- Operation Flavius
-
Coordinates: 36°08′48″N 5°21′01″W / 36.1467°N 5.35031°W
Operation Flavius Part of The Troubles Date 6 March 1988 Location Gibraltar Result SAS success Belligerents Provisional IRA British Army (Special Air Service) Commanders and leaders Unknown Strength 3 IRA members Casualties and losses 3 killed None 
Proposed site of IRA bomb.
Operation Flavius was the name given to an operation by a Special Air Service (SAS) team in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988 tasked to prevent a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb attack. The IRA Active Service Unit's (ASU) members, Danny McCann, Seán Savage and Mairéad Farrell, conspired to detonate a car bomb where a military band assembled for the weekly changing of the guard at the governor’s residence. Although the operation was meant to be an arrest operation,[1] it ended with all three members of the ASU dead.
Contents
Bomb plot
Shell petrol station at Winston Churchill Avenue in Gibraltar where McCann and Farrell were shot by the SAS.The IRA members planned to hide the bomb in a car to kill the band members of the Royal Anglian Regiment that would assemble for the parade.[2][3] To ensure a parking space in the busy town area, it was necessary to occupy it on the preceding Sunday.
The SAS team was informed that the IRA had already placed their bomb and were ready to detonate it.[4] The three conspirators were stopped as they walked near the Shell filling station in Winston Churchill Avenue, the busy main road leading to the airport and the frontier with Spain. McCann was then shot as the SAS claimed he made an 'aggressive move' towards a bag he was carrying. They stated that he was intending to trigger a car bomb using a remote control device.[5] After McCann was killed, it was claimed that Farrell made a move towards her handbag and was shot on similar grounds. SAS members again claimed that Savage moved his hand to his pocket and the SAS killed him also.[6]
McCann was shot five times, Farrell eight times, and Savage between 16 and 18 times.[7] All three were subsequently found to be unarmed, and without any kind of remote trigger. Materials for a bomb, including 64 kg of Semtex, were later found by the Spanish police in a car in Marbella, 46 miles away in Spain, identified by keys found in Farrell's handbag.[8]
Milltown Cemetery attack
Main article: Milltown Cemetery attackTen days later, at the funeral of the three killed in the operation, a Ulster Defence Association (UDA) loyalist gunman (Michael Stone) went into the cemetery and shot dead three people and injured dozens with grenades.
Death on the Rock
Main article: Death on the RockThe following month ITV broadcast a Thames Television documentary Death on the Rock reflecting concerns about the shootings, which led to criticism of the British government.[9] British tabloids attacked the character and credibility of some of the witnesses in an attempt to discredit their statements, which eventually led to successful libel actions by Carmen Proetta against several newspapers, including The Sun and The Sunday Times.[10][11]
Reviewing this documentary The New York Times (13 June 1989) stated: "Events leading up to the Gibraltar killings are depicted in a reconstruction made for a British television documentary. Questions abound. Was the IRA trio, carefully followed for days, in fact lured into Gibraltar? Why did the police fail to photograph the bodies or gather forensic evidence? Why was the press—Britain's tabloids were jubilant—told lies about a huge car bomb being defused and about the three suspects having died in a gunfight? This documentary's understated observation: 'There was a strong air of Government cover-up and disinformation.'"[12]
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher denounced the documentary as "trial by television".
IRA response
On 18 September 1990 the IRA attempted to kill Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Terry at his Staffordshire home in revenge for his part in Operation Flavius. Terry had been Governor of Gibraltar during the Operation[13] and had authorised the SAS to pursue IRA members. The attack took place at 9 pm at the Main Road house. The gunman opened fire through a window hitting him at least nine times and injuring his wife Betty, Lady Terry, near the eye. The couple's daughter, Liz, was found suffering from shock. Terry's face had to be rebuilt as the shots shattered his face and two high-velocity bullets lodged a fraction of an inch from his brain.[14] Margaret Thatcher later said that she "was utterly appalled and deeply grieved" by the shooting.[15]
Inquest
An inquest was held in Gibraltar. An Irish radio expert disputed whether a remote-controlled explosive device was technically feasible with then-current technology, casting doubt on the justification given.[16] This was further disputed at the European Court of Human Rights [17] (see below).
Captain Edwards, a member of the Royal Corps of Signals with experience in VHF/HF radio in combat net radio spectrum carried out tests which showed it was possible to receive both voice communication and a single audio tone at the site of the shootings from the assembly area.[18]
The car bomb found in Marbella was a conventional timer controlled device. An article after the inquest in the magazine Wireless World proved mathematically that it was theoretically possible for it to be radio-controlled.[page needed]
The jury at the inquest returned a verdict of lawful killing by a 9-2 majority.
European Court of Human Rights
Main article: McCann v. United KingdomIn 1995, the European Court of Human Rights ruled by a majority verdict ten votes to nine that "the Court is not persuaded that the killing of the three terrorists constituted the use of force which was no more than absolutely necessary in defence of persons from unlawful violence within the meaning of Article 2 para. 2 (a) (art. 2-2-a) of the Convention." Therefore there had been a breach of the above article of the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to the deprivation of life.[19]
It also ruled that the three had been engaged in an act of terrorism, and consequently dismissed unanimously the applicants' claims for damages, for costs and expenses incurred in the Gibraltar Inquest and the remainder of the claims for just satisfaction.
In February 2008, the Irish media carried reports alleging the Garda (Irish police) had passed on information about the three's movements to the British security services prior to their departure to Gibraltar.[20]
Examination of MI5 records
Professor Christopher Andrew, the official historian for the Security Service, was given access to MI5's records to prepare a book for the centenary of the organisation. Andrew said he was "confident" that there was no shoot to kill policy in operation and that MI5 had made a mistake in assuming that McCann, Savage and Farrell were carrying a means of causing an explosion when shot.[21]
The book also contains a surveillance photo of Siobhán O'Hanlon taken in Gibraltar prior to the shootings, and a map of her movements. The files state that she noticed Spanish intelligence following her in Spain and returned to Ireland. O'Hanlon was a Sinn Féin official and an aide to Gerry Adams. Some British newspapers have accused her of being involved in the attempted bombing.[22] She died in 2006.
Andrew had access to all files created by MI5 since it was founded but was limited in what he could publish.[21] He was required to enroll in the Security Service in order to be given access to the archives, which drew criticism from some historians and commentators prior to the writing of the book. In general, these criticisms suggested that he was too close to MI5 to be impartial, and that his link with the Service made him a "court historian" instead of a clear-eyed and critical examiner of its past.[23]
References
- ^ [1], paragraph 15 and 17(c) and (d)
- ^ ECHR review (1995), Section I, paragraph 13.
- ^ Revealed: IRA girl who survived Gibralter; Siobhan O'Hanlon Sunday Times, Sept 4, 1988
- ^ [2], paragraph 52.
- ^ [3], paragraph 61.
- ^ [4], paragraph 78.
- ^ [5], paragraphs 108-110.
- ^ http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/hamlyn/gibralta.htm, paragraph 99]
- ^ [6] The Museum of Broadcast Communications page on Death on the Rock
- ^ [7]: Half of total of £300,000 in damages to Carmen Proetta paid by the Sunday Times
- ^ [8]: Notes substantial damages in relation to erroneous claims in The Sun
- ^ [9] New Yorks Times review of Frontline documentary on Farell, which used extracts from Death on the Rock
- ^ Michael Brufal. "Governors of Gibraltar (1945 onwards)". rockjottings.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928141145/http://www.rockjottings.com/governorsindex.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-09.
- ^ "IRA gun attack on ex Governor". westmidlands.com. http://www.westmidlands.com/millennium/1900/1976-2000/1990.html. Retrieved 2007-05-09.
- ^ "Remarks condemning IRA attack on Sir Peter Terry ("deeply grieved")". Margaret Thatcher Foundation. http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=108198. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ^ [10], paragraph 112.
- ^ [11], paragrah 131
- ^ [12], paragraph 116.
- ^ ECHR, McCann and others vs. the United Kingdom, Judgment, 27 November 1995.
- ^ "Haughey govt helped SAS - Adams". The Irish Times. 2008-02-27. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0227/breaking65.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
- ^ a b "IRA Gibraltar deaths 'a mistake'". BBC. 6 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8292470.stm. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
- ^ McKittrick, David (28 September 1995). "The gunshots that had terrible echoes across Ireland". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-gunshots-that-had-terrible-echoes-across-ireland-1603185.html. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
- ^ David Walker "Just How Intelligent?", The Guardian, 18 February 2003
Further reading
- The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5 by Christopher Andrew
- Fatal Encounter - The story of the Gibraltar killings by Nicholas Eckert ISBN 1 85371 837 8
- Death on the Rock - documentary about the shootings.
- Murder on the Rock - book about the shootings.
- Relatives for Justice Site
- Summary and full judgement by the ECHR
- The New York Times (June 13, 1989) article
- A Child of Its Time, The Economist (London), 4 February 1989.
- Windlesham, P., and R. Rampton. The Windlesham/Rampton Report on 'Death on the Rock' {London} Faber, 1989.
Timeline – Directory
Ireland
Battle of the Bogside – August 1969 riots – Battle of St Matthew's – Falls Curfew – Scottish soldiers' killings – Operation Demetrius – Ballymurphy massacre – McGurk's bombing – Bloody Sunday – Springhill massacre – Bloody Friday – Operation Motorman – Claudy bombing – Ulster Workers' Council strike – Dublin and Monaghan bombings – Miami Showband killings – Bayardo Bar attack – Drummuckavall ambush – Reavey/O'Dowd killings – Kingsmill massacre – Flagstaff hill incident – La Mon bombing – Warrenpoint ambush – Dunmurry explosion – Nellie M attack – Hunger strike – Glasdrumman ambush – St. Bedan attack – Ballykelly bombing – Maze Prison escape – Newry barracks – Ballygawley barracks – Loughgall ambush – Enniskillen bombing – Milltown Cemetery attack – Corporals killings – Ballygawley bus bomb – Jonesborough ambush – Derryard checkpoint – Operation Conservation – RFA Fort Victoria – Cappagh shootings – Glenanne barracks – Clonoe ambush – Cloghogue checkpoint – Coalisland riots – South Armagh sniper campaign – Castlerock killings – Shankill bombing – Greysteel massacre – Crossmaglen mortar attack – Loughinisland massacre – Drumcree conflict – Coalisland attack – July 1997 riots – Omagh bombing
England
Aldershot bombing – Coach bombing – Guildford bombings – Birmingham bombings – Marylebone siege – Hyde and Regents Park bombings – Harrods bombing – Brighton bombing – Deal bombing – Downing Street attack – Warrington bombings – Bishopsgate bombing – Docklands bombing – Manchester bombing
Elsewhere
Operation Flavius, Gibraltar 1988 – Osnabrück barracks 1996Categories:- Operations involving British special forces
- Provisional Irish Republican Army actions
- The Troubles (Northern Ireland)
- Special Air Service
- Conflicts in 1988
- 1988 in Gibraltar
- Deaths by firearm in Gibraltar
- Military of Gibraltar
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