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 World, 12 July 1998: Loyalist Suspects Held For 22-Year 'IRA' Killing By Elaine Keogh Twenty two years after he was brutally murdered and his body dumped at the side of the road, the family of Seamus Ludlow hope his killers will at last be brought to justice. A senior Garda involved in the new investigation into the murder admitted the 47 year old bachelor was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was abducted as he hitched a lift home from the pub in the Dundalk area. His body was later found in a ditch. The Ludlow family say the Gardai told them the IRA were responsible for shooting Seamus. But they never believed this, said his brother Kevin. A new investigation, begun 20 years after his murder, was ordered by the Garda Commissioner Patrick Culligan after the family presented him with hew information - it included the names of possible Loyalist suspects for the killing. A Garda source said: "As a result of the re-investigation we re-interviewed all the witnesses again and met the RUC and got great assistance from them. They agreed to set up an investigation in the North. After nearly 15 months and interviewing dozens of people in the North they had their suspects." The suspects are four Loyalists who went drinking on the May 1, 1976. As night fell they decided to drive to Dundalk and look for IRA checkpoints. The family believe the Loyalists picked up Seamus as he hitched the few miles from town to his home at Mountpleasant. The car parked down a laneway and he was shot three times as he sat in the back. In 1996, 20 years after the murder, Garda Commissioner Patrick Culligan ordered a re-investigation after the family contacted him with new information they were given - it included a list of names of possible Loyalist suspects for the killing. The list was wrong but the work by the RUC, who worked with Gardai on the new investigation lead to the arrests in February of the four men who Gardai believe were involved in the shooting. The dead man's nephew Jimmy Sharkey believes one of the suspects, a former UDR Captain "worked with British Military Intelligence and carried out murders for them". However this has been discounted by senior Gardai in Dundalk who said that a former UDR captain was in the car but probably did not pull the trigger.
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