Gerard Tuite
Gerard Tuite (born 1955) was a senior member of the
Background
Tuite was born into a staunchly
one of the nine sons and two daughters born to Michael Tuite, a small farmer, and Jane (née Dermody) Tuite.His parents' wedding day on 30 September 1942 made national headlines when the wedding party was stormed by the
Gerry Tuite attended Kilnacrott Abbey secondary school in Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan. In 1982 a fellow student remembered him thus: 'The only thing remarkable about him in those days was that he was unremarkable. He was a very inoffensive person- a nice quiet fellow.'[5] He was viewed locally as the one member of the family most likely to stay out of politics, and was better known as a motorcycle enthusiast. In his late teens he became a merchant sailor.[5] Little is known about him from this point until 1978.
IRA activity
In that year, he was using the nom de guerre David Coyne and was believed to be a young businessman of German-Irish extraction when he met a nurse called Helen Griffiths at a party in London in the summer of 1978.
Tuite served his sentence in
References
- ^ "Arrest 'Britain's most wanted man'". United Press International. 4 March 1982. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ "Around the World; Ireland to Try Suspect For Offenses in Britain", nytimes.com, 7 March 1982.
- ^ Geoffrey S. Gilbert 'Terrorism and the Political Offence Exemption Reappraised', The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 4. (Oct. 1985), p. 719; The Guardian, 14 July 1982, p. 1; The Guardian, 3 May 1983, p. 2 [Appeal]
- ^ 'Quinlivan feared an unfair trial, says relative', The Irish Times Monday 18 July Monday 1991; "Irish Times Reporters", 'Quiet Heir to Legacy of Violence' The Irish Times, Wednesday 14 July 1982
- ^ a b c d e f g "Irish Times Reporters", 'Quiet Heir to Legacy of Violence' The Irish Times, Wednesday, 14 July 1982
- ^ J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA(Revised Third Edition, 1997), p. 551
- ISBN 9780753546284. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
- ^ Rob Rodwell '27 Maze escapers still free' The Guardian, Monday 26 September 1983.
- ^ In his review of a biography of Moody, Anthony McIntyre who in December 1980 was an IRA prisoner, had this to say: "When Gerard Tuite escaped in 1980 from Brixton prison it was a fillip for morale in the H Blocks. Seven men had passed the fifty-day stage of their hunger strike for political status and an end of some sort was imminent. Although Tuite was accompanied on the escape by two other remand prisoners, for the population of the H-Blocks Tuite's was the only name we cared for. He was the sole IRA escapee. The names of the other two men meant absolutely nothing to us. So concerned were we in the contentious crucible of the prison to assert our distinctive political motivation some in our number even wondered what Tuite was doing escaping alongside hoods. Most just envied him and hoped he would evade the security dragnet that would inevitably seek to pull him back inside."
Anthony McIntyre on Tuite's escape Archived 28 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine, phoblacht.net; accessed 5 October 2015. - ^ "On the run - but where did they run to?". the Guardian. 27 July 2005. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
- ^ "Quiet Heir to Legacy of Violence", The Irish Times, 14 July 1982
- ^ Profile, cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 4 March 1982.
- ^ Google Newspapers; accessed 5 October 2015.