The crime of being Catholic, 40 years on

Posted by Jim on October 3, 2015

The sister of a Catholic woman murdered by the Glennane Gang has spoken
out in search of justice for Peggy Hale, 40 years after her death.

The mother of five was just 32 when she died 18 days after two gunmen
stormed the pub in which she was sitting with family near Loughgall –
before throwing a bomb through the door on September 4, 1975.

Peggy was just 32 when she died as a result of injuries from a loyalist
attack against a Loughgall bar. Left with serious internal injuries,
Peggy never returned to consciousness before passing away on September
22.

She was visiting from her home in England, where she moved with her
Protestant husband Walter in 1964.

Describing the events of that fateful night, Kathy said: “The door was
kicked open and two gunmen came in. They finally finished shooting, but
then one came back and threw a green duffle bag in… [and] the bomb
went off.

“There was 12 taken to hospital that night… and seemly whenever they
were in Craigavon Hospital, Craigavon is supposed to have had a call to
find out ‘how many Fenians did we get?’

“When we realised that this was the Glennane Gang, nothing was
off-limits.”

The gang, the deadliest in the conflict, united members of the British
Army, RUC police, and loyalist paramilitaries in a long series of
sectarian and political killings.

To this day no-one has ever been held to account for the murder of Peggy
Hale – although the family is hopeful of answers.

“We were told a short time afterwards that it was this Glennane Gang
that murdered her,” her sister Kathy told this paper, “but we were
afraid to talk about it.

“The thing that sickened us more was that these were people that were
paid, that wore uniforms, to protect us.

“My father was a Scotsman and he was in British Army,” Kathy added, “but
the way we were brought up everybody was the same and religion was never
talked about at home.

“It’s the collusion part that I am so angry about. Whenever we got the
HET report there was no evidence – the people you thought protected
everyone had blood on their hands.

“Your only crime is that you’re Catholic.”