Bobby Storey

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Bobby Storey
Storey in 2012
Born(1956-04-11)11 April 1956
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Died21 June 2020(2020-06-21) (aged 64)
Newcastle upon Tyne, England[1]
Political partySinn Féin

Robert Storey (11 April 1956 – 21 June 2020)

remand for a variety of charges and in total served 20 years in prison. He also played a key role in the Maze Prison escape, the biggest prison break in British penal history.[2][4]

Early life

The family was originally from the Marrowbone area, on the Oldpark Road in North Belfast. The family had to move when Storey was very young due to Ulster loyalist attacks on the district, moving to Manor Street, an interface area also in North Belfast. Storey's uncle was boxing trainer Gerry Storey and his father, also called Bobby, was involved in the defence of the area in the 1970s when Catholics were threatened by loyalists.[5]

Storey was one of four children. He had two brothers, Seamus and Brian, and a sister Geraldine.

Crumlin Road Prison with eight other prisoners in 1971, they were dubbed the Crumlin Kangaroos.[5]

On his mother Peggy's side of the family there was also a history of republicanism, but Storey said "the dominant influences on" him "were the events that were happening around" him.[6] These included the McGurk's Bar bombing in the New Lodge, some of those killed being people who knew his family,[6][7] and also Bloody Sunday. This then led to his attempts to join the IRA.[6]

Storey left school when he was fifteen and went to work with his father selling fruit. At sixteen, he became a member of the IRA.[6]

Prison

On 11 April 1973, his seventeenth birthday, he was

Turf Lodge.[10] Those charges were dropped in December 1977.[10] The same month he was arrested for the murder of a soldier in Turf Lodge, but the charges were also dropped.[8]

In 1978 Storey was charged in relation to the wounding of a soldier in

Brixton Prison.[11] Tuite escaped from the same prison prior to the trial,[12] and the other two IRA volunteers were convicted, but Storey was acquitted at the Old Bailey in April 1981.[2] That August, after a soldier was shot, he was arrested in possession of a rifle and was convicted for the first time, being sentenced to eighteen years' imprisonment.[6][8]

Storey was one of the leaders of the Maze Prison escape in 1983, when 38 republican prisoners broke out of the H-Blocks, the largest prison escape in British penal history and the largest peacetime prison escape in Europe.[2][4] He was recaptured within an hour,[2] and sentenced to an additional seven years imprisonment.[13] Released in 1994, he was again arrested in 1996 and charged with having personal information about a British Army soldier, and Brian Hutton, the Lord Chief Justice.[14] At his trial at Crumlin Road Courthouse in July 1998, he was acquitted after his defence proved the personal information had previously been published in books and newspapers.[14]

Post-prison

Having spent over twenty years in prison, much of it on remand, his final release was in 1998, and he again became involved in developing republican politics and strategy,[6] eventually becoming the northern chairman of Sinn Féin.[15]

On 11 January 2005

British House of Commons under parliamentary privilege that Storey was head of intelligence for the IRA.[6][16]

On 9 September 2015, Storey was arrested and held for two days in connection with the killing of former IRA volunteer Kevin McGuigan the previous month.

John Finucane stated Storey would be suing for unlawful arrest.[18]

Death

Storey died in

deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill, and former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, but was criticised for breaking social distancing rules implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic which, at the time operating in Northern Ireland, limited funeral numbers to no more than 30 mourners.[21]

Cultural references

In the 2017 film Maze dramatising the 1983 prison break, directed by Stephen Burke, Storey was portrayed by Irish actor Cillian O'Sullivan.[22][23]

References

  1. ^ "Body of leading IRA figure Bobby Storey returns home for funeral". belfasttelegraph. Retrieved 14 September 2022. Mr Storey (64), who died in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0714644226
    .
  3. ^ a b Moriarty, Gerry (30 June 2020). "Bobby Storey: The IRA's planner and enforcer who stayed in the shadows". Irish Times. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  4. ^
    ISBN 1-56000-901-2
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1471163135
    .
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "'Big Bobby': Arrests, interrogations, imprisonment and struggle - the 'Storey' of his life". An Phoblacht. 18 December 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  7. ISBN 978-1471163135
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 0-7171-2201-8
    .
  9. ISBN 978-1471163135
    .
  10. ^
    ISBN 978-1471163135
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0714681191
    .
  12. ISBN 978-0-7165-3301-6
    .
  13. ISBN 978-0717116072
    .
  14. ^ a b McCaffrey, Barry (3 November 2007). "'Key spymaster' a crucial Adams ally". Irish News. Retrieved 7 July 2020.[permanent dead link]
  15. ISBN 978-1785370311
    .
  16. ^ "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 11 Jan 2005 (pt 16)". the-stationery-office.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011.
  17. ^ Moriarty, Gerry (9 September 2015). "Bobby Storey arrested as part of McGuigan murder investigation". The Irish Times. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  18. ^ Flaherty, Rachel (10 September 2015). "Bobby Storey released by police investigating McGuigan murder". The Irish Times. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  19. ^ Preston, Allan (25 June 2020). "Funeral of top IRA man Bobby Storey to be held next week". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  20. ^ O'Neill, Julian (21 June 2020). "Republican Bobby Storey dies following illness". BBC News. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  21. ^ Moore, Aoife (3 July 2020). "'I am very sorry': Mary Lou McDonald apologises for Bobby Storey funeral crowds". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  22. ^ Burke, Stephen (22 September 2017), Maze, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Barry Ward, Martin McCann, retrieved 4 August 2018
  23. ^ Sheridan, Colette (16 March 2019). "Cork men set for film premiere on Paddy's Day". The Echo. Retrieved 7 July 2020.

External links

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