The Shankill Butchers: The Real Story of Cold-Blooded Mass Murder

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Overview

During the 1970s a group of Protestant paramilitaries embarked on a spree of indiscriminate murder which left thirty Northern Irish Catholics dead. Their leader was Lenny Murphy, a fanatical Unionist whose Catholic-sounding surname led to his persecution as a child for which he took revenge on all Catholics.

Not for the squeamish, The Shankill Butchers is a horrifyingly detailed account of one of the most brutal series of murders in British ...
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Overview

During the 1970s a group of Protestant paramilitaries embarked on a spree of indiscriminate murder which left thirty Northern Irish Catholics dead. Their leader was Lenny Murphy, a fanatical Unionist whose Catholic-sounding surname led to his persecution as a child for which he took revenge on all Catholics.

Not for the squeamish, The Shankill Butchers is a horrifyingly detailed account of one of the most brutal series of murders in British legal history—a phenomenon whose real nature has been obscured by the political and violent context from which it sprang.
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Editorial Reviews

Booknews
Reprint of the 1989 edition with a new afterword. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)
Kirkus Reviews
A chilling, stomach-turning study of Northern Ireland's infamous Shankill Butchers, a Loyalist gang of murderers who preyed on Belfast's Catholic population. Investigative journalist Dillon, who published this account a decade ago in Great Britain, describes the bloody handiwork of the Shankill Butchers. Operating out of Protestant West Belfast, the Butchers were members of a Loyalist paramilitary group (the Ulster Volunteer Force, or UVF), and were led by a sadistic, anti-Catholic psychopath named Lenny Murphy. Murphy would become "the biggest mass murderer in British history," according to Dillon, who details Murphy's journey from schoolyard bully to petty criminal to cold-blooded serial killer. Dillon argues that Northern Ireland's toxic atmosphere of sectarian hatreds played a crucial role in producing Murphy, who used anti-Catholic ideology as a convenient cover for his sadistic love of violence. He murdered his first Catholic in 1972, beginning a killing spree that would last a decade. Accompanied by three gang members, Murphy would typically drive through Catholic areas of Belfast at night. Once a potential victim (usually a drunken man) had been located, Murphy would abduct him, torture him, and cut his throat with a butcher knife. Murphy visibly enjoyed killing Catholics, and Dillon's graphic descriptions of several murders make for gruesome reading. (Murphy typically "hacked through his victim's throat until the knife touched the spine" or "until the head was almost severed from the trunk.") Dillon also reproduces autopsy and police reports that will have queasy readers skipping over the gory details. The Butchers proved difficult to catch because the public of NorthernIreland were accustomed to shocking levels of sectarian violence and generally refused to cooperate with police. The Butchers were finally caught when one of their Catholic victims miraculously survived, and had the courage to testify against them. Murphy was murdered in 1982 by the Irish Republican Army, his sworn enemy. A notably depressing read that exposes the horror of Northern Ireland's history. (21 b&w photos)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780415922319
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis
  • Publication date: 3/28/1999
  • Edition description: New Edition
  • Pages: 288
  • Sales rank: 1,144,171
  • Product dimensions: 6.00 (w) x 8.90 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction
1 The Making of a Killer 1
2 A Killer is Blooded 13
3 A Killer Squad is Formed 37
4 The Butchery Begins 51
5 Charlie Division 59
6 A Public Execution 75
7 Murder Most Foul 95
8 The First Mistake 113
9 Murder Deal 125
10 Orders from Prison 141
11 A Natural Successor 157
12 The Bombing Mission 183
13 The Ultimate Witness 193
14 The Public Avenger? 225
15 'Mr X.' is Back 237
Conclusion 269
Postscript 277
Index 285
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