Northern Ireland conflict: killer from the pub street

The last thing Francis Crossan heard on this November night in 1975 is a big punch with a wheel-cross on the back of his head. At least that is to be hoped. Because what happens in the following half hour with the 34-year-old Belfast is barely surpassing in cruelty. The attackers, a total of four men, drag Crossan into a waiting London taxi and hit the gas. Their destination: Shankill Road - the deepest Protestant country in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Constantly beating the men in the back seat with fists, beer mug and wheel cross on the defenseless Crossan, until the taxi finally comes to a small alley stop. Here the perpetrators lay him down and bring their cruel work to an end. With a butcher knife.

As police investigator Jimmy Nesbitt examines the tortured corpse of the 34-year-old Catholic the next day, his head is almost severed. Even in the violent Northern Ireland of the 1970s, this murder of cruelty stands out.

Since 1969, the open conflict between the mostly Catholic nationalists, who demanded a merger of Northern Ireland with the rest of the island, and the mostly Protestant loyalists, who fought for a stay in Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom raged here. "Troubles" the Irish call this time. What sounds harmless, demanded until 1998 nearly 3,500 dead. Bombings, abductions, public executions - both sides were in no way inferior in terms of violence.

The death of Francis Crossan, however, marked a new stage of escalation. "It was different than usual. It was so cruel, so barbaric," recalled investigator Nesbitt in a BBC report retrospectively. When, three months later, the 55-year-old street sweeper Joseph Quinn was also found with his head almost severed, the press quickly came up with a catchy name for the killers: "Shankill Butchers," butcher of Shankill Road. There, in the countless pubs, arbitrary murders of Catholic civilians were planned, here, in the side streets of Shankill Road, their bodies were usually thrown off.

Psychopath on catholic hunting

Leader of the Butchers was Hugh Leonard Thompson Murphy, just 23 years old, known and feared on Shankill Road as "Lenny". It did not take much for Lenny to raise his fists or reach for the weapon. An aggressive psychopath he was, characterized journalist Martin Dillon, who has worked up the history of the "Butcher". Investigator Nesbitt describes him as "reckless and sadistic". Even before the "butcher murders" Murphy was associated with ten deaths.

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It is not long before the violent Murphy joined the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). The UVF staged itself as a protective army for all Protestants, but was actually a far-right terrorist organization, whose murders had the Northern Ireland conflict in the first place kicked off. It murdered more people then any other Protestant militia - and most of its victims were Protestants themselves.

But to follow orders was not Murphy's thing. He wanted to give the commands, especially those that even the UVF might have denied. Over time he gathered for this purpose nearly 20 like-minded people with significant names such as Robert "the bat" Bates around. Together, they set out to catch a few "taigs" - a swear word for Catholics.

The search for victims was made easier by the fact that in the now sixth year of the unrest, the two religious groups in many places were strictly separated. Again and again there were expulsions, only within the own denomination one still felt safe. Anyone who was met at night in a Catholic district could most likely be considered a Catholic. Murphy was well informed about the confessional division of the city. He knew where to look.

Record penalties for the butcher

Murphy's murderous gang terrified the city. "Never in my life have I been so scared," Charlotte Morrissey, whose father was a victim of the "Butcher," later told the BBC. "At that time we did not dare to leave the house in the evening." Like her many Belfast residents. The police were at a loss.

Until March 2, 1976. After two young women were shot at in their car, Murphy was hit shortly afterwards with the murder weapon. As part of a deal with the prosecutor Murphy pleaded guilty to the allegation of gun possession, the charge of attempted murder was dropped. Twelve years was the verdict, Murphy had to serve only six. But the "Butcher Murders" did not stop the arrest. Because out of the jail Murphy ordered their continuation.

Only in May 1977, the police finally found a decisive trail. On a side street off Shankill Road, 20-year-old Gerard McLaverty, 20, was battered - but alive. The gang had mistaken him for dead and left him behind. For investigator Nesbitt, McLaverty was the long-sought opportunity to shed some light on the "butcher".

In fact, McLaverty was able to identify two of his attackers. Their confessions eventually provided the police with much of the gang. A total of 19 murders were blamed on the "Shankill Butchers". Not just the cruel near-beheadings that were the hallmark of the group. Also a bomb attack and numerous shootings were on the account of the gang, committed against Catholics and Protestants.

On February 20, 1979, at half past ten in the morning, the verdict fell in Belfast: 42 times life for the murders committed by the eleven defendants. The highest sentence the British judiciary ever imposed.

Smoldering hate

But real relief did not occur in Belfast. For just Lenny Murphy had to answer for any of the murders committed. Although the police knew he was the leader of the gang, they could not prove anything to him.

Three years later, Murphy left the prison as a free man. But freedom should last only a short time. The life of Murphy ended as he had led: violent. When he arrived at his girlfriend's house on November 16, 1982, two members of the Catholic Provisional IRA jumped out of a blue Morris Marina and immediately started firing. 26 bullets hit Murphy. The perpetrators seemed absolutely certain that they wanted the top "butcher" to end.

The rumor persists that Murphy was delivered to the knife by the UVF, his own people. Much speaks for it. Even among the Protestant paramilitaries, the unpredictability and sadism of their own man was ultimately burdensome.

But even if the "butcher" came to an end, many questions remained unanswered: how much did the residents of Shankill Road know about the deeds and perpetrators? Why were so many silent? And why did it take nearly two years and tens of lives for the police to put an end to the series of murders?

Even today, these questions poison the climate between Catholics and Protestants. There was no real reconciliation between the two groups. Meter-high barriers, euphemistically called "peace walls" by the Belfastern, cut through these days the Northern Irish capital and separate the residential areas of the Protestants from those of the Catholics. "Sectarianism is a cancer that we have so far ignored," a resigned Shankill Road resident explained a few years ago on English television.

She warned at the same time: If not seriously worked on a reconciliation, something like the "Shankill Butchers" at any time again.