THE ARMAGH man tried in connection with the abduction and murder of an undercover British army officer more than 30 years ago has been found not guilty in a Belfast court.
Kevin Crilly (60), Lower Foughill Road in Jonesborough, was accused of the murder of Capt Robert Nairac in May 1977 and four other related charges.
However, Mr Justice Richard McLaughlin, sitting in Belfast Crown Court without a jury, cleared him, saying there was insufficient proof to link the defendant to the murder charge.
He told the court it had been established that Mr Crilly had been present at the soldier’s abduction and had picked up the eventual murderer in his car. But it had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt that he had done so with a view to murder.
“The prosecution has not proved beyond reasonable doubt the state of knowledge or intention necessary to transform the transporting of [Liam] Townson by Crilly to an unspecified place at an unspecified time into a knowing participation in a potential murder. For these reasons I find the accused not guilty.”
Townson was subsequently convicted by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin. Two others have also been convicted on other charges.
Capt Nairac, a member of the Grenadier Guards, was abducted from the Three Steps Inn in Dromintee, Co Armagh, where he had allegedly been singing rebel songs under the guise of a local republican. He was shot dead at Ravensdale forest, north of Dundalk some time later.
He was posthumously awarded the George Cross for gallantry.
“The admissions by Crilly to the journalists from the [BBC Northern Ireland] Spotlight programme prove he was involved to some degree in the events surrounding the death of Capt Nairac,” the judge said. “He was present at the Three Steps Inn where what he described as a ‘battle’ took place. This can only mean what he witnessed was the abduction of Capt Nairac but it does not prove his active participation in it.” But he also said the prosecution did not establish details about what Mr Crilly knew when he collected the murderer and dropped him off or about when the decision was taken to shoot Capt Nairac. “I have concluded that the prosecution has not proved Crilly was a participant in the abduction,” he said.
The judge had been considering his verdict for a month following the end of the trial.
Mr Crilly, who did not speak to reporters after he left the Belfast court, lived in the US for nearly 30 years after Capt Nairac’s murder.
BRITISH ARMY OFFICER: UNDERCOVER SOLDIER
AN OFFICER who played by his own rules, Capt Robert Nairac finally ran out of luck when he strode into a bar in an IRA heartland and broke into song.
The undercover soldier, who read spy novels as a child, told republicans in Dromintee’s Three Steps Inn he was Danny, from Belfast.
As the night wore on and drinks flowed, the Grenadier Guardsman took to the stage and treated those in the south Armagh pub to the rebel ballad Broad Black Brimmer.
The pub’s patrons clapped and he sang again, and again.
Assaulted as he tried to leave, bundled into the back of a car and driven across the Border, the 29-year-old’s last hours would be grim as his attackers interrogated him and attempted to make him reveal his identity.
The British army officer suffered at the hands of his interrogators.
His body was never found.
Two years later, he was posthumously awarded the George Cross, his citation hailing him a hero.
While his courage wasn’t questioned by former colleagues, some paint him as a brave but reckless officer whose romantic view of soldiering led to him losing his life. – (PA)