'˜There was nothing left of Paul to fix after IRA beating'

A south Armagh man who was 'crucified' by the IRA ten years ago today was so badly beaten that doctors told his mother 'they left nothing for us to fix'.
Stephen and Breege Quinn holding a photo of their murdered son Paul. Photo: David Young/PA WireStephen and Breege Quinn holding a photo of their murdered son Paul. Photo: David Young/PA Wire
Stephen and Breege Quinn holding a photo of their murdered son Paul. Photo: David Young/PA Wire

Cullyhana woman Breege Quinn was speaking to the News Letter about the brutal murder of her son Paul Quinn, 21, who was lured to a farm across the border a shed at Tullyvanus in the Oram area of Castleblayney and beaten to death by a gang of men on 20 October 2007.

Every bone in his body had been broken.

The murder caused shock waves across south Armagh and major political waves, with Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams rejecting his family’s claims that the IRA was responsible and Sinn Fein MP Conor Murphy branding their son a criminal.

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Ten years on, despite a string of arrests, nobody has been held accountable. His mother, Breege, holds on to precious memories of the good times.

“Paul was always in good form, always up for a laugh, playing jokes on you,” she told the News Letter. “He would have his friends in and he would get the frying pan and he would cook everything that was in the house.

Paul was not keen on school.

“But he didn’t mind working, he would work at anything. He loved driving tractors, he would go to work on the buildings if anyone was stuck.

“He couldn’t wait to get his lorry licence to drive a lorry. That is what he wanted to do.”

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However the good times with her son were to come to an unimaginable end ten years ago today.

It was a Saturday and Paul had left before she was awake.

The terrible news came when his girlfriend rang Paul’s sister to say he had been beaten up and that his arms and legs were broken.

“She rang again to say the ambulance was on the way to the hospital and they had him on a life support machine. They said for us to get to the hospital as quick as we could.”

But he had died by the time they arrived.

“The doctor came out and said: ‘They left nothing for us to fix’.

“It is unreal isn’t it? They just crucified him.”

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The reason he was targeted was because he had “run ins with the son of the top IRA man” she said.

“Neither of the two of them were ever in hospital.”

After one such row a young man told Paul he would be shot, she said. Then a woman connected to the IRA followed him to a chip shop. Speaking with a hammer in her hand, she told him: ‘You will be got along the side of the road in a black bag’.

Breege said: “When you are a son of one of them you can say whatever you like to anybody.”

A month later her son was murdered. She confirmed that every bone in Paul’s body was broken.

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“That is correct, yes. They could not even put rosary beads in his hand in the coffin. He was smashed.”

Some people responsible live very close to the Quinn family and would see the family on a regular basis.

“They couldn’t look at us now. They just look away. The community was stunned.”

It caused major anger against mainstream republicanism. “It did do surely, yes. It would have caused a lot... just among themselves.”

* Breege said that there is a £10,000 rewaard for information. Tel Gardai 00 353 47 77 216.

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