Post by dangeresque on Oct 24, 2007 20:24:04 GMT
Gardai insist gang of ex-Provos carried out brutal shed murder
By Tom Brady and Patsy McArdle
Tuesday October 23 2007
Gardai now believe that up to 10 former members of the Provisional IRA were involved in the murder of truck driver Paul Quinn in a Monaghan shed at the weekend.
Senior officers confirmed last night that the ex-Provisionals remained the prime suspects despite claims by Sinn Fein leaders that republicans were not linked to his death.
Gardai think the gang had not intended to kill 21-year-old Quinn when they set upon him with iron bars and cudgels in the shed on a farm at Tullycoora, near Oram village, outside Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, on Saturday evening.
His injuries had not appeared to be life-threatening, although serious, when an ambulance crew arrived on the scene and some of the medical personnel reported Mr Quinn as being quite lucid.
But his condition deteriorated rapidly and he was pronounced dead at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth.
As the DUP and UUP warned about the political implications of Provisional links to the murder, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams was insistent that there was "no republican involvement whatsoever".
Mr Adams called on anybody with information about the murder to pass it on to gardai or the PSNI.
Mr Quinn's family alleged he was lured across the Border by members of the Provisional movement and beaten to death following a dispute with republicans from south Armagh.
Gardai also said they were working on the theory that the beating was connected to two previous incidents in which Mr Quinn clashed with a republican and another republican's son.
But Mr Adams described those responsible as criminals. "They need to be brought to justice and it is fairly obvious to me that this is linked to fuel smuggling and to criminal activity".
Detectives are investigating claims that Mr Quinn had been accused by locals of being involved in anti-social behaviour in the south Armagh area where he lived and this had brought him into conflict with republicans.
Retaliation
They think the gang intended to carry out a "punishment" beating, in retaliation for the earlier incidents, but it went wrong and his injuries proved fatal.
There is no evidence to suggest that the beating had been ordered or sanctioned by figures regarded in the past as leaders of the Provisional movement.
Local Sinn Fein Assembly member Conor Murphy totally rejected any links to the Provisionals and accused a dissident republican of being responsible for the statement issued by Mr Quinn's family.
Former Sinn Fein councillor Jim McAllister, a near neighbour of the victim's family in Cullyhanna, claimed Mr Quinn had received two threats and had been told by a woman, who called to his home some time prior to the attack, that he would "end up in a black bag".
Two of Mr Quinn's friends, who were forced by the gang to invite him to meet them at the shed, were treated for minor injuries and discharged from Daisy Hill hospital in Newry on Saturday night. They have since been interviewed by the PSNI.
It also emerged yesterday that Mr Quinn's beating bore some similarities to an attack by a group of men on Aidan McMahon in the same area some years ago.
Mr McMahon sustained severe head, leg and arm injuries but fully recovered later. His brother, Eamon was previously shot dead in a car in south Armagh. Nobody claimed responsibility at the time but it was widely believed that the Provisional IRA was responsible.
A post mortem examination on Mr Quinn's body was carried out yesterday by Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis.
- Tom Brady and Patsy McArdle
www.independent.ie/national-news/gardai-insist-gang-of-exprovos-carried-out-brutal-shed-murder-1202528.html
By Tom Brady and Patsy McArdle
Tuesday October 23 2007
Gardai now believe that up to 10 former members of the Provisional IRA were involved in the murder of truck driver Paul Quinn in a Monaghan shed at the weekend.
Senior officers confirmed last night that the ex-Provisionals remained the prime suspects despite claims by Sinn Fein leaders that republicans were not linked to his death.
Gardai think the gang had not intended to kill 21-year-old Quinn when they set upon him with iron bars and cudgels in the shed on a farm at Tullycoora, near Oram village, outside Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, on Saturday evening.
His injuries had not appeared to be life-threatening, although serious, when an ambulance crew arrived on the scene and some of the medical personnel reported Mr Quinn as being quite lucid.
But his condition deteriorated rapidly and he was pronounced dead at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth.
As the DUP and UUP warned about the political implications of Provisional links to the murder, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams was insistent that there was "no republican involvement whatsoever".
Mr Adams called on anybody with information about the murder to pass it on to gardai or the PSNI.
Mr Quinn's family alleged he was lured across the Border by members of the Provisional movement and beaten to death following a dispute with republicans from south Armagh.
Gardai also said they were working on the theory that the beating was connected to two previous incidents in which Mr Quinn clashed with a republican and another republican's son.
But Mr Adams described those responsible as criminals. "They need to be brought to justice and it is fairly obvious to me that this is linked to fuel smuggling and to criminal activity".
Detectives are investigating claims that Mr Quinn had been accused by locals of being involved in anti-social behaviour in the south Armagh area where he lived and this had brought him into conflict with republicans.
Retaliation
They think the gang intended to carry out a "punishment" beating, in retaliation for the earlier incidents, but it went wrong and his injuries proved fatal.
There is no evidence to suggest that the beating had been ordered or sanctioned by figures regarded in the past as leaders of the Provisional movement.
Local Sinn Fein Assembly member Conor Murphy totally rejected any links to the Provisionals and accused a dissident republican of being responsible for the statement issued by Mr Quinn's family.
Former Sinn Fein councillor Jim McAllister, a near neighbour of the victim's family in Cullyhanna, claimed Mr Quinn had received two threats and had been told by a woman, who called to his home some time prior to the attack, that he would "end up in a black bag".
Two of Mr Quinn's friends, who were forced by the gang to invite him to meet them at the shed, were treated for minor injuries and discharged from Daisy Hill hospital in Newry on Saturday night. They have since been interviewed by the PSNI.
It also emerged yesterday that Mr Quinn's beating bore some similarities to an attack by a group of men on Aidan McMahon in the same area some years ago.
Mr McMahon sustained severe head, leg and arm injuries but fully recovered later. His brother, Eamon was previously shot dead in a car in south Armagh. Nobody claimed responsibility at the time but it was widely believed that the Provisional IRA was responsible.
A post mortem examination on Mr Quinn's body was carried out yesterday by Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis.
- Tom Brady and Patsy McArdle
www.independent.ie/national-news/gardai-insist-gang-of-exprovos-carried-out-brutal-shed-murder-1202528.html
