logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2022
41m 20s

Episode 59: The most brutal 24-hour peri...

Sunday World
About this episode
In Northern Ireland’s troubled past there have been hundreds of atrocities and thousands of lives lost - but one 24-hour period stands out as the most brutal of all.

Forty five years ago this week, unprecedented slaughter visited a small corner of south Armagh and left its mark forever on both the landscape and the lives of those left behind.

First, was the brutal murder of the Catholic Reavey brothers, John Martin and Brian, just 24 and 22-years-old when they were gunned down in their family home.

Their 17-year-old brother, Anthony, catastrophically injured in the ambush, would die weeks later. The attack was carried out by the notorious 'Glennanne Gang', made up of rogue police and army officers working in collusion with loyalist terrorists in a sick bid to ethnically cleanse the catholic population.
Twenty minutes after the ambush, in a co-ordinated attack, three members of the O’Dowd family were slaughtered in their home in nearby County Down by a UVF hit team.

But that wasn’t the end of the killings. Within 24 hours of the murders, a suspected IRA terror mob carried out the shocking Kingsmill massacre of 10 innocent protestant textile workers and one more who miraculously survived.

So what is the legacy of such appalling events and after four-and-a-half decades is the British government's plans for a Troubles amnesty a line in the sand or an outrage to those still seeking justice?

Nicola Tallant and Sunday World colleague Hugh Jordan visit peace campaigner Eugene Reavey, as he recalls the dreadful events that visited his life and they consider the stark reality that some scars will never heal.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
Episode 1155: Hennessy family to face eviction from taxpayer-funded home
The house where the State say the Hennessy brothers along with two accomplices tortured and branded a man ‘a rat’ with a red hot cattle iron is a council owned property paid for by the taxpayer.Fingal County Council will now have to follow their own rules and evict the Hennessy c ... Show More
25m 30s
Today
Episode 1154: Breakthrough evidence could pin Mr Big to Robbie Lawlor's murder
Gardaí in Ireland say they have evidence which proves that the notorious criminal Mr Big was behind the murder of gangland assassin Robbie Lawlor in Belfast in a complex plot which has been unravelled by Encrochat material they have finally received.Nicola speaks about Big and a ... Show More
25m 36s
Aug 22
Episode 1153: One-armed thug Dean Fagan attacked with knives on Dublin street
He is an underworld influencer who posts regular updates on his social media sites.But Dean Fagan, who lost a hand when a pipe bomb he was holding exploded, was recently caught on camera as he was attacked in broad daylight on a Dublin street.Nicola speaks with Niall Donald about ... Show More
12m 8s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2019
Ep117 - The St. Aubin Massacre
In 1929, Benny Evangelist, his wife and their four children were brutally murdered with an axe inside their Detroit home. This case is 90 years old and remains one of Detroit's most baffling and brutal unsolved murders. While researching this case, we found two other solved mass ... Show More
1h 7m
Jun 2024
Days of Terror: Episode 394. Part 1/2
This episode, from Northern Ireland, looks at events near Portadown during the period of just a few days at the height of the Troubles. Three terrorist attacks saw nine innocent civilians killed in a series of revenge attacks at the Central Bar in Gilford and at the homes of the ... Show More
24m 35s
Dec 2022
The Bain Family Murders Part 1
In mid-1994, the bodies of married couple Robin and Margaret Bain, and three of their four children, were discovered in their home in the city of Dunedin on the South Island of New Zealand. They had all been shot to death. The only person to survive was the Bain's family oldest s ... Show More
1 h
Jan 2024
S2 E15: The Teenage Cult-Group That Nearly Got away with Murder: The Disciples of Destruction
Mount Vernon New Hampshire is a small quiet town with population 2,000 and described as the “perfect place to live”. It has low-crime rates, great schools, beautiful scenery and friendly neighbors. It was a peaceful place where most people go to raise children and retire. But all ... Show More
37m 59s
Dec 2021
Episode 224 - The Guildford Four & The Maguire Seven
On the 5th of October 1974, the Provisional Irish Republican Army blew up a military pub in Guildford, killing four soldiers, one civilian and injuring sixty-five others. The responsibility for the heinous act of terror was quickly thrown at three young Irish men and a seventeen- ... Show More
1h 14m