大象传媒

"This is one of the most horrific crimes in Ulster's tragic history. This slaughter of innocent people is the product of evil and depraved minds". This was the reaction of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to one of the highest death-tolls of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The regular Monday night disco at the Droppin' Well public house in Ballykelly, County Londonderry, was packed with around 150 people on 6 December 1982 when a no warning bomb detonated at around 11.15pm. Six civilians, four of them women, and eleven soldiers were killed in the explosion. Approximately 30 more were injured.

Many of those killed and injured were crushed by fallen masonry. So devastating was the impact of the explosion, it was initially thought to have been caused by 30 pounds of explosives. The device is actually believed to have contained five pounds of explosives, packed into a box measuring no more than six inches by three. The destruction was caused by the strategic placing of the device beside a support pillar. When the bomb exploded, the blast brought down the roof of the building.

Responsibility and justification

Although suspicion immediately fell upon the Provisional IRA, they denied involvement. Another , claimed responsibility for the bombing, targeting the pub as it was frequented by British Army soldiers from the nearby Shackleton Barracks.

In an interview after the bombing, INLA leader Dominic McGlinchey said that the Droppin' Well's owner had been warned six times to stop offering "entertainment" to British soldiers. McGlinchey added that the owner, and those who socialised with the soldiers, "knew full well that the warnings had been given and that the place was going to be bombed at some stage". The INLA stated that it was "time to take the war to the English and their cohorts in their own areas".

Devastation and rescue operation

The pub manager, Peter Cooke, described the scene of devastation: "It was chaos, bodies lying everywhere, people screaming. I've never seen a sight like it in my life."

Following the blast, it took many hours to pull survivors from the rubble. Brian Barron, reporting at the scene for the 大象传媒, told how "many of the 150 soldiers and civilians were entombed screaming in the rubble. It was a truly epic rescue operation". It was not until 10.30am the following morning that the last of the bodies was recovered.

Victims

Three of the six civilians who lost their lives (Alan Callaghan, Valerie McIntyre and Angela Maria Hoole) were teenagers. Another of the victims, Ruth Dixon, had been celebrating her 24th birthday at the pub when the bomb went off.

Of the eleven soldiers who died, eight were from the 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment, two from the Army Catering Corps and one from the Light Infantry. One of the soldiers killed, Lance Corporal Stephen Gossop, had recently phoned his mother to say they had found a safe pub to drink in - the Droppin' Well.

Pat Cooke became the 17th and final victim of the bombing when she died from her injuries ten days later. Her brother was the owner of the pub, another brother was the manager. Her father was the local undertaker who helped to bury many of those killed at the Droppin' Well.

British Army policy

In the days following the bombing questions were raised as to why the soldiers had been in the pub given the security risk involved. At the time, the British Army operated a 'normalisation' policy in garrison towns such as Ballykelly. Soldiers would socialise with the local community while off-duty, rather than remaining confined to their bases.

The commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment defended the decision to allow the soldiers to drink in the Droppin' Well, reasoning that "we have to try and do what we can to lead as normal a life as we can".

Political fallout

Condemnation for the attack on the Droppin' Well was widespread. . Church of Ireland Bishop James Mehaffey, conducting the funeral of Alan Callaghan, called the bombers "the enemies of all the people in these islands", and the Irish Taoiseach Charles Haughey echoed those sentiments in describing it as "wanton killing".

Against this backdrop, political controversy ignited over the invitation issued by the Greater London Council to the leadership of Sinn F茅in (the IRA's political wing) to talks in London. While GLC leader Ken Livingstone argued that dialogue was the only way to achieve peace, Northern Ireland Secretary James Prior condemned the invitation: "After the events of this week, I find it intolerable that people should be allowed and invited to come here who have done nothing in any way to condemn what has happened in the bombings this week or for many weeks past".

Within days, British Home Secretary William Whitelaw imposed a banning order on the proposed Sinn F茅in delegation under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, preventing them from entering Britain.

Legacy

The bombing of the Droppin' Well brought the threat offered by the INLA sharply into focus. Although capable of headline-grabbing acts of violence, such as in 1979, they had been considered a marginal group by the security forces. In the wake of the Droppin' Well bombing, their leader Dominic McGlinchey became one of the most wanted men in Ireland. As such, attempts were made to intercept a suspected operation to ferry McGlinchey across the Irish border into the north on 12 December 1982. INLA members Seamus Grew and Roddie Carroll were shot dead at an RUC roadblock. Neither were armed, and McGlinchey was not in the vehicle.

In June 1986, four INLA members were found guilty of the Droppin' Well bombing. Anna Moore, Eamon Moore, Helena Semple and Patrick Shotter all received life sentences for their part in the attack. A fifth, Jacqueline Ann Moore, was given ten years for manslaughter as the court believed she had been coerced into involvement. All of those convicted were from Derry.

The sheer scale of the devastation and loss of life left an indelible mark on many of those who experienced it. . "This was mass murder on a scale that I'd never come across before. When I got back to the hotel after the first day of the funerals, I burst out crying. I just put my stuff on the bed and I suddenly found myself sobbing like a baby".

A Lance Corporal stationed at Ballykelly, anonymously recalled the bombing on the : "Life in Ballykelly was never the same for both our civilian friends and families and our own military community. There remained a sense of disbelief and cautious awareness by us all. The scars of 6th December 1982 will stay with many of us for all our lives. People have been affected in many different ways by the horrific events of that night".