One of the concepts of British justice has been
the acceptance that failure to prove cases means that people
leaving the courtroom do not have a stain on their character.
The 'Not Guilty' verdict has always been accepted - or at
least until recently - as the final say on the matter and
unless the Crown can prove beyond a reasonable doubt, then
that is the end of the matter. The onus is always on the prosecution
to prove that a defendant is guilty and that has always been
the case.
When two men were prosecuted for the murder of an R.U.C.
sergeant during the 1956-62 I.R.A. campaign, they were found
not guilty, and the following day nationalist publications
praised the jury for its decision and acknowledged that British
law was entitled to be admired.
Sadly, not all people accept this essential criteria, and
a publication on sale in Northern Ireland shops covering the
Irish Troubles from the 1920s to the present day defies all
the rules of justice by describing District Inspector Nixon
as being one of the men behind the brutal murders of the Roman
Catholic McMahon family in the Belfast Troubles of the 1920s.
Nixon, a colourful and controversial character, and an ardent
Orangeman, was one of the officers in charge of the 'A' Specials
during the turmoil and upheaval of the 1920-22 period in Belfast.
After the Troubles, the Cavan-born police officer eventually
left the R.U.C. after making strong Unionist speeches at Clifton
Street Orange Hall, which incurred the anger of the new police
hierarchy. Nixon went into politics and was elected as an
Independent Unionist MP for the Woodvale constituency in the
Northern Ireland Parliament, subsequently winning several
elections against official Unionist candidates.
When he died in 1949 many of the leading politicians in Northern
Ireland, as well as Orange leaders attended his funeral, and
tributes were paid to his loyalty and his dedication to the
Orange cause.
There is no doubt the early 1920s was a period of unparalleled
tensions and strife, even by the standards of Ireland. There
were many murders in Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland
during this period, when the I.R.A. and, especially its 4th
Northern Division, attempted to overthrow the new State.
Gunmen from the South were brought into Belfast and carried
out many murders, including the brutal slaying of District
Inspector Swanzy outside the Church of Ireland Cathedral in
Lisburn.
The Royal Irish Constabulary was being disbanded, the new
Royal Ulster Constabulary had not yet been fully established,
and it was the 'A and B' Specials, with the support of the
Army, which had been charged with the responsibility for restoring
peace and order to the Province.
Many innocent people were undoubtedly murdered on both sides
of the divided community, and murder gangs did exist on both
sides. But the police faced an appalling situation, and it
was later proved that a number of RIC officers stationed in
Belfast were 'spies' acting on behalf of I.R.A. leader Michael
Collins and supplying him with information.
The Ulster Government, especially Premier James Craig and
his Minister of Home Affairs, Dawson Bates, took a firm line,
and their attitude was that there would be no order and civilised
living in Northern Ireland until the I.R.A. gunmen and bombers
had been defeated.
The Specials, and the R.U.C. achieved this and by 1923 peace
had been restored and the gunmen defeated, but not before
over 400 people, including Unionist MP William Twaddell had
been murdered.
During that terrible period there were undoubtedly dreadful
deeds perpetrated, but as during the recent 30 years of Troubles,
there were crimes on both sides. However, republican propaganda
in the 1920s was as successful as today, and an example was
that when two young children, members of the Orange Donnelly
family were murdered in Brown Street, their mother had to
issue a statement to national papers a few weeks after the
atrocity stating that they were Protestants.
District Inspector Nixon and other senior officers were hate
figures for the republicans, and mainly due to information
'leaked' by RIC officers in the hire of Collins, Nixon was
held to be responsible in their eyes for the McMahon murders.
It amounted to innuendo and unproven accusations of the worst
sort and not a single fact to back up the assertion, far less
to bring a case against Nixon before a court of law. When
one national daily did publish an article accusing Nixon of
the crime he took a legal action against the newspaper concerned
and was awarded huge damages.
For any publication to repeat such accusation, and to go
even further and name Nixon as one of the murderers in the
McMahon killings amounts to character assassination of the
worst kind, especially when the person concerned is dead and
cannot defend himself.
But that is typical of so many publications which purport
to report the Irish troubles, and very rarely do Protestants,
especially those with Orange or Unionist loyalties receive
fair coverage. In that publication which defamed the reputation
of Nixon, there is reference to the foul murder of DI Swanzy,
and also a Banbridge police officer called Smyth who was murdered
in Co. Cork - a man who had distinguished himself in the Great
War with his courage.
The murders of men like Swanzy are referred to as 'assassination'
- a word which certainly does not do justice to the brutal
act of calculated savagery.
A recent article in a local newspager claimed that there
is tendency among nationalists, and among Southern Irish politicians
to treat the murders of Northern Ireland Roman Catholics in
a far more serious and caring manner than those of Ulster
Protestants.
The murder of anyone is a terrible act and can never be justified,
but among Irish nationalists the atrocities committed against
so many Protestants and Unionists - 1,900 of them died at
the hands of the I.R.A. and other republican groups in the
last 30 years - does not seem to generate anything like the
same concern as that shown to Roman Catholics who have suffered
at the hands of loyalist paramilitaries.
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