Family fears full truth about brutal Castlederg murder will never come out

THE family of a young Aghyaran man brutally murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in 1991 fear the truth about what really happened to him will never emerge.

Patrick Shanaghan was shot dead by the UDA in Castlederg on August 12, 1991. His family have consistently expressed their belief that the RUC and UDR colluded in the killing, which happened close to the family home as he was travelling to work.

Several members of Mr Shanaghan’s family held a 45 minute briefing with the Police Ombudsman, following the publication of a report into the brutal killing of the 33-year-old. His was one of 19 murders investigated for the 336 page document, which the family says ‘justifies’ their long-held belief that there was collusion. Among the damning flaws in the investigation were that the RUC had intelligence of a planned attack by the UDA/UFF on August 12, 1991, which they afterwards said related to Patrick Shanaghan. They also failed to arrest a person known only as ‘Person X’, whose details were distributed via the police computer network in connection with the murder.

Speaking to the We Are Tyrone, Mr Bogue, said there were critical flaws in the RUC investigation at the time. The family have also spoken of their distress that a doctor was not allowed to treat Mr Shanaghan as he lay fatally injured.

“I don’t believe the RUC and PSNI, that we are getting the full truth that they didn’t know until afterwards that this intelligence related to Patrick’s murder. There are too many coincidences involved in all of this and these failings are all part of the collusion,” he said.

“We have no information as to who Person X is. Our family haven’t got the truth and have never been told exactly what happened. But it’s not just the one person who pulled the trigger who was part of this collusion.

“There is a chain of collusion here, stretching from the people who were willing Patrick dead by the focus which highlighted him as a possible target.

“This wasn’t just one or two rogue RUC or UDR officers in Castlederg, or rogue UDR members. Patrick’s murder goes much higher to the senior ranks of the RUC and UDR and right to the heart of Government and the Cabinet office.

“Our family is no closer to the truth now. But we have had an Inquest and a Public Inquiry. So many others haven’t.”