July 2nd, 1992:DURING THE 25-odd years of the Northern Troubles it was possible to become inured to the near-daily diet of violence and the accompanying propaganda war of claim and counter-claim. There were many violent incidents, though, whose motivations were murky at the time. One of them, from the later stages of the Troubles, resulted in this report in 1992.
Three bodies, believed to be the victims of IRA “executions, were discovered last night in separate areas of south Armagh. There was speculation early this morning that the murders may be linked to the finding on Tuesday of the body believed to be of a Portadown woman, Margaret Perry (26), in Mullaghmore, Co Sligo. She had been abducted a year ago.
The three deaths mark the ending of the longest gap between killings in Northern Ireland since early 1970. Fifty-six days had elapsed since the last killing in the North in early May, when the IPLO shot dead Billy Sergeant (65), in a North Belfast bar.
The South Armagh area near Crossmaglen where the bodies were found is a notorious dumping ground for so-called IRA informers.
A priest who gave the Last Rites to one of the victims spoke of his body being bruised and mutilated. The Rev AF McCourt from Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh, said that one of his parishioners called to him last night saying he had discovered a body at Henry’s Bridge near Newtownhamilton on the main Dundalk-Armagh road.
“The body was dumped in a ditch. It was hooded and there was a vast quantity of blood around the head. It was stripped naked and bruised, he said. The Rev John Duffy from Dundalk, who also visited the scene, said the man had been “terribly mutilated”.
Later, two more bodies were found in the vicinity of Crossmaglen.
The Rev Donal Sweeney, who is reported to have administered the Last Rites to a body in Culloville, spoke of the victim being hooded and bloody.
The deaths come 24 hours after the body, believed to be Ms Perry’s, was found in a shallow grave at Mullaghmore. The IRA in a statement said she was the victim of British military agents. They said a further statement would follow. This aroused fears for the lives of at least two men, reported to have IRA links, who went missing in the Portadown area two weeks ago. RUC detectives are trying to determine if the IRA statement was shorthand for suggesting a link between her death and the discovery of the three bodies last night.
The IRA claim that she was killed by British military intelligence agents could possibly mean that informers within the paramilitary organisation’s own ranks had some involvement in her death. Early this morning, the RUC confirmed that three bodies had been found but said at this stage they could give no further details.
Two subsequent IRA statements claimed that the men were members and informers and that Ms Perry was killed because she was about to reveal their activities.