UDR man murdered for ‘ethnic and sectarian reasons’ as he delivered potatoes to friend

William Clarke, known as Bill, was travelling towards Pettigo, a town on the border, when he was ambushed by the IRA on August 3, 1980.

The father of four is believed to have died instantly when three Provisional IRA gunmen riddled his car with high-velocity bullets in the townland of Gortinessy.

He had been travelling from his home at Castlederg, Co Tyrone.

Kenny Donaldson, director of services of victims’ group South East Fermanagh Foundation, said: “Bill was a hard-working family man whose life was stolen away by Provisional IRA terrorists, his crime in the eyes of the terrorists who extinguished his life was his membership of the Ulster Defence Regiment.”

Mr Donaldson continued: “William was born in 1921 and grew up part of a farming family near the village of Killen, Castlederg. He was the second eldest of a family of eight. The Clarke cottage was famous as a gathering point for the musicians of the area and the regular ceili evenings brought most of the people from the surrounding areas to the cottage. Because of this childhood experience he retained a lifelong passion for music and dance.

“Bill and his wife Elizabeth and their four children moved to live in the town of Castlederg and Bill joined the UDR – but all the while Bill supplemented the growing family’s needs by planting potatoes and rearing livestock in the small holding he had at his former home in Killen. Bill not only produced enough food for his own family but was generous with the surplus he grew, giving it to friends and extended family.”

Mr Donaldson said the route taken by Bill was a dangerous one.

“Although Bill was well aware of the guerilla tactics the Provisional IRA employed in using the border as an escape route after an attack in Northern Ireland, he had no hesitation in travelling along that route since he considered the people who lived there to be his friends and neighbours of many years and that he had nothing to fear from them.

“Tragically, Bill’s faith and trust was misplaced and on his way to Pettigo, his car was ambushed and three Provisional IRA gunmen riddled the car with high-velocity bullets. It is almost certain that Bill died instantly since the state pathologist estimated that Bill had been struck by at least 22 bullets.

“William Clarke’s life mattered; to his family, to his colleagues and to his friends. He was murdered for purely ethnic and sectarian-motivated reasons and the legacy of his murder meant much pain and hardship for the family.”