An inquiry into the Miami Showband massacre has uncovered the likely involvement of an RUC Special Branch agent in the killings, according to relatives of those who died.
David O'Toole, a nephew of the music group's lead singer Fran O'Toole who was killed in the 1975 UVF attack, said the families hoped for "closure" after receiving the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) report.
"It has been particularly devastating for us to learn that, in all likelihood, one of those involved in the murders of our loved ones was an agent of RUC Special Branch. We intend to pursue this issue with the authorities in the North," Mr O'Toole told a press conference in Dublin.
"These dreadful murders absolutely tore apart our lives and those of our families," he said. "They left two young women without their husbands and four very young children fatherless."
Former band member Des McAlea, who managed to escape by fleeing across a field in the darkness, made an emotional address to a press conference in Dublin this morning. He praised the families of those who were killed for their "patience and dignity" over the last 36 years. "It's been a long and winding road for all of them and for us. Justice at last, hallelujah," Mr McAlea said.
The report by the HET is the property of the families and was not released in full this morning.
However, a spokesman for the Pat Finucane Centre campaign group, Paul O’Connor, said he could distribute the conclusions of the report. The document distributed after the press conference said that the HET would pass a file on the Loyalist paramilitary Robert ‘Robin’ Jackson - sometimes referred to as ‘The Jackal’ - to the North’s Police Ombudsman.
“It seems unlikely that it would be possible for that office to mount an effective investigation into these matters, but that decision is for the Ombudsman alone,” the document continued.
The massacre was one of the most shocking incidents to take place during the Troubles.
The showband, led by Fran O'Toole and then one of the most popular music groups on the island, played its final gig in the Castle Ballroom in Banbridge, Co Down on July 30th, 1975.
In the early hours of July 31st, the group left the town to head south in a minibus where they were flagged down by a group of armed men at Buskhill, near the Border.
The band’s members were told to get out with their hands up. A few seconds later, there was an explosion which killed two of the armed men.
This was followed immediately by gunfire that killed three of the group: Mr O'Toole, Anthony Geraghty and Brian McCoy.
Stephen Travers was badly injured and Des McAlea managed to escape by fleeing across a field in the darkness.
Two serving members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) were later charged with murder, convicted and sentenced to 35 years in jail, while a third was arrested later and sentenced to life imprisonment. The three - Thomas Crozier, James McDowell and James Somerville - were later released under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.
Another document released by the Pat Finucane Centre said the British authorities at a senior level knew, from at least August 1973, that the UDR was heavily infiltrated by loyalist paramilitaries.
The organisation pointed to the minutes of a meeting involving then British prime minister Harold Wilson, the future British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who was then leader of the Opposition, and Merlyn Rees, who was then Northern Ireland secretary of state.
Minutes of the meeting record that: “The army’s judgment was that the UDR was heavily infiltrated by extremist Protestants and in a crisis situation they could not be relied upon to be loyal”.
The minutes, taken by a Downing Street official, also record that “there were certain elements in the police who were very close to the UVF”.
The Pat Finucane Centre said it was "crystal clear from these communications that London was fully aware of wholesale loyalist infiltration of the UDR but was continuing to deny any concern to Dublin".
Those who spoke at the press conference in Dublin this morning were: Paul O'Connor of the Pat Finucane Centre; Stephen Travers, survivor; David O'Toole, nephew of the late Fran O'Toole; Margaret Urwin of Justice for the Forgotten; Keith McCoy, son of the late Brian McCoy; Des McAlea, survivor and Alan Brecknell of the Pat Finucane Centre.
Independent TD Finian McGrath attended and voiced his support for the families.
