The Dundalk Democrat, 07 August 2004:

Family to see Ludlow murder file for first time

By Anne Marie Eaton

Gardai are to hand over the most recent Garda report into the brutal murder of Mountpleasant man Seamus Ludlow in 1976 to County Coroner Ronan Maguire, it can be revealed.

The report which was completed by Superintendent Ted Murphy in the late 1990s has never been seen by Seamus' family.

Seamus' body was discovered in a ditch close to his home on May 2 1976. He had been shot three times.

In the late 1990s an eyewitness to the murder, Paul Hosking went to the newspapers and said that the murder was carried out by UDR men with links to the Loyalist Red hand Commandos.

Four men were questioned at Castlereagh in 1998 but the Director of Public Prosecutions later said no proceedings should be issued.

the news of the possible release of the Murphy Report has come in the same week that relatives of Seamus Ludlow and of the Dundalk bombing victims Jack Rooney and Hugh Watters are set to meet with Justice Henry Barron, who is presently working on reports into both cases.

Mr Maguire, who is preparing for the second inquest into Seamus' death, said this week that he had been requesting a copy of the report for some time and that at last he may be having some success.

"There have been long delays and it has taken a long time to get to this point. But for whatever reason I would be hopeful of having a copy of the report carried out by Superintendent Ted Murphy in the next week or so."

Seamus' nephew Jimmy Sharkey said this week that he would be happy when the copy of the entire report is handed over to the County Coroner.

"We have never seen this report. We met with Ted Murphy on a number of occasions when he was working on the report and we found him to be a decent man. But once it was completed we were not shown what it contained.

"I'd also like to know for definite if the Coroner is being given the report in its entirety," he said.

The first inquest into his death was held in August 1976. Seamus' family were not present and they say they were only informed of the hearing when it was too late to attend.

Mr Maguire says he now hopes to hold the inquest in early September, and Seamus' relatives say they will be in attendance as will retired state pathologist John Harbison, who gave a deposition at the original inquest.

But for this week, the family are concentrating on their second meeting with Justice Barron. he met them earlier this year and visited the family home on the Newry Road as well as the spot on the Bog Road where Seamus' body was dumped.

At that time he confirmed that the four men questioned in relation to Seamus' murder were in Dundalk on that night and had plans to murder a particular person. it is thought that Seamus' murder was a random act.

Jimmy Sharkey says that the family have a number of questions for Justice Barron.

"As far as I understand, this may just be a progress meeting, to tell us how he's getting on with the report. Perhaps, he will have some information that we don't know about, but we do have a lot of questions for him that may be helpful to the new inquest.."

Jack Rooney and Hugh Watters died in the bombing at Kay's Tavern on December 19 1975.

A memorial to the two men is placed on the exterior of the Dundalk Town Hall.

The Irish Daily Star (Northern Edition), 23 July 2004: Gardai in murder case 'cover-up' Family claims Barron probe will reveal it