Seán Savage
Seán Savage | |
|---|---|
| Born | Seán Savage 26 January 1965 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Died | 6 March 1988 (aged 23) |
| Cause of death | Multiple gunshot wounds |
| Resting place | Milltown Cemetery, Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Other names | Seán Sabhaois |
Seán Savage (Irish: Seán Sabhaois) (26 January 1965 – 6 March 1988) was a member of the Provisional IRA who was shot dead by the British Army whilst being accused attempting to plant a car bomb in Gibraltar.
Early life
Born into an
Paramilitary activity
In 1987 Savage and Daniel McCann shot two Royal Ulster Constabulary officers dead at Belfast docks.[1][2]
Savage was the leader of an IRA attack that placed a booby-trap car bomb beneath the car of
Gibraltar attack
In March 1988, Savage and McCann, along with another Provisional IRA member
The IRA team was subsequently found to be unarmed at the time of their deaths. A hire car rented by them, converted into a car bomb containing 140 lb (64 kg) of Semtex, with a device timed to go off during the changing of the guard ceremony in Gibraltar,[6] was found two days later by the Spanish Police, who had assisted the British Government in tracking the IRA team's movements in its territory before it had entered Gibraltar.
Milltown Cemetery attack
Savage's body, along with Farrell and McCann's were repatriated to Northern Ireland, where a collective IRA-sponsored funeral was held for them on 16 March 1988 at the IRA plot in
Subsequent events
A Gibraltar inquest into the deaths of Savage, McCann and Farrell concluded the three had been lawfully killed. In 1995, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the human rights of the three were infringed, and criticized the British authorities for lack of control in the arrest operation. They also ruled that the three had been engaged in an act of terrorism, and consequently dismissed unanimously the applicants’ claims for damages, for costs and expenses incurred in the Gibraltar Inquest and the remainder of the claims for just satisfaction.[citation needed]
A British television documentary, Death on the Rock (1988) was produced and broadcast about the failed IRA operation in Gibraltar, examining the details of the events, and raising doubts about aspects of the British Government's statements about the circumstances of the shootings of the IRA team, and questioning whether excessive force had been used in the confrontation in line with persistent rumours in the British media at that time of a "Shoot to Kill" strategy being used against the Provisional IRA by the British Government.[9]
References
- ISBN 978-0-00-724127-9
- ^ "Gibraltar: The truth" Belfast Telegraph
- ^ Wood, Ian S (2006). Crimes of Loyalty: a History of the UDA. Edinburgh University Press. p.128. Google Books. Retrieved 6 April 2011
- ^ PEADAR WHELAN Tribute to IRA Volunteers on the Rock An Phoblacht 6 March 2008
- ^ ECHR Ruling on the killings
- ^ a b "1988: IRA gang shot dead in Gibraltar", BBC News
- ^ BELFAST MILLTOWN CEMETERY ATTACK 1988 BELFAST BBC NI News Report, retrieved 28 June 2023
- ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
- ^ Death on the Rock, The Museum of Broadcast Communications.
Further reading
- Death on the Rock - documentary about the shootings.
- Murder on the Rock - book about the shootings.
- Relatives for Justice Site.
- ISBN 0-86322-330-3
