Another member of the Bridgeton Campbell clan was in the news this week.
The British rightwing populist Reform UK [a private limited company] removed Craig Campbell as its Scottish organiser after the Daily Record approached Nigel Farage's party about Campbell's Facebook posts and family background.
The newspaper revealed Campbell to be the son of William "Big Bill" Campbell who was the commander of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in Scotland jailed for bombings in Glasgow in 1973 and 1979.
Big Bill Campbell and his brother, Colin, were sentenced to 16 and 15 years respectively following bomb attacks on 17th February 1979 on two pubs in Glasgow frequented by Catholics. Proper detective work and information from human intelligence sources led to the swift arrest of the UVF bombers. Some of them ratted on the others.
Let's work our way back Big Bill Campbell's convictions though.
Big Bill Campbell's first bombing conviction was for an accidental explosion in the Apprentice Boys of Derry club hall in Landressy Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow. Glasgow police arrested Campbell and George Martin trying to flee the scene of the explosion which wrecked the hall and the tenement above endangering the lives of women living there. Martin got off on appeal but was sent down with Campbell for the 1979 pub bombings. Campbell's brother Colin was reported to have arrived with them at Landressy Street but he was not charged.
Later news reports recorded that the gelignite was hidden in an oven and exploded when it was turned on which would be risible only for the lives that could have been lost in the hall and neighbouring tenements. The Daily Record (12th June 1973) also wrote that it had received an anonymous letter a few hours after the explosion that it passed to the police. This letter was described in court as "significant".
The letter-writer said that Campbell was planning to car-bomb St. Andrew's Catholic cathedral in Clyde Street, Glasgow, which was just over a mile away from Landressy Street. The same news report quoted an unnamed friend of Campbell who said:
"He just lives to hate Catholics".
Read the Daily Record Report >>>
The court reports from 1973 also record an "enormous list" of previous convictions for Campbell including robbery and assault, including one which led to him being imprisoned from 1969 to 1971.
I tracked these back to find out what this was for and it turned out that Big Bill Campbell and his pal, Robert Faulds, were convicted in October 1969 for their part in a Rangers soccer fans' attack on the George Bar in the Main Street of Bridgeton on the day that Celtic beat Rangers 4-0 (April 26th 1969). The pub was known as "Little Paradise" in the area as many Celtic supporters drank in it. Campbell - with an address then in Easterhouse - was sentenced to 30 months for bricking and bottling the pub and its patrons.
Soccer hooliganism, mob rule, and violent sectarianism have a long history in Bridgeton that can be traced to the Billy Boys street gang and beyond.
Campbell's sectarian hooligan attack and conviction in 1969 are also terrible echoes of a murder a generation later - this bloody killing was committed by another member of the Campbell clan a few hundred metres away in 1995.
Continued below...
The Murder of Mark Scott
Big Bill's nephew, Jason - Colin's son and Craig's cousin - served time for the cowardly, sectarian murder of defenceless teenager, Mark Scott (16) on 7th October 1995.
Mark was the son of one of Glasgow's most respected corporate lawyers, Niall Scott, and Mark's teachers expected a great future for him too. Those hopes were snuffed out near Bridgeton Cross as Mark walked home after a Celtic win against Partick Thistle. Mark and his teenage mates crossed the path of local Rangers fans including Jason Campbell. Campbell - then 23 - ran up behind young Mark and cut his throat with a razor-sharp knife simply because he was a Celtic supporter and a perceived Catholic.
The Scotsman wrote on the eve of the second anniversary of Mark's murder: "Such was the viciousness of the attack that it severed the boy's throat to the spine."
Jason Campbell fled but disgusted locals identified him to police within hours.
Read the article here >>>
Jason Campbell was in the news again as the second anniversary of Mark's murder coincided with an outrageous attempt - which nearly succeeded - to have him transferred to the Maze Prison in the north of Ireland so he could serve time for the sectarian murder of a child in the relative comfort of the UVF wing where he would be looked after by his dad's and uncle's Belfast paramilitary pals.
The infamy of Mark's murder and this sickening attempt to have him transferred from Scottish prison are remembered to this day as Craig Campbell recently discovered.
Our families remember too.
Big Bill Campbell and the McGurk's Bar Massacre
As the BBC rightly recorded in its report on the dismissal of Craig Campbell, I wrote in my book of 2012, The McGurk's Bar Bombing, that Big Bill Campbell was in the frame for providing the gelignite explosives used in the Massacre of 4th December 1971 which resulted in the death of 15 civilians including two children.
Hugh Jordan of the Sunday World first published Campbell's grim connection to the atrocity in 1997 when his nephew Jason was in the news again. One of Campbell's cell mates told the reporter Campbell had a "pathological hatred of Catholics" and that he boasted he had planted the McGurk's Bar bomb.
Big Bill Campbell was not one of the killers named in Royal Ulster Constabulary files involved on the night of the Massacre. We did discover though that Glasgow police named him in connection with the bombing too just 6 days later on 10th December 1971 - a police covert human intelligence source (CHIS) close to his gang informed them that he was boasting about his involvement even then. Glasgow police immediately informed the RUC and the RUC did nothing - the British state's McGurk's Bar cover-up operation was well-developed by then. Its armed forces in Belfast had colluded just hours after the explosion to pin the blame for the mass murder on the victims and all evidence pointing toward British extremists was buried so this critical evidence from a sister police force was ignored.
Loyalist sources confirmed that Big Bill Campbell had supplied the gelignite from Scotland and I can share with you some of my subsequent research into the Scottish UVF smuggling operations at that time.
CHIS
We know that the Glasgow police had at least one CHIS close to the Bridgeton UVF gang in December 1971, hence Glasgow police communication of Campbell's boasts about the McGurk's Bar explosion to RUC Headquarters in Belfast. We also know from our recent Information Tribunal that the Police Service of Northern Ireland is protecting at least one CHIS who fed RUC information regarding the McGurk's Bar Massacre around the same time.
I have also investigated the theft of gelignite in Scotland during the period and Scottish UVF smuggling operations thwarted by the police. Whilst RUC did nothing to investigate Campbell and the origin of the high explosives used to blow up McGurk's Bar, Glasgow police actively targeted his UVF gang in Scotland and recovered massive hauls en route to Loyalist paramilitaries in Belfast.
The theft of gelignite became a growing problem for Scottish police from 1970 onwards as both Republicans and Loyalist paramilitary groups - and even British socialist extremists "The Angry Brigade" - sought explosives. Scotland's Sunday Post wrote on 22nd August 1971 of police surveillance on four unnamed Glasgow pubs known for "an underworld trade in gelignite" that could be making its way to Belfast. The article highlights the ease of access for theft and transport across the Irish Sea less than two weeks after Internment and the catastrophic rise in violence in its wake:
"Gelignite is stolen from a lonely quarry or mine store. The thieves sell it in Glasgow. Then it's carried by ferry from Stranraer to Larne, or by plane to Belfast. There are no customs checks. No searches. A woman can carry a deadly load in her shopping bag. The police know some crooks have no scruples. They'll provide gelignite for anyone if the price is right."
"Up to £100 has been offered simply for information about where gelignite can be got."
"1500 quarries in Britain have thousands of tons of high explosives stored on the premises."
"They're often in remote parts of the country, deserted at nights or weekends."
With security slacker than at explosives stores in Northern Ireland, Scotland remained an easy target for organised paramilitary and criminal groups.
The Dunlop and Fallin Raids
In my research for the McGurk's Bar Massacre, two successful raids on explosives stores in Scotland stand out if only due to their locations and the date of theft. They were carried out around the same time and 45 miles apart—one at Dunlop, about 20 miles southwest of the centre of Glasgow, and one at Fallin, around 25 miles northeast of the city centre.
Scottish police appeared to play down the thefts and said the raiders left behind more than they stole and they did not suspect the involvement of any paramilitary organisation (The Scotsman 9th November 1971):
"The amounts involved are small, even for criminal purposes, and it is possible that a Glasgow gang organised the two raids in case one failed to get anything." (Belfast Telegraph 9th November 1971).
55lb of gelignite and 500 detonators from the Dunlop raid and over 200 sticks of dynamite and 200 detonators at Fallin still amounted to over 100 lbs of high explosives either being illegally stored or moved in Scotland. Very dangerous, of course.
The news reports speculated that the hauls were en route to Northern Ireland though and "special watch" was put on Scottish ports. An RUC spokesman (Belfast Telegraph 9th November 1971) said police would be keeping a watch for the stolen explosives "but he added that there was a constant watch on ports and airports here."
The reason these raids feature in my research is not only because they occurred less then 4 weeks before the McGurk's Bar bomb (which British bomb experts estimated between 30 - 50 lbs of high explosive), but the raids were 4 days before another Loyalist bomb of a Catholic youth club and community centre using gelignite. The club at the corner of Colinward Street and Forfar Street in West Belfast was partially demolished and nobody was hurt but the bomb was gelignite and claimed by the Empire Loyalists - the same nom de guerre/flag of convenience used by the UVF bombers of McGurk's Bar. We have long believed that this attack was a forerunner for the same units and materiel used in the Massacre of 4th December 1971. The bombers of the youth club had escaped towards nearby Mayo Street, a Loyalist area with strong links to B Company 1 UVF.
Coincidentally or not too, the British Army had warned men from the Colinward area to "end vigilante duties at the building" (Irish News 15th November 1971) a fortnight before the UVF bombed it. The British Army had targeted the original mark of the McGurk's Bar bombers - the Gem Bar - just two nights before the UVF.
So, it is speculation on my part as to whether the gelignite used in the bombings of Colin youth club and McGurk's Bar is from the haul stolen in the simultaneous raids in Fallin and Dunlop outside Glasgow, and whether Campbell's gang was involved in either or both.
What we do know is that the port authorities and Scottish cops were watching them and made some major Loyalist arms arrests over the next year and a half - all at a time when the British state interned only Irish Catholics in the north of Ireland.
Continued below...
Arrests
On April 16th 1972, 4 Scotsmen were arrested coming off the Stranraer ferry with 62lb gelignite in 1/2 lb sticks in their car. Two of them took the rap for the explosives in September - Thomas Patterson from Baillieston, Glasgow, and George Weir France of Glengoig, Lanarkshire. They got off lightly with possession under suspicious circumstances instead of possession with intent even though they admitted being members of a Loyalist organisation in Glasgow and alleged they were going to use the explosives to blow up an IRA dump in Belleek, Co. Fermanagh. Patterson got 5 years and France 4.
Two weeks after their original arrest on 30th April 1972, Scottish police swooped on a man transferring stolen explosives, guns and ammunition from a car to a van in Greenock, a village 25 miles to the west of Glasgow. It was a massive arms find of over 1300 sticks of gelignite (about 650 lbs), six rifles, five shotguns, two pistols and 152 rounds of ammunition.
Mystery surrounded the arrest even as the man appeared in Greenock Sheriff Court the following day and a number of other men were released. The man appeared in private and the Procurator Fiscal declined to state the nature of the charges or to reveal the man's identity. Detectives tried to establish the source of the explosives and weapons but worked on the theory that they were en route to the north of Ireland.
Read "Mystery of Man Held in Scots Arms Find" (Belfast Telegraph, 1st May 1972).
Even when a second man was arrested the following day, he too appeared at a private hearing and the court maintained his anonymity. I could only find their identities from later court reports in newspapers from the 17th June 1972.
George McGarrigle was arrested at the scene. He was a marshal of Greenock District Orange Lodge and a former Non-Commissioned Officer of the British Army.
Alan Mitchell was from Easterhouse and was a member of Baillieston Orange Lodge, the same Lodge as George Martin. The same UVF gang.
They had stolen the 650 lbs of gelignite from Carbrook Mine, Torwood, Stirlingshire on January 31st/February 1st 1972 and two of the rifles were stolen from the British Army's Royal Signals Army Cadet Force premises in Jardine Street, Glasgow.
Loyalist extremism and its connection with Scottish Orange Lodges feature in news reports from the time but the UVF is not named. Orange Lodges feature too in the context of my article and not only the Apprentice Boys of Derry Hall used to store gelignite in Landressy Street, Glasgow. The McGurk's Bar bombers set off from West Belfast Orange Hall and returned there after they murdered 15 men, women, and children for a celebratory drink.
Despite much of the good work done by the Orange Order over the last generation, British extremism and sectarianism in Orange Lodges remains a scourge to this day.
Spence, Big Bill and Belfast UVF
It was not until March 1973 that Scottish police could secure the conviction of Scotland's UVF leader, Big Bill Campbell, for explosives stored at the Apprentice Boys of Derry Hall in Landressy Street, but the RUC had him, 3 of the McGurk's Bar bombers and the escaped UVF leader, Gusty Spence, in their custody in October 1972. They released them all, even though Spence was the most wanted British extremist in the United Kingdom.
Big Bill Campbell was one of 59 men detained in a Parachute Regiment swoop on a UVF club off Agnes Street, Belfast, on October 11th 1972 in a targeted search for Gusty Spence who had escaped whilst on a short release from prison. Among many other active UVF paramilitaries detained and handed over to the RUC were three of those named as involved in the McGurk's Bar Massacre. At a time when Irish Catholics were being interned without trial, all of the Loyalist paramilitaries including Campbell were released.
The British Army soon discovered too that they actually had detained Gusty Spence who was easily recognisable despite any disguise due to unique tattoos. The British Army further realised that the RUC had known it had Spence in custody but deliberately allowed him to escape and helped create the myth of the Orange Pimpernel.
RUC Chief Constable Graham Shillington who had helped to cover up the McGurk's Bar Massacre ordered an inquiry into the RUC release of Spence and the other UVF leaders. The British state smothered any indication that the British Army was disgusted by RUC and its release of Spence.
By the way, the PSNI has denied me access to the results of that inquiry.
New Inquests
Our families secured new inquests for our loved ones this April after 52 years but the British state closed them down days later when it enacted its disgraceful Legacy Act. Mark my words, we will get new inquests and, when we do, the connection between Big Bill and the McGurk's Bar Massacre will be examined in its entirety along with the rest of RUC's investigative failures.
We will also be targeting state files relating to police control of covert human intelligence sources in both Scotland and the north of Ireland during the discovery process. Scottish police targeted and convicted leading members of the Scottish UVF from 1972 as soon as bombs went off on Scottish soil. Meanwhile, the RUC ignored them when it suited its intelligence and sectarian agenda, even when they had UVF leaders and Big Bill in custody.
We know state agents are involved on both sides of the Irish Sea and we know CHIS were closely involved in Big Bill's and B Company's UVF units, but the RUC and Scottish police handled them differently and for different reasons.
PSNI is fighting to suppress this information in court to this very day but if recent inquests are anything to go by, the British state's dirty secrets about its management of agents and the McGurk's Bar Massacre will be dragged out into the light in due course.
