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The Ludlow family's original website went online
in January 2000 and by the end of February it was featured on several search
engines and online directories. Links to that site can be found on, or it has been submitted
to:
Yahoo (UK and
Ireland),
Hotbot,
Link
Centre.Com,
AAA Matilda Europe,
AAA Matilda USA,
AAA Matilda
(Australia),
Boomerang (Australia),
LookSmart UK.
WhatsNew2 (Australia),
Whats New4 USA.
StartingPoint.Com.
Exploit the Net,
AltaVista.
Anzwers
(Australia/New
Zealand),
Irish
Links Network.
Snap.
Searc's
Web Guide to Irish Resources.
Doras Review of Irish Sites.
(See review below).
Com Find.
Voila (France).
Savvy
Search.
National
Directory.
Northern
Light.
America Online.
Louthonline.
(See article below.)
Submissions have been made to other sites in the USA, Australia,
Britain and Ireland. Both Ludlow family sites have been submitted to many Irish
American organisations, along with requests for support. The response from many
of these bodies has been very favourable, with a number of individuals beginning
letter writing and internet networking campaigns on the Ludlow family's behalf.
It is expected that future developments will
ensure that this chronology will be extended for some time to come, and further
pages will be added.
Another version of this site with the domain name
seamusludlow.com can also be accessed
from several of the major search engines.
31 January 2000 - The Private Secretary at the
office of the Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. John
O'Donoghue, TD, wrote to the Ludlow family's solicitor:
"The Minister believes that including the
case of the late Mr. Ludlow as part of the remit of Mr. Justice Hamilton would
be the most appropriate way to address the concerns which have been expressed
about this case. Accordingly, he has asked me to tell you that he is minded to
recommend to his colleagues in Government that the case be included in the remit
of Mr. Justice Hamilton.
"In the circumstances he would be grateful
if you would ascertain and let him know what the attitude of Mr. Ludlow's
relatives would be to this approach. As Mr. Justice Hamilton will be commencing
his work very shortly it would be very much appreciated if you could respond to
the Minister's proposal within the next week."
Note: Mr. Justice Liam Hamilton, outgoing Chief
Justice, just recently retired, was invited by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, in a
statement of 19th December 1999, to "undertake a thorough examination of
all aspects of the Dublin, Monaghan and Dundalk bombings and their sequel . .
." (See page on the Hamilton Inquiry), but significantly there was no
mention of the Seamus Ludlow murder on that occasion. So, what had changed since
then?
Significantly, the Private Secretary
to the Minister for Justice remained silent in the above letter on the important
issue of the releasing of the Garda Report. (See further correspondence of
25 February 2000 and Taoiseach's questions of 23
May 2000.)
10 February 2000 - The English local newspaper The
Post, in Staffordshire, reported the recent conviction and sentencing of
Samuel Black-Carroll (who is known as Mambo) to a term of 2 years and eight months of imprisonment. The defendant,
charged with assaulting a man with the butt end of a snooker cue, was one of
four Loyalists arrested by the RUC in February 1998, for questioning about the
murder of Seamus Ludlow.
The Post
reported as follows:
Semtex jibe led to
violence.
A Rugeley man, once suspected of
being a terrorist was jailed for two years and eight months by a court on Monday
for attacking a man he claimed called him "Semtex Sam."
Samuel
Black-Carroll inflicted "wicked" head injuries to Ivan Shirley when he
attacked him with a weapon thought to be the butt end of a snooker cue,
Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
Assistant
Recorder, John Aucott, told 47 year old Black-Carroll he accepted he had been
subjected to verbal abuse. "But there was no justification in allowing it
to boil over into violence," he added.
"You
exhibited all the hallmarks of a terrorist - an occupation you profess to
despise."
Black-Carroll, who was
arrested in 1998 by the RUC, had been convicted by a jury at Stafford Crown Court
of wounding. The Irishman of Redbrook Lane, Brereton, Rugeley, had also been
convicted at the end of his trial on two charges of criminal damage.
Mr.
Peter Carr, defending, said Black-Carroll had been the target of all sorts of
remarks and, on this occasion, it was "a comment too far."
See also a later report in the Sunday World
newspaper dated 2 April 2000.
18
February 2000 - The Ludlow family was kindly invited to send a representative as
an observer to a conference to be hosted in a Lisnaskea hotel by Firinne
(formerly VOICE), an organisation representing the victims of State violence in
County Fermanagh, on 26th February.
Firinne was set up just over a year previously "after it became apparent that
victims of State violence were not given equal status with other victims of the
troubles".
Firinne's two main aims are:
"firstly, to gain recognition from the State that these events occurred and
secondly, to document peoples' experiences to help with the healing process and
to provide a true account of events surrounding the conflict for future
generations.
"Firinne represents
families of victims either directly murdered by State forces, or where collusion
is suspected. Victims of intimidation, harassment, arrests, death threats and
displaced people are also represented."
25 February 2000 - Further to the above
correspondence (31 January) from the Department of Justice, Dublin, the Ludlow
family's solicitor in reply brought up once again the particular issue of
receiving a copy of the Gardai's Investigation Report. The reply noted the Irish
Government's views expressed in relation to the case of the late Pat Finucane
and pointed out that there were striking similarities as to issues that arise in
that case and in the case of Seamus Ludlow. On behalf of the Ludlow family the
solicitor emphasised the view that the case for a public inquiry is both
compelling and unanswerable.
26
February 2000 - Kevin Ludlow represented the Ludlow family at the Firinne
conference at Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh. The Ludlow family was delighted to receive an
invitation and it wishes Firinne well in all its endeavours in the months ahead.
29 February 2000 - This new site went online for the
first time, though it was still under construction.
6 March 2000 - The Ludlow family's solicitor
reported back on a recent meeting he attended at the Department of Justice about
another matter entirely, when he raised the issue of a Seamus Ludlow inquiry. He
reported that the Department of justice "obviously felt that we would be
agreeing to the matter going into a Hamilton type pre-public enquiry Commission
of Enquiry.
"I indicated that the view
of the family was strongly to the effect that the public enquiry and nothing
less was called for. I said that the first step towards advancing the matter
would of course be to make available to us the internal Garda investigation
file."
The proposed linking of the Seamus Ludlow case to
the already running Hamilton Inquiry would later be the subject of Taoiseach's questions
at Leinster House, Dublin.
7 March 2000 - Here is the Doras Review of Sites' review for the
Ludlow family's first site. Although Doras, using its own criteria, awards only
two shamrocks out of a possible five it does have kind things to say about the
site which was constructed without professional help. The Ludlow family
appreciates the trouble that the people at Doras have taken in reviewing our
site.
8 March 2000 - Messages promoting the Ludlow
family's first
website were posted on the following bulletin boards in the United States: The
Toledo Irish-American Club; and Irish
American Net. Messages have been posted to several other Irish groups and
newspapers in the United States, Britain, and Australia.
8 March 2000 - A message of support was received
from Cathleen O'Brien of the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation, New
York. The kind message included the following important
remark:
"I do not recall reading about Seamus
in the papers over here. But that does not surprise me. There is often a
"blackout" on news from Ireland, especially if there has been some
sort of cover-up!"
Cathleen has remained in contact with the Ludlow
family. Her support is appreciated.
13 March 2000 - In a letter to the Ludlow family,
Mr. Adam Ingram JP MP, Minister of State, at the Northern Ireland Office,
London, responding to previous correspondence of 24 October 1999 with Mr. Tony Benn
MP.
The Minister wrote:
"I am advised that information relating to
the murder of your uncle was passed by the RUC to the Garda in 1979. The Garda
requested the assistance of the RUC in 1997 which resulted in the four arrests.
All four were released without charge.
"As
you know the DPP after careful consideration of the police investigation file
concluded there was insufficient evidence to obtain a conviction against anyone
named in the file and they therefore directed no prosecution on the case. If any
new evidence comes to light or you have further information about the murder the
police would be keen to pursue it.
"With
regard to your suggestions of a cover-up there is no evidence to suggest that
this occurred or continues to take place.
"Let
me assure you that the police will do all they can to bring to justice those
responsible for this terrible crime."
This
was probably the first written confirmation from the British authorities that
information on the killing of Seamus Ludlow was passed from the RUC to the
Gardai in 1979. Given that the RUC and the Gardai had important information back
in 1979 it seems strange to say the least that the Ludlow family would be
invited to do the RUC's job for them.
As
for the suggestion that there has been no cover-up, and that none continues,
there is nothing here to support that view. Indeed, by the Minister's own
admission the RUC and the Gardai had "information relating to the
murder" in 1979.
That admission
coupled with the authorities' failure to bring such information to the attention
of the Ludlow family and the fact that neither force did anything to pursue it
for nearly twenty years, provides compelling evidence of a past cover-up. The
continuing failure of both the RUC and the Gardai to give the Ludlow family
access to their investigation files and the authorities' refusal to grant a
public inquiry can only support strong suspicions of the cover-up continuing.
28 March 2000 - The Pat Finucane Centre (pfc) in
Derry kindly published the following review for this new Ludlow family website
in their mailing list newsletter:
The family of murdered Dundalk forestry
worker, Seamus Ludlow, have created an excellent website which we would urge
all subscribers to visit and bookmark. Seamus was kidnapped and murdered in
1976 by a gang of men from the loyalist Red Hand Commandoes. At least one
gang member was also a member of the locally recruited Ulster Defence
Regiment, a regiment of the British Army. There are well founded suspicions
that the names and activities of this death squad were known to authorities
on both sides of the border who chose not to take action because of the
security force connections of the gang. One suspected member of the group
was recently convicted and sentenced to two years and eight months in prison
in Rugeley, Staffordshire, England, for assaulting a man who called him
'semtex sam'. The Ludlow family are pressing for an inquiry into the murder.
New website at www.adon89.care4free.net/chronology.htm
Extensive information on the case also available at pfc website www.serve.com/pfc
This new website was also published in the Pat Finucane
Centre's own website and almost immediately its guest book began
attracting messages of support from people in Ireland, the United States and
Britain.
The Ludlow family appreciates all of the
excellent support that their good friends at the Pat Finucane Centre have given
to their campaign for truth and justice. The Pat Finucane Centre also gives
excellent support to a large number of families engaged in the same fight for
justice against state-sponsored murder and injustice - and at this time they are
particularly active in supporting the families of the innocent Bloody
Sunday victims, for whom the British Saville Inquiry began public sessions at
Derry's Guildhall on Monday 27th. March.
The
Pat Finucane Centre also gives vital support to campaigns for truth and justice
for the family's of murdered human rights lawyers Pat Finucane (after whom the
centre takes its name) and Rosemary Nelson, as well as the families of Robert
Hamill, Peter McBride and the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.
2 April 2000 - The northern edition of the Sunday
World newspaper (on page 21) published an article headlined:
"Semtex
Sam" Snookered He's sentenced to two years jail after battering
Englishman with a cue.
The half-page report featured a photograph
of the English resident defendent who was one of the suspects arrested by the
RUC in February 1998 for questioning about his alleged role in the 1976 murder
of Seamus Ludlow.
See also the above report in the English
newspaper The Post, dated 10 February
2000.
3 April 2000 - Issue 65 of Louth
Online, the excellent website featuring many items of particular interest to the
people of County Louth added a link to the Ludlow family's first site in its Community
Links directory page. The site's homepage featured the following brief
article and an accompanying photograph of the late Seamus Ludlow:
Chronology: 
