History
Army corporals killed at IRA funeral
19 March 1988When two corporals in the British Army inadvertently drove into the midst of a republican funeral, their car was set upon by the crowd. They were dragged out and beaten before being shot dead by members of the IRA.
These brutal killings marked the conclusion of a period of that was to prove one the darkest of Northern Ireland's Troubles.
Photo: Corporal Derek Woods is pulled from his car at the funeral of Kevin Brady (Pacemaker Press Intl)
Introduction
Army corporals killed at IRA funeral
Highlights from 成人快手 programmes Video (5)
Two men are jailed for life for the murders of two British Army corporals in Belfast.
Alex Murphy and Harry Maguire were jailed for life for their part in the killing of two British Army corporals at an IRA funeral in Belfast.
Tributes are paid to the two British Army corporals killed at an IRA funeral in Belfast.
Tributes are paid to Derek Wood and David Howes, the two British Army corporals killed at an IRA funeral in Belfast.
The Army rejects claims that two corporals murdered at an IRA funeral were undercover SAS.
The British Army rejects claims by Sinn F茅in that the two corporals murdered at an IRA funeral were undercover SAS. Ian Paisley calls for IRA funerals to be strongly policed.
The crowd at an IRA funeral attacks two Army corporals whose car drove into the cortege.
The crowd at an IRA funeral attacks two British Army corporals after their car drove towards the cortege. The men are beaten before being taken away and executed by the IRA.
Two British Army corporals are beaten and shot by the IRA at a funeral in west Belfast.
Two British Army corporals are dragged from their car, beaten and shot at an IRA funeral. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher calls the attack "an act of appalling savagery".
More information about: Army corporals killed at IRA funeral
The two-week cycle of violence that ended in the killing of two British army corporals by the IRA began on 6 March when . .
One of those killed by Stone at Milltown Cemetery was Kevin Brady, who was a member of the IRA. His funeral was held three days later on Saturday, 19 March.
As Brady's funeral cort猫ge made its way down the Andersonstown Road in west Belfast, a car drove towards it. The driver was directed by a Sinn F茅in steward to turn. In an attempt to find an exit, the car mounted the pavement and then reversed at speed, scattering mourners.
In the car were two British soldiers, Corporal Derek Wood and Corporal David Howes. Both were dressed in civilian clothing and the car was unmarked. The chilling horror of what immediately followed was recorded by television cameras and broadcast around the world.
Crowd attack corporals' car
Emotions were high in the republican community of Belfast after the at Milltown Cemetery killings just three days before. Sinn F茅in stewards, fearful of another loyalist attack, were checking cars and frisking mourners. When the corporals inadvertently drove towards funeral procession, the crowd closed in on the vehicle and black taxis were used to block its exit. The car was attacked and some of the windows broken with a wheel brace. A stepladder was snatched from a photographer in an attempt to break in and get at the two men inside.
Corporal Wood drew his pistol and fired a shot in the air. The crowd momentarily dispersed, but quickly regrouped and both he and Corporal Howes were pulled from the vehicle, disarmed and beaten. They were then taken to the grounds of the nearby Casement Park where they were subjected to further beatings, stripped to their socks and underpants, and searched.
IRA take charge
Here, the IRA took control of the situation. The corporals were mistakenly identified as members of the SAS - the British special forces unit that had killed three IRA members in Gibraltar two weeks earlier. The corporals were subjected to further beatings, before being thrown over a wall and driven in a black taxi to waste ground less than 200 metres away.
Once there, the two men were killed by members of the IRA. Corporal Derek Wood was shot six times and stabbed four times in the back of the neck. Corporal David Howes was shot five times.
Trial by media
The shocking pictures of the attack on the corporals' car were shown on the television news that evening. The full, brutal sequence of events was observed and recorded by an army surveillance helicopter. The film, which included harrowing footage of the soldiers being killed, was later produced in evidence at a series of trials related to the day's events.
There had been a large number of photographers, reporters and TV cameras at the funeral, and . Two IRA men, Alex Murphy and Harry Maguire, received life sentences for the murders, with others convicted later on lesser charges.
On 21 March, Northern Ireland Secretary of State Tom King condemned the killings in Parliament and paid tribute to the two corporals:
"The whole House will join me in extending the utmost sympathy to their families, and even more so in view of the awful television pictures of the occasion. Nor has it gone unnoticed, and rightly so, that, although they both had loaded personal protection pistols, they showed incredible restraint in using them only to fire a warning shot in the air."
Light through the darkness
Father Alec Reid, a Catholic priest at St Agnes church on the Falls Road, near the scene of the murders, gave the soldiers the last rites as they lay spread-eagled and nearly naked on the ground. He had also unsuccessfully attempted to prevent them being taken to their deaths from Casement Park.
Father Reid had been secretly acting as a conduit between the leaders of the republican and nationalist movements in Northern Ireland. On the day the corporals were murdered, he was carrying documents from Gerry Adams, the president of the republican Sinn F茅in party. They detailed Sinn F茅in's position on a democratic resolution of the Troubles. The intended recipient was John Hume, leader of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
Father Reid still managed to deliver the documents to John Hume later that afternoon, the envelope stained with the blood of the dead corporals. It had been one of the darkest days of the Troubles, and marked the end of . But Reid's delivery would help the peace process take some of its crucial first steps.
Three IRA members shot dead in Gibraltar
Michael Stone kills three at IRA funerals