The Murder of Seamus Ludlow in County Louth, May 1976. Towards a public inquiry?
The Murder of Seamus Ludlow in County Louth, May 1976. Towards a public inquiry?
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Introduction to the murder of Seamus Ludlow and the official cover-up. Michael Cunningham investigation - 1978 The recent Campaign for Truth and Justice. Irish Victims Commission Report. Ludlow family's questions for the RUC (now the PSNI). Jim J. Kane's letter to the N I Human Rights Commission. Jim J. Kane's letter to the RUC Ludlow Family Letter to Bertie Ahern Other Ludlow Family Sites. |
The Sunday Life, 20 September 1998: Loyalist denies role in mystery murder Exclusive by Jackie McKeown: The man at the centre of a police probe into a mystery murder last night admitted: "I danced with the paramilitaries". But loyalist Samuel "Mambo" Carroll insists he had nothing to do with the border murder of Seamus Ludlow 22 years ago. The former north Down man - one of four arrested over the murder of the Dundalk bachelor - made the claims in an exclusive interview with Sunday Life. Speaking from his Staffordshire home, Carroll said: "It's well known that I'm closely associated with the loyalist Red Hand Commando. "But I had nothing to do with that case on the border". The 45-year-old who left Ulster 10 years ago, was quizzed by detectives in Castlereagh, but released without charge after his arrest in England. The arrests came as the RUC reopened the murder case, which is also being re-investigated by the Gardai. Mr Ludlow, 47, was branded an IRA informer after he was shot and dumped by the roadside just south of the Newry-Dundalk border in May 1976. His relatives say the Gardai immediately blamed the murder on the IRA and have fought to clear his name ever since. Earlier this year, Newtownards man Paul Hosking revealed that he'd been with three Red Hand Commandos - two of whom UDR men - when the murder happened. He claimed that he'd been drinking in Comber with the men, when they decided to head south, and picked up Mr Ludlow as he walked home. Hosking said he got out of the car to go to the toilet, heard three bangs, and turned to see one of the men firing a gun into the car. Mr Ludlow's body was then dragged out and dumped on a bank, where it was found by his family the next day. Shooting Carroll says he thought he was being arrested over the murder of a former Sinn Fein vice president in 12976, when the RUC swooped in February. "At the time I thought it was about Maire Drumm," he said. "I'd been lifted for that before, but that was on the word of a supergrass. "Then I found out the fourth person supposed to be involved in the (Ludlow) murder was myself. "The article I read was that I'd done the shooting. How was I, at the age of 23, supposed to give orders to members of the British Army?" Carroll admitted being in the Maze for convictions of robbery and blackmail, but denied membership of any paramilitary association. And, he claimed that officers dug up his garden and towed away a car and turned rooms upside down during his arrest, thereby jeopardising his safety. "All it will take is someone to misunderstand the whole situation, and throw a brick or petrol bomb through my window," he said. "I've always been a loyalist, always been closely associated with the loyalist cause," he said. 2i danced with the paramilitaries, but no one can identify me with any paramilitary group. "I'm not a threat to the security forces, but I do look after my own." Relatives demand inquiry Relatives of the murdered man, Seamus Ludlow, say Gardai have told them privately, that the killers identity has been known to police for 20 years. Mr Ludlow's nephew, Michael Donegan, said; "The Gardai met with my relatives, and told them that the evidence was in their files, and they don't know why it was suppressed. "Privately, they have admitted that the Gardai lied at the time, and that points to a decision being made at a higher administrative or political level." Truth The RUC say their investigation into the murder is ongoing and Gardai Chief Supt Ted Murphy is investigating the force's original handling of the murder. But Mr Ludlow's relatives are convinced that only a full public inquiry, north and south of the border, will reveal the truth. They have received support from several human rights groups, including the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry, which has posted details of the case on its web site in a bid to focus international attention. Mr Donegan said: "We have very few reasons to trust the Gardai, after what has happened. "We know that the RUC passed evidence to the Gardai in 1979, and it is clear that they had information in advance of that. "We want a public inquiry, so the truth will finally come out and we will not rest until it does," he said.
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