| Pitchfork murders | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Troubles | |
| Location | Aughnahinch, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland |
| Date | 23 October 1972 4:20 p.m. |
Attack type | Stabbing |
| Weapon | Bowie knife |
| Victims | Michael Naan and Andrew Murray |
| Perpetrators | Stanley Hathaway and John Byrne |
The Pitchfork murders, or the Aughnahinch stabbings, was the killing of two Catholic civilians in October 1972, by two soldiers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
Stabbing
On 23 October 1972 at around 4:20 p.m. two soldiers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Sgt. Stanley Hathaway and Cpl. John Byrne attacked farmer and civil rights activist Michael Naan (31) and laborer Andrew Joseph Murray (24) with a Bowie knife, while they were lifting hay off a trailer at Naan’s farm in Aughnahinch.[1][2][3][4]
Murray was stabbed 13 times in the chest and Naan was stabbed at least 17 times and his throat slashed.[3]
Hathaway and Byrne claimed they attacked the two because they believed they were members of the IRA, although it’s possible they targeted was Naan because he was a prominent member of the civil rights movement. The killings could have also been reprisal for the murder of Richard Bell a member of the UDR who was shot and killed by the IRA a day earlier.[5][6]
References
- ↑ "The Pitchfork murders: Fifty years of unanswered questions". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
- ↑ Burke, Edward, ed. (2018), "Murder: The Killing of Michael Naan and Andrew Murray", An Army of Tribes: British Army Cohesion, Deviancy and Murder in Northern Ireland, Liverpool University Press, pp. 227–332, ISBN 978-1-78694-097-1, retrieved 2023-11-27
- 1 2 "Pitchfork Murders: cover-up by British Army exposed". www.anphoblacht.com. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
- ↑ "h300_andy.htm". www.tinneny.net. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ↑ "Three killings which left a Border community reeling". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ↑ "Nann and Murray murders in Fermanagh still 'raw' 50 years on". NorthernSound. Retrieved 2023-11-29.