Five people, including three members of The Miami Showband, were killed by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group, on 31 July 1975 on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland.
The Miami Showband, one of Ireland's most popular cabaret bands, was travelling home to Dublin late at night after a performance in Banbridge. Halfway to Newry, their minibus was stopped at what appeared to be a military checkpoint where gunmen in British Army uniforms ordered them to line up by the roadside. At least four of the gunmen were soldiers from the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), and all were members of the UVF. Two of the gunmen, both soldiers, died when a time bomb they were hiding on the minibus exploded prematurely. The other gunmen then started shooting the dazed band members, killing three and wounding two. It has been suggested that the bomb was meant to explode en route, so that the victim band members would appear to be Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb smugglers and stricter security measures would be established at the Irish border.
Two serving UDR soldiers and one former UDR soldier were found guilty of the murders and received life sentences; they were released in 1998. Those responsible for the attack belonged to the Glenanne gang, a secret alliance of loyalist militants, Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) police officers and UDR soldiers. There are also allegations that British military intelligence agents were involved. According to former Intelligence Corps agent Captain Fred Holroyd, the killings were organised by British intelligence officer Robert Nairac, together with the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade and its commander, Robin "the Jackal" Jackson. The Historical Enquiries Team (HET) investigated the killings and released their report to the victims' families in December 2011, confirming that Jackson was linked to the attack by fingerprints.
The massacre dealt a blow to Northern Ireland's live music scene, which had brought young Catholics and Protestants together. In a report published in the Sunday Mirror in 1999, Colin Wills called the Miami Showband attack "one of the worst atrocities in the 30-year history of the Troubles." The Irish Times diarist Frank McNally summed up the massacre as "an incident that encapsulated all the madness of the time."
Background
Political situation in Northern Ireland
The conflict in Northern Ireland, known as "the Troubles," began in the late 1960s. The year 1975 was marked by an escalation in sectarian attacks and a vicious feud between the two main loyalist paramilitary groups, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). On 4 April 1974, the proscription against the UVF had been lifted by Merlyn Rees, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. This meant that both it and the UDA were legal organisations. The UVF would be once more banned by the British government on 3 October 1975.
In May 1974, unionists called a general strike to protest against the Sunningdale Agreement – an attempt at power-sharing, setting up a Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland, which would have given the Government of Ireland a voice in the running of Northern Ireland. During that strike, on 17 May, the UVF carried out car bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, killing 33 civilians. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out the bombing of two pubs in the English city of Birmingham the following November, resulting in 21 deaths.
In response to the bombings, Home Secretary Roy Jenkins introduced the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which gave the government unprecedented powers against the liberty of individuals in the United Kingdom in peacetime. At Christmas 1974 the IRA declared a ceasefire, which theoretically lasted throughout most of 1975. This move made loyalists apprehensive and suspicious that a secret accord was being conducted between the British government and the IRA, and that Northern Ireland's Protestants would be "sold out."
These fears were slightly grounded in fact, as MI6 officer Michael Oatley was involved in negotiations with a member of the IRA Army Council, during which "structures of disengagement" from Ireland were discussed, including the possible withdrawal of British troops from Northern Ireland. The existence of these talks led unionists to believe that they were about to be abandoned by the British government and forced into a united Ireland; as a result, loyalist paramilitary groups reacted with a violence that, combined with the tit-for-tat retaliations from the IRA (despite their ceasefire), made 1975 one of the "bloodiest years of the conflict."
In early 1975, Rees set up elections for the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention at which all of Northern Ireland's politicians would plan their way forward. These were held on 1 May 1975 and the United Ulster Unionist Council (UUUC), which had won eleven out of twelve Northern Irish seats in the February 1974 general election, won a majority again. As the UUUC would not abide by any form of power-sharing with the Dublin government, no agreement could be reached and the convention failed, again marginalising Northern Ireland's politicians and the communities they represented.
Robin Jackson and the Mid-Ulster UVF
The UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade (Mid-Ulster UVF) operated mainly around the Portadown and Lurgan areas. It had been set up in Lurgan in 1972 by part-time Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) sergeant and permanent staff instructor Billy Hanna, who appointed himself commander of the brigade. His leadership was endorsed by UVF leader Gusty Spence. The brigade was described by author Don Mullan as one of the most ruthless units operating in the 1970s.
At the time of the Miami Showband killings, the Mid-Ulster UVF was commanded by Robin Jackson, also known as "The Jackal." Jackson had assumed command just a few days before the attack, after allegedly shooting Hanna dead outside his home in Lurgan on 27 July 1975. According to authors Martin Dillon and Paul Larkin, Jackson was accompanied by Harris Boyle during the killing. Hanna was named by former British Intelligence Corps operative Colin Wallace as having organised and led the Dublin bombings, along with Jackson. Journalist Joe Tiernan suggested that Hanna was shot for refusing to participate in the Miami Showband attack and that he had become an informer for the Garda Síochána in exchange for immunity from prosecution for the bombings. Dillon suggested that because there were a number of UDR members in the UVF, and were planned to be used for the Miami Showband attack, Hanna was considered to have been a "security risk" and subsequently killed.
Jackson was an alleged RUC Special Branch agent who was later suggested by the Yorkshire Television documentary The Hidden Hand to have had links to both the Intelligence Corps and Captain Robert Nairac of the Grenadier Guards. A report in the Irish Times implicated Jackson in the Dublin bombings. More than 100 killings have been attributed to Jackson by the Pat Finucane Centre, the Derry-based civil rights group.
The Miami Showband
The Miami Showband was a popular Dublin-based Irish showband, enjoying fame and, according to journalist Peter Taylor, "Beatle-like devotion" from fans on both sides of the Irish border. A typical Irish showband was based on the popular six- or seven-member dance band. Its basic repertoire included cover versions of pop songs that were currently in the charts and standard dance numbers. The music ranged from rock and country and western to Dixieland jazz. Sometimes the showbands played traditional Irish music at their performances.
Originally called the Downbeats Quartet, the Miami Showband was reformed in 1962 by rock promoter Tom Doherty, who gave them their new name. With Dublin-born singer Jimmy Harte followed by Dickie Rock as lead vocalists, the band underwent many personnel changes over the years. In December 1972, Rock left the band to be briefly replaced by two brothers, Frankie and Johnny Simon. That same year, keyboardist Francis "Fran" O'Toole had won the Gold Star Award on RTÉ's Reach For the Stars television programme. In early 1973, Billy MacDonald (a.k.a. "Billy Mac") took over as lead vocalist when the Simon brothers quit the band. The following year, O'Toole became lead vocalist after Mick Roche (Billy Mac's replacement) was sacked. O'Toole was noted for his good looks and popularity with female fans, and was described by the band's former bass guitarist, Paul Ashford, as having been the "greatest soul singer" in Ireland. Ashford had been asked to leave the band in 1973 after complaining that performing in Northern Ireland put their lives at risk. He was replaced by Johnny Brown, who in turn was replaced by Dave Monks until Stephen Travers eventually became the band's permanent bassist. In late 1974, the Miami Showband's song "Clap Your Hands and Stomp Your Feet" (featuring O'Toole on lead vocals) reached no. 8 in the Irish charts.
The 1975 line-up comprised four Catholics and two Protestants. They were: lead vocalist and keyboard player Fran O'Toole (28), Catholic, from Bray, County Wicklow; guitarist Anthony "Tony" Geraghty (24), Catholic, from Dublin; trumpeter Brian McCoy (32), Protestant, from Caledon, County Tyrone; saxophonist Des "Des Lee" McAlea (24), Catholic, from Belfast; bassist Stephen Travers (24), Catholic, from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary; and drummer Ray Millar, Protestant, from Antrim. O'Toole and McCoy were both married; each had two children. Geraghty was engaged to be married.
The Miami Showband's music was described as "contemporary and trans-Atlantic", with no reference to the Northern Ireland conflict. By 1975 they had gained a large following, playing to crowds of people in dance halls and ballrooms across the island. The band had no overt interest in politics nor in the religious beliefs of the people who made up their audience. They were prepared to travel anywhere in Ireland to perform for their fans.
According to the Irish Times, at the height of Irish showbands' popularity (from the 1950s to the 1970s), as many as 700 bands travelled to venues all over Ireland on a nightly basis.
Ambush
Bogus checkpoint
In the early morning hours of Thursday 31 July 1975, five members of the Miami Showband were travelling home to Dublin after a performance at the Castle Ballroom in Banbridge, County Down. Millar was not with them, as he had chosen to go to his hometown of Antrim to spend the night with his parents. The band's road manager, Brian Maguire, had already gone ahead a few minutes earlier in an equipment van.
At about 2:30 am, when the band was seven miles (11 km) north of Newry on the main A1 road, their Volkswagen Type 2 minibus (driven by McCoy with Travers in the front seat beside him) reached the townland of Buskhill. Near the junction with Buskhill Road they were flagged down by armed men dressed in British Army uniforms waving a red torch in a circular motion. During "The Troubles" it was normal for the British Army to set up checkpoints at any time.
Assuming it was a legitimate checkpoint, McCoy informed the others inside the minibus and pulled in at the lay-by as directed by the armed men. As McCoy rolled down the window and produced his driving licence, gunmen came up to the minibus and one of them said in a Northern Irish accent, "Goodnight, fellas. How are things? Can you step out of the van for a few minutes and we'll just do a check." The unsuspecting musicians got out and were politely told to line up facing the ditch at the rear of the minibus with their hands on their heads. More uniformed men appeared from out of the darkness, their guns pointed at the minibus. About ten gunmen were at the checkpoint, according to author Martin Dillon.
After McCoy told them they were the Miami Showband, Thomas Crozier (who was holding a notebook) asked the band members for their names and addresses, while the others bantered with them about the success of their performance at Banbridge and playfully asked which one was Rock. As Crozier took down the information, a car pulled up and another uniformed man appeared on the scene. This individual wore a uniform and beret noticeably different from the others. He spoke with an educated English accent and immediately took charge, ordering a man who appeared to have been the leader of the patrol to tell Crozier to obtain their names and dates of birth instead of addresses.
The jocular mood of the gunmen abruptly ceased. At no time did this new soldier speak to any of the band members nor did he directly address Crozier, relaying all his instructions to the gunman in command. Travers assumed he was a British Army officer, an opinion shared by McCoy. Just after the arrival of this mysterious soldier, McCoy nudged Travers, who was standing beside him, and reassured him by saying, "Don't worry Stephen, this is British Army." Travers thought that McCoy, a Protestant from Northern Ireland, was familiar with security checkpoints and had reckoned the regular army would be more efficient than the UDR, who had a reputation for unprofessional and unpredictable behaviour, especially toward people from the Republic.
McCoy, son of the Orange Order's Grand Master for County Tyrone, had close relatives in the security forces; his brother-in-law was a former member of the B Specials, which had been disbanded in 1970. Travers described McCoy as a "sophisticated, father-type figure. Everybody was respectful to Brian." McCoy's words, therefore, were taken seriously by the other band members, and anything he said was considered to be accurate.
Explosion
At least four of the gunmen were soldiers from the UDR. Dillon suggests in The Dirty War that at least five serving UDR soldiers were present at the checkpoint. All of the gunmen were members of the Mid-Ulster UVF and had been lying in wait to ambush the band, having set up the checkpoint just minutes before. Out of sight of the band members, two of the gunmen placed a ten-pound (4.5 kg) time bomb that was inside a briefcase under the driver's seat of the minibus.