In some cases, the remains of executed spies and Black & Tans were hidden in graves dug in family burial plots belonging to IRA Volunteers who had presided over their execution. Occasionally bodies were hidden ‘in plain sight’ by secretly burying them in graveyards. The most common method used by the IRA to dispose of the bodies was to bury them in bogs, forests or in remote mountainous areas. In some cases, the IRA’s tactic of hiding the bodies may have been retaliation for the refusal to release the bodies of republican prisoners who had been executed by the British army and who were instead buried inside barrack walls or in prison yards.
The secret burial of executed British soldiers and RIC members taken prisoner also helped to prevent revenge attacks by their comrades in the British forces who were reluctant to strike in case the missing troops were being held hostage and might be executed in revenge for any reprisals. The most obvious is that hiding a body concealed evidence of the killing and made it difficult for British and later Free State courts to convict anyone for their involvement. There were several reasons why the IRA hid these executions. The British forces for their part disappeared at least 7 victims at the time - the majority of whom were IRA Volunteers or civilians who had fallen foul of the RIC. The largest category of those killed over the Irish revolution were 56 civilians suspected of spying or informing British soldiers accounted for 30 and policemen for 20.įinally, two National Army soldiers were disappeared during the Civil War. A further three such killings occurred during the Civil War. He is buried south of Cork on the Kinsale Road.įollowing the Anglo-Irish Truce in July 1921 the number of abductions and secret executions declined with just 16 such killings occurring. The results of the research reveal that the disappearances by the IRA began during the War of Independence, starting in July 1920, and that at least 89 people were disappeared by republicans before that conflict ended.ĭISAPPEARED : Edward Parsons an alleged spy executed by the IRA during the Truce.
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