Raymond Gilmour
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Raymond Gilmour | |
---|---|
Born | 1959 Derry, Northern Ireland |
Died | October 2016 (aged 56 or 57) Kent, England |
Occupation(s) | Undercover agent in INLA/IRA; author |
Known for | Successful infiltration of the INLA and Provisional IRA |
Raymond Gilmour (1959 – October 2016)
Early life
He was born in 1959 into a working class Catholic, nationalist family in Creggan, Derry to Patrick and Brigid Gilmour, the youngest of eleven siblings and grew up as The Troubles began in Derry City in the early 1970s.
A cousin, Hugh Gilmour (usually spelled "Gilmore"), was shot dead by the British Army on Bloody Sunday, a seminal event in the development of the "Troubles" and a traumatic event witnessed by the 12-year-old Gilmour himself.[2][3] His parents were reportedly split over the issue of political violence. He described his father as an "armchair supporter" of the IRA, while his mother was reportedly fiercely opposed to their actions.[4]
Two of Gilmour's brothers were kneecapped by the IRA for alleged anti-social behaviour.[5] He was also given a beating by British soldiers at age 13 for petty crime and they attempted to recruit him as an informer.[6]
He left school without sitting for his
INLA member
Several months later, he joined the INLA. He chose the INLA over the IRA as a number of his friends were already in the organisation.[8] Gilmour participated in, among other activities, a botched car hijacking in which a friend, Colm McNutt, also an INLA member, was shot dead by an undercover soldier.[9] In 1978, after two years with the INLA as an RUC agent, he left on police instructions. He got married the same year and fathered the first of two children.
IRA career
After an interlude of several months, Gilmour was instructed by his RUC handler to join the IRA.
Most of these operations were "shoots" or sniping attacks, but on only one occasion, in January 1981, did his activities result in the death of a British soldier who was shot and killed at Castle Gate, near Derry's city walls.[11] Gilmour claimed that he helped to foil many other IRA attacks, saving the lives of numerous police officers and soldiers.
In November 1981, he was arrested by the RUC, along with two other IRA members, on their way to carry out a shooting attack on riot police, who were combating disturbances arising out of the
Supergrass
He left the IRA and went into protective custody in August of that year, as he believed that his position in the IRA was about to be discovered after his information led to the capture of an M60 machine gun.[13] Around 100 IRA and INLA members were then arrested in Derry on his evidence, of whom 35 were charged with terrorist offences.[14]
In November, Gilmour's father was abducted by the IRA. He was held in secret in an unknown location for almost a year.
On 18 December 1984, the presiding judge,
Exile and plea to return home
After the trial, Gilmour was in hiding outside Northern Ireland. He states that of the IRA and INLA members he knew, almost half were dead or missing by the end of the conflict.[18] In 1998, he published a book, Dead Ground: Infiltrating the IRA, telling of his experiences.[19]
In 2007, Gilmour publicly voiced his desire to return home to Derry, asking
Gilmour's former RUC handler advised him not to return, citing the 2006 murder in Glenties, County Donegal, of Denis Donaldson, a high-ranking Sinn Féin politician and activist who was revealed to have been a long-term informer.[20]
In April 2014, Gilmour's second book, What Price Truth, was published, in which Gilmour went into greater detail about his life within the IRA and INLA.[21]
Death
On 27 October 2016, Gilmour was found dead in his flat in Kent, where he had lain dead for up to a week. He was reportedly an alcoholic with serious psychological problems.[22]
Following his death, Gilmour's friend, Martin McGartland, also a British spy who had infiltrated the IRA, and who survived a serious assassination attempt, said, "It is disgraceful that Ray died in these circumstances. He spent years begging MI5 for financial and psychological help. Instead, they turned their back on him. He was a broken man, a wreck of a human being, and they left him to die in the gutter."[23] He was survived by his two children, from whom he was estranged, as well as a large extended family.[24]
References
- ^ Body discovered on 29 October 2016.
- ^ Breen, Suzanne (29 October 2016). "Raymond Gilmour: The lonely death of a Derry Catholic who worked for the Army, laid a wreath at Mull of Kintyre crash site and prayed for Diana". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 42.
- ^ a b Gilmour 1999.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 46.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 49.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, pp. 52–55.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, pp. 73–74.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 99.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 108.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 153.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 265.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 350.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 352.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 356.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 376.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 382.
- ^ Gilmour 1999, p. 387.
- ^ a b c "'IRA 'supergrass' wants to return'". BBC News. 2 February 2007. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
- ^ "Home truths", Belfast Telegraph, 3 February 2007.
- ^ "Revealed: IRA Supergrass Raymond Gilmour New Book to Expose McGuinness". Belfast Daily. 28 January 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
- ^ "Raymond Gilmour abandoned IRA supergrass lay dead in his flat for up to a week". Belfast Telegraph. 29 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
- ^ "IRA informer Raymond Gilmour found dead in Kent". RTÉ ie. 29 October 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
- ^ "The son Raymond Gilmour hadn't seen for 33 years tells of his relief at death of the supergrass". Belfasttelegraph. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
Bibliography
- Gilmour, Raymond (1999). Dead Ground: Infiltrating the IRA. Warner Books. ISBN 9780751526219.