coal merchant John Moreland, who was shot dead in Downpatrick on December 16, 1988.

“Colum Marks’ hands are red with blood. Let us be honest,” he continued. “This man was not a freedom fighter. He was a low-life, mentally deficient psychopath, with no human decency whatsoever. He was rotten to the core, contemptible, detestable and loathsome. He was a man with no good in him whatsoever; a man that should never have been born.”

Mr Shannon also criticised what he described as the rewriting of history to allow terrorists to present themselves a freedom fighters.

Responding to Mr Shannon, Northern Ireland Minister, Kris Hopkins, said the government wholly rejects any suggestion of equivalence between the security forces and those who carried out those terrorist activities.

“Dealing with Northern Ireland’s past is complex and difficult, and many victims and survivors are still suffering on a daily basis as a result of the troubles. It is clear that the legacy institutions as they are currently set up are not working for everyone.

“That is why the Government continue to believe that the Stormont House Agreement institutions remain the best way forward for dealing with Northern Ireland’s past. I believe that these proposals will make the situation better for victims and survivors, and that they represent our best chance to prosecute terrorists for murdering soldiers and police officers, as well as other victims.”