by Chris Petit
Holland, Jack, ‘The Profits of War’ (Spectator, 26 February 1994)
Holmes, Ronald M., and James De Burger, Serial Murder (Sage Publications, Newbury Park, Ca, 1988) See page 108.
Jenkins, Richard, Lads, Citizens and Ordinary Kids: Working-class Youth Life-styles in Belfast (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1983)
Jones, Richard Glyn, Couples Who Kill (True Crime, London, 1993)
Kelley, Kevin, The Longest War: Northern Ireland and the IRA (Zed Press, London, 1982) Contains vivid descriptions of early rioting and the impact of the army upon the civilian population. Much of the detail of Molly’s memories of the riots of 1969 draws on Kelley.
McGivern, Johnny, ‘It Was One Damn Good Car: The Diary of a Belfast Joyrider’ (Independent on Sunday, 4 April 1993) This brief, vivid memoir of a kneecapped joyrider, later killed in a high-speed chase with the police, was the inspiration for Vinnie’s story.
McWilliams, Monica, and Joan McKiernan, Bringing It Out in the Open: Domestic Violence in Northern Ireland (HMSO, Belfast, 1993) Includes transcripts of case histories of physical abuse, used by me in Chapter 28.
Morgan, Robin, The Demon Lover: On the Sexuality of Terrorism (Methuen, London, 1989) Quotes Paul Theroux’s The Kingdom by the Sea, on a ‘cult of death’ in Northern Ireland; also refers to an epidemic of domestic violence, linking it to the wider violence.
Morrison, John, The Ulster Cover-Up (Ulster Society, Lurgan, Co. Armargh, 1993) Some of the academic’s views in Chapter 53 owe their origins to Chapters 9 and 10.
Murray, Raymond, The SAS in Ireland (Mercier Press, Dublin, 1990) Information on the Baker operation and Herron’s death, plus details on Herron’s internecine rivalry with the British army.
Norris, Joel, Serial Killers: The Growing Menace (Arrow, London, 1990)
Parker, Tony, May the Lord in His Mercy be Kind to Belfast (Cape, London, 1993)
Robertson, Geoff, Reluctant Judas: The Life and Death of a Special Branch Informer (Temple Smith, London, 1976)
Rusbridger, James. The Intelligence Game: The Illusions and Delusions of International Espionage (I.B. Tauris, London, 1989; revised 1991)
Ryder, Chris, The RUC: A Force Under Fire (Methuen, London, 1989)
Shannon, Elizabeth, I Am of Ireland: Women of the North Speak Out (Little Brown, Boston, 1989)
Taylor, Kevin, with Keith Mumby, The Poisoned Tree (Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1990)
Toibin, Colm, Walking Along the Border (Queen Anne Press, London, 1987)
Urban, Mark, Big Boys’ Rules: The SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA (Faber and Faber, London, 1992)
White, Jon Manchip, The Robinson Factor (Panther, London, 1976)
Wilkinson, Paul (ed.), British Perspectives on Terrorism (George Allen & Unwin, London, 1981)
My thanks are due to the following, who can be named, for their help during the various stages of writing this book: Neil Belton, Ros Franey, Lord Gowrie, Liz Jobey, Glyn Middleton, Jan Needle, Niall O’Connor, Murray Petit, Andrew Rosthorne, Ruscombe Smyth-Pigott, Iain Sinclair, Lucretia Stewart; to Ian Chapman at Macmillan and Maria Rejt for her editorial improvements; and especially to Emma Matthews, and to my agent, Gillon Aitken, for encouraging the project in the first place and for his enthusiasm and patience in seeing it through.
Glossary
Anglo–Irish Agreement. Signed November 1985, the Agreement gave the government of the Republic of Ireland some say for the first time in the affairs of the North. Previous attempts at such an agreement had been thwarted by Unionist Protestants, particularly in 1974.
Baker, Albert Walker. British soldier who became a bodyguard for Protestant paramilitary leaders, later imprisoned.
Bunting, Ronald. INLA leader with a Protestant loyalist background, his father an officer who had served in the British army. Assassinated 1980.
DHSS. Department of Health and Social Security. Government department.
Divis Flats. A high-rise modern estate and Catholic stronghold in Belfast’s Lower Falls, and headquarters of the Irish Republican Socialist Party.
Dublin bombings. In May 1974 three car bombs exploded in the Dublin rush hour, and another in the border town of Monaghan, killing twenty-eight people. No one was ever arrested.
Fenian. Loosely and derogatorily, a loyalist term for a Catholic.
Fianna. Youth section of the IRA.
Garda (pl. Gardai). The police force of the Republic of Ireland.
Head job (slang). Assassination.
Heatherington, Vincent. British agent. Assassinated 1976.
Herron, Tommy. Protestant paramilitary leader. Assassinated 1973.
Homer (slang). Freelance job, usually armed robbery, carried out by paramilitaries for themselves rather than party funds.
INLA. Irish National Liberation Army. Paramilitary organization founded 1975, following the split in the Official IRA. Military wing of the IRSP. Known for its ruthlessness. Assassinated Airey Neave, 1979.
IRSP. Irish Republican Socialist Party, also known as the Erps.Their HQ in the Divis Flats was known as the Planet of the Erps after the film of similar name. Founded 1974 as a non-military party after a split in the Official IRA.
Kincora. Homosexual scandal named after the Kincora Boys’ Home that broke in the early 1980s, involving loyalist paramilitaries. Suggestions of blackmail and the involvement of politicians and the security forces led to rumours of a conspiracy and hush-up.
Kneecapping. Punishment given, usually by the Provisional IRA, often to petty criminals.
Left-footer (slang). Roman Catholic.
Loyalist. One who favours retaining Ulster’s British links (OED). Usually extremist.
McKeague, John. Protestant paramilitary extremist, founder of the Red Hand Commandos, a minor but notorious faction. Linked with British intelligence. Assassinated 1982.
MI5. British government department responsible for internal security. Ran agents in Northern ireland.
MI6. British government department responsible for security interests outside the United Kingdom. Ran agents in Northern Ireland.
MRF. Mobile Reconnaissance Force, aka Mobile Reaction Force. Covert military unit run by the British Army in the early 1970s. Undertook assassinations.
Nationalists. Those in favour of a united Ireland.
Neave, Airey. British Conservative politician, strongly anti-IRA, known to be in favour of Draconian measures. Assassinated 1979 as he was about to take up political office in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland. A unit of the United Kingdom comprising the six counties of NE Ireland (OED).
ODC. Ordinary Decent Criminal. One without paramilitary allegiance.
Official IRA. The rump of the party that did not defect when the Provisional IRA broke away in 1970. Ceased active operations against the British in 1972.
Orange Order. Sectarian Protestant organization, founded 1795. Named after King William of Orange, who defeated the Roman Catholic King James II of England at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 and was his successor to the British throne.
Orangie (slang). Sectarian Protestant.
PLA. People’s Liberation Army. Militant paramilitary organization, precursor to the INLA. Surfaced briefly after the 1974 split in the Official IRA.
Peeler (slang). Police.
Prod, Proddy or Prot (slang). Protestant.
Protestant. The majority of the population in Northern Ireland, overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the United Kingdom. Mostly descendants of the Scots, who settled from the sixteenth century on.
Provisional IRA. Largest Republican paramilitary organization. Carried out assassinations.
Provo or Provie (slang). Member of the Provisional IRA.
Rah (slang). Provisional IRA.
RHC. Red Hand Commando. Breakaway Protestant paramilitary organization, founded 1972 by John McKeague, which occasionally overlapped with the UVF and carried out assassinations.
Republicans. Militant Nationalists in favour of breaking the North’s links wit
h the United Kingdom to form a united Ireland.
Roman Catholic. The minority of the population in Northern Ireland, with strong cultural and religious ties to the Republic of Ireland.
Romper Room. Space set aside for torture and killing by loyalist paramilitaries. See Shankill
Butchers. Named after an Ulster Television children’s programme.
Romperings. Interrogation and torture with specific reference to a series of killings carried out by loyalist paramilitaries. See above.
RUC. Royal Ulster Constabulary. Northern Ireland’s police force. Almost entirely Protestant.
SAS. Special Air Services. British army regiment employed as a covert military strike force. Officially not in Northern Ireland until the mid-1970s.
SB. Special Branch. Part of the British police force. Ran agents in Northern Ireland.
Shankill. Protestant area of Belfast with strong paramilitary connections.
Shankill Butchers. Killings undertaken by loyalist paramilitaries in the early 1970s involving the abduction and torture of Roman Catholics in front of an audience. See Romper Room.
Shoot to kill. Policy of assassination carried out by the SAS and later the RUC. Subject of the Stalker Inquiry.
Squaddie (slang). A soldier.
Stalker, John. Head of 1984 inquiry into allegations that the RUC had pursued a policy of shoot to kill against the IRA.
Sticky, Stickies or the Sticks (colloquial). Official IRA members, named after their sticky paper fund-raising lapel badges that replaced ones with a pin.
Stoley (slang). Stolen vehicle.
Stormont. Seat of government in Northern Ireland until 1972, when it was abolished and replaced by direct rule from London.
Taig. Derogatory Protestant term for a Roman Catholic.
Tout (slang). Informer.
The Twelfth. The twelfth of July, the annual holiday fortnight, noted for its marchings and parades, particularly by Protestants celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne.
Ulster. Loosely, Northern Ireland. For Roman Catholics and Republicans the word has Protestant connotations and the North of Ireland is preferred.
UDA. Ulster Defence Association. The largest Protestant paramilitary organization.
UDR. Ulster Defence Regiment. Part of the British Army, dependent on local Protestant recruitment.
UVF. Ulster Volunteer Force. Initially founded in 1912 as a force against the movement for Irish independence, later incorporated into the British army. Also an illegal, except briefly, Protestant paramilitary force that carried out assassinations.
Unionist. One who favours retaining union with the United Kingdom.
Whitehall. Seat of British government in London.
THE PSALM KILLER
CHRIS PETIT is a film-maker and writer. He lives in North London.
First published 1996 by Macmillan
This edition published 1997 by Pan Books
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Copyright © Chris Petit 1996
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