IRA man who helped trigger internment without trial should be questioned about the murder of six soldiers in Belfast, says cousin of Honey Trap victim
An IRA man who appears to have played a key role in triggering internment without trial may still be living in America and should be questioned about the murder of six soldiers in Belfast, it is claimed.
The claims have been made by David McCaughey, who will speak at the European Day for Victims of Terrorism event at Stormont tomorrow.
David is a cousin of Scottish soldier Dougald McCaughey, 23, who was murdered in Belfast together with his colleagues John McCaig, 17, and Joseph McCaig, 18 on 10 March 1971 - 54 years ago tomorrow, Monday.
All three were from the Royal Highland Fusiliers and were unarmed and in civilian clothes when lured to their deaths.
David said: "These young lads were unknowingly enjoying drinks with IRA women in a Belfast bar and were then were lured to their deaths by an IRA man on the pretext of meeting girls at a party."
The bodies of the three soldiers were found on an isolated road in north Belfast in what was dubbed ‘the honey trap murders’.
They were the first off-duty soldiers to be murdered in the Troubles.
The manner of their deaths caused 10,000 people to take to the streets of Belfast in protest.
It is widely seen as being a key trigger in provoking internment without trial five months later, a move which is considered to have been instrumental in further raising tensions at the time.
David said that what is not widely known is that the same IRA unit was involved in an almost identical operation which saw three more soldiers murdered two years later, on 23 March 1973.
They were Staff Sgt Barrington Foster, 28, Sgt Michael Muldoon, 26, and Sgt Thomas Penrose, 28, who was married with a child.
A fourth soldier survived with serious injuries.
Two IRA women met them at a Lisburn hotel before luring them to a party on the Antrim Road in Belfast.
The women served a buffet with tea and sandwiches before two gunmen burst in. They forced all four soldiers to lie on a bed and shot them all in the head.
David believes that all the men and women in the IRA unit responsible for both attacks are now dead - except for one.
"He was the brother of a senior IRA leader - a right nasty piece of work, apparently. He later flitted out of Northern Ireland to southern Ireland and across to America."
David wants to see him questioned about the six murders.
"We can still push for that now," he said.
"When I am speaking at Stormont today, what I most want people to know is that as far back as 1971 I believe the authorities knew exactly who was responsible for these murders but did nothing to pursue them. I would like to know why."
Deceased IRA man Paddy O'Kane - who served in the Parachute Regiment 1957-64 and is deceased - was found by BBC Spotlight to have taken the leading role in luring the Scottish soldiers to their deaths.
He is also believed to have been the IRA man who gave orders with an English accent to shoot ten Protestant civilians at Kingsmills in South Armagh five years later - and not Captain Robert Nairac, as is sometimes alleged.