PSNI seize British army rifle from republican themed Belfast museum displaying IRA memorabilia

The remains of the mangled SLR rifle were reportedly taken from the scene of the Narrow Water massacre, which took place near Warrenpoint in 1979. The double IRA bomb attack killed 18 soldiers in the most damaging single attack on the armed forces during the Troubles.

The rifle came to prominence this month when the republican themed Roddy McCorley Society museum, based on the Glen Road in west Belfast, went public with its plans to gain official accreditation and funding as a musuem.

But UUP Justice spokesman Doug Beattie responded, calling for the rifle to be confiscated.

“This weapon must be confiscated by the PSNI to ensure all evidence has been gathered and a valid decommission certificate has been issued, “ Mr Beattie said. “Then it needs to be returned to MoD for disposal.”

Following up the News Letter story today, the BBC Nolan Show reported that the rifle has now been seized by police.

Detective Chief Inspector Zoe McKee, from PSNI’s Legacy Investigation Branch, told the News Letter: “On Friday 3rd January, police attended the Roddy McCorley Social Club and engaged with representatives of the museum.

“Following assessment, we are now in possession of this artefact, and further enquiries are being progressed.”

Mr Beattie welcomed the news.

“This is a positive outcome,” he said. “In the same way as the weapon used in the Sean Graham bookmaker shootings should not be in a museum, neither should this. This is a good result.”

The News Letter discovered that Belfast City Council had earmarked £1m to develop the musuem.

But Mr Beattie said today that further questions remain outstanding.

“My primary question now is who agreed this £1m, which councillors voted in favour and which councillors voted against? And will Belfast City Council now review this promise of funding?”

The museum also sports a pair of shoes given by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to former Belfast IRA commander Joe Cahill, who was convicted of gun running from Libya in a Dublin court in 1973.

But Jonathan Ganesh, who was seriously injured in the 1996 Canary Wharf bomb which used Libyan Semtex, condemned the exhibit as “a sick joke” and was disturbed at it receiving ratepayer funding.

Speaking of the seizure of the weapon, he said: “I am pleased that they have seized the rifle. I believe this is really being seen as a trophy.”

He asked if it would be proper to put the knife on show which was used to behead British aid workler Alan Henning in Syria.

Mr Ganesh had campaigned in vain for the worker’s release.

It was not appropriate to put the rifle on show after the Narrow Water bombings, he said.

“You are not a police officer, or a government official. To put it on display like that is not the right thing to do.”

He now suffers constant pain in his back and hand, suffered 33% burns, has lost the hearing in one ear, has shrapnel wounds all over his body and suffers PTSD.

According to Belfast City Council minutes, UUP Alderman Jim Rodgers was present at a committee meeting in 2017 in which councillors were updated on the City Centre Social Outcomes Fund proposals.

It was recommended that the Roddy McCorley Society be granted £1m - a quarter of the £4m pot - while the James Connolly Interpretative Centre on the Falls Road was also earmarked for a further £1m. The other £2m was marked for seven smaller projects across the city.

But Alderman Rodgers said he was “absolutely shocked” to read details of the exhibits in the museum this week and said he would be looking into the proposals. He said the UUP and PUP had voted to open up applications for the £4m to a wider pool of applicants, but that this was voted down by the DUP and others.

“I am deeply concerned about all this because I am opposed to the council funding any type of project with paramilitary themes, whether loyalist or republican, “ he said.

DUP Alderman Brian Kingston said that while the council has agreed support for the community-based tourism initiatives, the party “expects that due diligence will ensure that content is appropriate and that any Troubles-related exhibits show due regard for victims and avoid glorification of terrorism”.

“The suggestion of exhibiting an alleged British army rifle which was damaged during explosions which killed 18 army personnel is particularly obscene and would be totally insensitive to victims of terrorism.”

Another source said council groups had to strike compromises to ensure business did not grind to a halt.

The News Letter has previously contacted the Roddy McCorely Society for comment and is doing so again today.