Judge shot in Northern Ireland

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33515, 22 April 1974, Page 13

Judge shot in Northern Ireland

IX'.Z. Press Assn—Copyright? BELFAST, April 21. A County Court judge is seriously injured after being shot at his home in Northern Ireland, on the day that the death toll in five years of terrorism stood at 1000.

Judge Garrett McGrath, was alone in the house in Cushendall, County Antrim,

when the shooting took place. He was wounded by two bullets.

There was no telephone in the house, but despite his injuries he managed to stagger to a nearby telephone box for assistance.

The shooting took place at his holiday home in the relatively peaceful coastal town. According to reports, as many as three or fouyjunmen, in the garden, may nave fired at him through his window.

A police spokesman said

later that the judge was “believed to be out of danger.” Judge McGrath was one of two Roman Catholic Crown Prosecutors who resigned in 1972 as a protest against the “Black Sunday” killing of 13 civilians in Londonderry, on January 30. He agreed later to resume his appointment. A British Army spokesman said today that the 1000th official fatality in Northern Ireland's present turmoil died at 4 p.m. yesterday, at a road junction in West Belfast. Security officials said that

gunfire from a speeding car killed a youth in the Roman Catholic Springfield area of Belfast. The spokesman said that the victim was 18 to 20 years old. Soldiers heard shots fired and saw a car speed away. The troops chased it in an Army vehicle and while they were speeding after the escaping car, they heard more shots. They found the body on the road a few yards ahead. Security officials said that the 1000th victim had two

bullet holes in the back of his head, a frequently-used execution method in Belfast. The 1000 victims include 693 civilians, 214 British soldiers, 50 policemen and 43 members of the part-time Ulster Defence Regiment. A secret meeting in Belfast this week is expected to clarify the political future of Mr Enoch Powell, Britain’s political rebel. Opinion has hardened in political circles that the Protestant Unionists, holding the three day meeting starting on Wednesday, will invite Mr Powell to stand for a Northern Ireland seat in the House of Commons. Mi Powell confirmed on Friday that he would attend the meeting, staged by the three Protestant coalition parties holding 11 of the 12 Northern Ireland seats at Westminster. If a seat is made available and Mr Powell accepts it, it could represent his last gamble for a power base that might propel him to the leadership of Britain’s Conservative Party, thought to be his burning ambition. Mr Powell declined to run in Britain’s General Election on February 28 because of his opposition to British membership of the European Common Market.