Rosemary Nelson
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Rosemary Nelson | |
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| Born | Rosemary Magee Script error: No such module "person date". |
| Died | Script error: No such module "person date". Lurgan, Northern Ireland |
| OccupationTemplate:Pluralize from text | Solicitor |
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| Known for | Killed by Ulster loyalists in 1999 |
| Notable creditTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
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Rosemary Nelson (née Magee; 4 September 1958 – 15 March 1999) was a Northern Irish solicitor from Lurgan, County Armagh. She was killed in a car bomb planted by an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, the Red Hand Defenders – a covername used on this occasion by the Loyalist Volunteer Force, in 1999. Nelson was posthumously awarded the Train Foundation's Civil Courage Prize, which recognises "extraordinary heroes of conscience".[1]
Legal career
Nelson obtained her law degree at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) School of Law. She worked with other solicitors for a number of years before opening her own practice in Lurgan in 1989.[2] Nelson represented clients in a number of high-profile cases, including Michael Caraher, one of the South Armagh Snipers, as well as Colin Duffy, a Lurgan-based Republican paramilitary accused of killing two RUC officers just yards from Lurgan RUC Station in 1996. She also represented the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition in nearby Portadown in the long-running Drumcree conflict against the Orange Order and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
Assassination
Nelson claimed she had received death threats from members of the RUC as a result of her legal work. Some RUC officers made abusive and threatening remarks about Nelson to her clients, which became publicly known.[3] In 1997, while approaching police lines in her capacity as legal representative of the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, she was grabbed by an RUC officer and pulled into the middle of the police. Nelson reported to the Committee on the Administration of Justice that one of the officers said "Rosemary you Fenian fucker", spat in her face, and that the police pushed her around to the extent that she had bruises all over her arm, her right shoulder and her legs. The later Rosemary Nelson Inquiry concluded that her account of this incident was honest and truthful.[2]
In 1998, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Solicitors, Param Cumaraswamy, noted threats from the RUC in his annual report, and stated in a television interview that he believed Nelson's life could be in danger. He made recommendations to the British government concerning threats from police against solicitors, which were not acted upon. Later that year, Nelson testified before a committee of the United States Congress investigating human rights in Northern Ireland, confirming that death threats had been made against her and her three children.[4]
On 15 March 1999, Nelson was killed by a sophisticated bomb placed under her car outside her home in Lurgan.[5] A loyalist paramilitary group calling itself the Red Hand Defenders – a flag of convenience – claimed responsibility for the murder.[6][7] Journalists soon learnt that the murder had been carried out by the Loyalist Volunteer Force, specifically that its commander Mark Fulton had sanctioned it when on compassionate release from prison and that Thomas Ewing was the bombmaker.[5] Allegations that the British state security forces were involved in her killing led to a public inquiry.
Inquiry
In 2004, the Cory Collusion Inquiry recommended that the UK Government hold an inquiry into the circumstances of Nelson's death. The resulting inquiry into her assassination, chaired by retired judge Sir Michael Morland, opened at the Craigavon Civic Centre, Craigavon, County Armagh, in April 2005.[8] In September 2006 the British Security Service MI5 announced it would be represented at the inquiry. This move provoked criticism from Nelson's family, who reportedly expressed concerns that MI5 would remove sensitive or classified information.[9]
The results of the inquiry were published on 23 May 2011.[10][11] The inquiry found no evidence that state security agencies—including the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)—had "directly facilitated" her murder, but "could not exclude the possibility" that individual members of those agencies had helped the perpetrators.[3]
Furthermore, the inquiry found that Nelson had been publicly threatened and assaulted by RUC officers in 1997, and that those officers had made threatening remarks about her to her clients, which became publicly known.[3] It concluded that this helped "legitimise her as a target in the eyes of loyalist terrorists",[3][12] and that some RUC intelligence about her had 'leaked'. All this, it said, increased the danger to her life.[3]
Rosemary Nelson was survived by her husband and their three children.
See also
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Honorees". Civil Courage Prize. 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gráinséir, Seosamh (15 March 2019). "Irish Legal Heritage: Rosemary Nelson". Irish Legal News. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ a b c d e The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry Report (2011). pp.465-466
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judiciary Calls for Independent Investigation into Murder of Northern Ireland Human Rights Attorney". United Nations. 16 March 1999.
- ^ a b Martin Breen, 'Rosemary Nelson: "There were some rogue police officers who would have been quite happy for her not to be around"' (19.30). Belfast Telegraph, 14 March 2025. Retrieved 14 March 2025
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry Report" (PDF). CAIN Archive. 23 May 2011.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Car bomb kills Northern Ireland lawyer". BBC News. 15 March 1999.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Police team assist Nelson inquiry". BBC News. 12 May 2005.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."MI5 represented at Nelson inquiry". BBC News. 21 September 2006.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry Report" (PDF). CAIN Archive. 23 May 2011.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Rosemary Nelson Inquiry: 'no collusion' in murder". BBC News. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Beatrix Campbell (4 July 2009). "So who did kill Rosemary Nelson?". The Guardian.
External links
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