“My Lenny could not have hurt a fly.” - Joyce Murphy
On the 25th of November 1975 Francis Crossan, a 34 year old father of two children. He was a Catholic from Belfast without any affiliation to any paramilitary organizations. He was walking home from a night out, unaware he was being followed by four men in a Belfast Black cab. The taxi stopped alongside Francis. One man got out and hit Francis over the head with a wheel brace. He was then dragged into the cab and taken to a secluded, nearby alleyway. The four men, beat him to within an inch of his life, before sticking a broken pint class in his head. Then, they cut his throat from his left ear to his right ear so severely, that the laceration almost exposed his spine. His body was dumped beside a police station. Francis Crossan had become the first civilian to have his throat cut by the Shankhill Butchers. Over, what became one of the most provocative times of the Troubles, he became the first of many that would die so viciously at the hands of the Shankhill Butchers.
The Shankhil Butchers operated for seven years. Between the years 1975-1982 and in that time there are known to have been twelve men involved in the gang. The leader of the Butchers was Lenny Murphy. Murphy had a seething hatred of Catholics and is quoted as describing them as ‘scum’ and ‘animals’ on many occasions. He was born in Shankhill in 1952. Lenny was 16 years old when he joined the UVF. He was first charged with murder at 20 years old. On the 28th of September 1972, William Pavis a 32 year old was shot in the head in broad daylight. He was a protestant. However, the UVF believed he was selling weapons to the IRA, so ordered him to be killed. Two men were arrested for the murder. Mervin Connor and Lenny Murphy. There were two witnesses that said the saw Lenny Murphy pull the trigger. He was also picked out from an identification line up while in police custody. However, not long after his identification, Mervin Connor died in an apparent suicide. He ingested a huge amount of suicide and left a note, admitting to the murder of William Pavis. It is believed that this note was written under duress from Lenny Murphy. The case went to trial and Lenny Murphy was acquitted of the murder. He was released and immediately rearrested due to various escape attempts while incarcerated. He was then jailed for 2 years. This was the first of many murders Murphy was accused of, or involved in and was the first of many stints in jail.
On his release, Murphy set about setting up his own paramilitary organization. He did not want to be governed by the rules and regulations of the UVF and did not want to have to answer to a more senior member of the oraganisation. He began by recruiting 3 other individuals who shared the same deep rooted hatred of Catholics as himself.
1: Robert ‘Basher’ Bates 25
2: Sam McAllister 20
3: William Moore 25
All 3 men had already a substantial criminal record. William Moore drove a Black taxi and previously worked as a meat packer. It is from this position that the men had access to a set of butchers knives and meat cleavers. These knives were repeatedly used in future killings. Other men, passed through the gang, however, these 3 men were trusted by Murphy and were the core of the Shankhill Butchers, led at all times by Murphy. The very first victims of the Butchers met their fate on October 2nd 1975. The Butchers shot dead, 2 men and 2 women in a robbery. One month later, the first victim to be killed by knife was the aforementioned Francis Crossan. He was mutilated so badly, he had to have a closed coffin funeral. The killings continued in this same manner for years.
Armed with cleavers and axes the Shankill Butchers roamed the streets of Belfast looking for random Catholic victims to torture and kill. In the mid-seventies, security forces were stretched to breaking point by the high profile actions of republican and loyalist paramilitary gangs, and so were perceived to have turned a blind eye. Though many members of the gang were said to be members of the UVF, targeting innocent Catholics, the group also turned on their own at times, killing Protestants they had mistaken for Catholics. The gang became known for kidnapping and brutally murdering the Catholics they picked up. Each would be viciously beaten and tortured with weapons including hatchets, and each would have their throat hacked. Thomas Quinn (55) was the next victim. The account of the woman that found the body of Thomas Quinn became vital, as she mentioned she heard the sound of a heavy diesel engine similar to that of a black taxi. Just 3 days after killing Thomas Quinn, the Shankill butchers killed Archilbald Hannah and Raymond Carlisle. The men were shot while sitting in a lorry. The Butchers believed that these men were Catholics. However, they were protestants on their way to work. Francis Rice (24) was next just 2 weeks later. His throat was slashed from ear to ear and his body was dumped. An almost identical death to Thomas Quinn. It was after the death of rica that the media began using the name ‘The Shankill Butchers’ for the gang.
On the 11th of March 1976 there was a break in the case. Two Catholic women were walking along the Cliftonville Road in Belfast when they were shot at from a passing car. The gunman, abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene. A witness saw one man saw a man acting suspiciously near the scene. They called the police, who investigated and found a gun at the scene. Instead of taking the gun, the police decided to place the street under surveillance. The following morning, a man returned two the scene to look for the gun. He was arrested on the spot. Lenny Murphy had been caught. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, for possession of a firearm with intent to kill. In his absence, he told his accomplices that the `cut-throat' murders should continue. Cornelius `Con' Neeson (49) was attacked by Moore and Bates, who were armed with a hatchet, on Cliftonville Road on August 1, 1976 and died a few hours later. In October 1977, Murphy was jailed for 12 years after pleading guilty to a firearms charges. Murphy's accomplices were also ordered to resume the killings. Three more Catholic men from north Belfast were subsequently kidnapped, tortured and hacked to death. They included Stephen McCann (21), a Queen's University student, who was murdered in October 1976, Joseph Morrissey (52), who was killed in February 1977, his throat was cut so deeply that he was almost decapitated, he was also mutilated. Francis Cassidy (43), a dock-worker who was killed on March 30, 1977.
The killing Ted McQuade led the police in the direction of black cabs once again. Ted and his wife were walking home from a party when a car pulled up alongside them. Ted was shot 6 times and died instantly. When interviewed by police, McQuades wife mentioned that the men fled the scene in a black taxi. Now the police had two cases where a black taxi was identified. The Police were met with a wall of silence when questioning people in Shankill for information. Residents of Shankill were terrified to collaborate, for fear of retribution. Despite, the police being sure, many people know who the butchers were, they knew that it was unlikely anyone would help. The police had heard enough accounts of Black taxis to conclude that these killings were all linked and it warranted a search of the entire fleet for clues. They then went on to search all 700 black taxis in Belfast. The honed in on the ones operating in the are of Shankill. William Moore’s taxi was one of the taxis forensically examined. This is the same taxi that the Butchers used to carry out the murders. However, nothing was found. Because of this attention,Lenny Murphy ordered the cab to be destroyed. Moore then bought a yellow Ford Cortina. This car was used in the subsequent attacks. The media attention became so prominent that people were terrified that they would run away from Black Cabs in Belfast. Charlotte Morrissey, the daughter of Joseph Morrissey said;
“It’s hard to believe that there would be such cruelty on such a very deep level, hatred, hatred because what, I’m catholic, because my father was a different religion. A good man, a hard-working man who brought up his children to be good human beings. And, to take him and torture him and beat him and cut him and remove parts of his body, it’s beyond my comprehension. It really is.”
Loyalist Leaders in the area, knew that Lenny Murphy was the leader of the gang, calling him a ‘bloody psychopath’ however, they did not want to intervene, for fear of revenge attacks. They police knew he was in charge. However, they had no proof of this. They were just happy to have him behind bars for firearms offenses.
On the 10th of May 1977 the whole investigation changed when one of the Butchers victims was found still alive. Gerard McLaverty was ordered into a yellow Ford Cortina by 4 men. The 4 men had spent the day drinking. McLaverty was taken the an old disused doctor’s surgery where he was beaten and stabbed. His wrists were cut and he was dumped down an alleyway. He survived the night and a passerby heard his cries fro help the next morning. He was taken to hospital and survived. Detective Jimmy Nesbitt who was in charge of the case had an idea. One week later, whilst McLaverty was recovering from his injuries, Nesbitt disguised him and put him in his car. Nesbitt drove McLaverty around Shankill and followed the same route he had taken on the night he was attacked. Unbelievable, McLavery was able to identify Sam McAllister, Benjamin ‘Pretty Boy’ Edwards. McLaverty was able to remember that McAllister rolled up his sleeves during the attack and revealed gunshot wounds on his arms. If police could find these scars on his arms then they had tangible proof he was one of the Butchers. He was arrested the next morning and the police found the scars. They also found a 6 inch steak knife and two 10 inch boning knives under the floor boards.
McLaverty also described one of the other attackers. The description fit the bill of William Moore and mentioned the car he was taken away in was a yellow Ford Cortina. Moores car was searched and traces of McLaverty’s clothing was found in his car. He was interrogated and eventually confessed to being present at all of the cut throat killings. He said ‘Murphy done the first three and I done the rest.’ The Butchers had been caught. He also admitted that Murphy was giving him the orders from prison. In the end Lenny Murphys 3 main henchmen as well as 8 others all confessed to the 19 murders of the Shankill Butchers. It us suspected that there might have been more victims. With 19 murders, this makes them the most prolific serial killers in British history. In February 1979, the men were sentenced. The 11 men, received a total of 2000 years in jail. However, Lenny Murphy was not convicted of any of the murders. He escaped conviction.
Three years after the rial of the Shankill Butchers, Lenny Murphy was released from prison. Just 24 hours after his release, he beat to death a protestant man with special needs. He immediately began recruiting for a new gang of Shankill Butchers. Not long after this, Lenny Murphy killed a Catholic man named Joseph Duggan. He then, pulled out all but 3 of his teeth with a pliers before beating him to death with a shovel. His body was dumped behind Murphy’s house. He was arrested, but released due to lack of evidence. Murphy was a liability, he was unstable and out of control. On the 16th of November 1982, Murphy drove to his girlfriend’s house. He was followed by 2 IRA men. As he exited his car, he was shot by the 2 Provisional IRA gunmen with an assault rifle and a6mm pistol. He was shot more than 20 times and died instantly. He was killed in Glencar, in the same estate where many of the Shankill Butchers’ victims were found.
The IRA released a statement on the killing:
“Lenny Murphy (Master Butcher) has been responsible for the horrific murders of over 20 innocent nationalists in the Belfast area and a number of Protestants. The IRA has been aware for some time that since his release recently from prison, Murphy has been attempting to reestablish a similar murder gang to which he led in the 1970s and in fact he was responsible for a number of the recent sectarian murders in the Belfast area. The IRA takes this opportunity to restate its policy of non sectarian attacks, while retaining its right to take unequivocal action against those who direct or motivate sectarian slaughter against the nationalist population.”
Lenny Murphy’s mother Joyce always maintained her son’s innocence. Murphy was given a paramilitary funeral to which thousands of loyalists attended as well as some politicians. The remaining members of the Shankill Butchers were all pleased under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement as part of the peace making process in Northern Ireland.