Paul McWilliams, 16 years, Springfield Avenue, Ballymurphy, west Belfast, shot dead on 9 August 1977, by members of the British Army’s Light Infantry Regiment. Paul McWilliams was the eighth child in a family with eleven children; this included ten boys and one girl. He attended St. Aiden’s Primary School, and later St. Thomas’s Secondary School; both were on the Whiterock Road. Paul, whose nickname was ‘Jason,’ was described by his family as very mature for his age. Paul grew up in the Ballymurphy housing estate during the 1970s, a time when British army bases and fortifications dominated the area. Saturation patrolling by heavily armed troops was a constant feature, as was the raiding of homes and the arresting of residents. Conflict on its streets between the British forces and republicans and residents were frequent, as were attacks on the area from unionist/loyalist paramilitary forces. Like the majority of young people in Ballymurphy at this time Paul was continuously stopped, searched and abused by British forces. A year or so before his death Paul was arrested following rioting in the area and later convicted for riotous behaviour. He received a custodial sentence and was placed in St. Patrick’s Training School on the Glen Road, not far from his home. He was still being held in St. Patrick’s when his grandmother died in early August 1977, and he was released to attend her funeral. He had been due to return to St. Patrick’s on 8 August but failed to. Instead he had intended staying out an extra day before he returned. His grandmother’s death occurred just before the annual commemorations protesting against the introduction of internment at 4am, 9 August 1971; initially directed solely against the nationalist community of the North. Various British governments continued its operation until 31 December 1975, and during this time four members of the McWilliams family were interned. The commemorations protesting against internment continued throughout the North of Ireland into the 1980s, and usually began with the lighting of large bonfires, followed at the stroke of 4am by the banging of bid-lids and blowing of whistles. The protesters then marched to Crown force fortifications in own their areas and continued their noisy protest. At this stage violent confrontations between youths and British military forces would often erupt. Such a confrontation broke out in Ballymurphy during the early morning of 9 August 1977 and lasted for several hours. Around 9am on 9 August, Paul and his brother Christopher were walking through the Westrock area towards their home. The street violence in the area had all but subsided as the brothers made their way along the street passed the wall of Curry’s Timber Yard. Suddenly a single shot rang and Paul fell, a gunshot wound in the back. A British soldier positioned near the timber yard fired the fatal shot. Christopher, horrified at the sight of his badly wounded brother, ran to near-by houses and raised the alarm. The residents immediately ran to aid the youth and did all they could to comfort him until an ambulance arrived. Within a short period the ambulance arrived at the scene and the wounded teenager was placed in the back before it sped off towards the Royal Victoria Hospital. However, at the bottom of the Whiterock Road a party of RUC members and British soldiers stopped the vehicle to check who was inside, delaying the ambulance for several minutes before allowing it to proceed. The injured teenager died during the journey to the hospital. The British army Press Office in a statement claimed the dead youth was a petrol bomber who was shot after being warned twice by British soldiers. They said a patrol had went to the area after a report from staff at Curry’s Timber Yard that petrol bombs were being thrown into the premises, and when the patrol arrived further petrol bombs were thrown. The patrol then went out of the yard and the commander ordered the throwers to stop or he would fire. The commander said at this stage two of the throwers ran off, but one remained and threw a further petrol bomb at the patrol. The statement claimed this lone youth was again warned and despite this threw another petrol bomb at the patrol and was shot. Sinn Fein rejected the British army version of the shooting. They said that two eyewitnesses had confirmed there was no serious rioting going on in the area at the time. They also said that no warnings were given before the shooting, and although two petrol bombs were thrown the British soldiers were in no position to see who was throwing them. ‘The boy was shot in the back as he tried to get through a gap in the fence to getaway from the British army shooting’ said the Sinn Fein spokesperson. Paul’s family said an inquest into his death was held sometime in 1979. None of the soldiers involved in his death attended the inquest and a military representative read out their statements. An open verdict was returned. Despite several requests from Paul’s family none of the clothes he was wearing on the morning he lost his life were ever returned to them. Bob Harker, a former member of the Light Infantry Regiment stationed in the Ballymurphy at the time Paul McWilliams was shot, spoke about the shooting in a recent book ‘Brits Speak Out,’ which related various experiences of British soldiers who had served in the North of Ireland. Bob in his contribution to the book revealed the scene inside his barracks hours after Paul’s shooting. He said a British soldier, a member of his own section, had been shot dead in Ballymurphy and regimental colonel was visiting their barrack shortly after the soldier’s death. The colonel, he said was dressed in full ceremonial uniform and had come to brief them on the day’s events and also to toast the arrival of the Queen of England in the North, during part of her Jubilee tour. Bob related the colonel’s opening remarks; ‘Well chaps, it’s a sad thing we have lost one of our soldiers today, but we had a good kill this morning.’ No British soldiers were ever charged in connection with the killing of Paul McWilliams.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 22:37:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015