Sharon O'Neill on the murder of Roseanne Mallon, shot dead while soldiers watched the house.
Ever since the death of her parents in the early eighties, Roseanne Mallon stayed at her sister-in-law's house at night, fearing she could be easy prey for burglars at her own home.
But just before midnight on May 8 1994, the 76-year-old spinster fell victim to a different type of terror.
The Catholic pensioner was robbed of her life by a UVF murder gang in the very home she felt most safe.
"Roseanne lived on her own but stayed with my mother at night," says nephew Martin Mallon.
"There had been a lot of burglaries in the area and that is why Roseanne stayed with us, she was terrified."
The shooting occurred just yards from an undercover British army unit which – unknown to the Mallons at the time – had been monitoring their every move.
But the soldiers in hiding that night were ordered not to respond after hearing gunfire at the Mallons' home on Cullenrammer Road, Dungannon.
Indeed, a long-running legal battle with the Ministry of Defence and police in a bid to get the full disclosure of all documents for the inquest into the pensioner's death, has already resulted in the release of disturbing information, and more is expected.
According to military radio logs released to the family's solicitors, but which were heavily censored, camera surveillance equipment was closed down due to poor light but soldiers were still in situ and monitoring events.
At 11.54pm the log recorded: "There was a burst of auto fire from the south of their location approx 500m. No casualties. It was not aimed at their location."
A statement by a soldier, only identified as Soldier V who was in charge of the team conducting the covert operation, read: "On 8.5.94 at 23.50 hours we heard a burst of automatic gunfire in the area, which was reported to the Ops room.
"We were informed not to react to the situation and that the RUC would be informed."
It was a decision which baffles the Mallon family.
"Why? Two women had been shot. How did they (the soldiers) manage to record that no-one had been injured," says Martin.
"You would imagine that the very first reaction would be to go straight in and lend medical aid.
"But somebody at a higher level said no.
"Until we got those statements (from soldiers), as far as a lot of politicians besides Sinn Féin were concerned, [the allegations of collusion] were portrayed as republican propaganda.
"We weren't getting a proper hearing.
"But once we produced the documentation from the British soldiers stating what happened, the whole thing changed."
The UVF gang, led by notorious loyalist Billy Wright (murdered in prison in 1999), had fled the scene 20 minutes before the RUC arrived.
Wright, and another two known loyalists were arrested at an RUC checkpoint on the Portadown Road an hour after the shooting.
Forensic tests carried out on clothing and swabs taken from the suspects proved negative and they were later released without charge.
Although 20 minutes is a relatively short period, for Roseanne's experienced paramilitary assassins, it was enough time to torch the car, clean and dump the weapon and anything that could connect them to Cullenrammer Road.
"Wright had been arrested for a number of murders over the years, but you could never crack him," said a senior security source.
"He never gave anything away. His demeanour was always relaxed yet confident throughout interview.
"He was mannerly, not aggressive and never lost the head. He knew the drill inside and out, he was well briefed to say nothing, just like the rest of his crew."
As with other well documented cases, murder squad detectives were hampered by Special Branch.
They were unaware of the secret surveillance operation sanctioned at the highest level within the RUC and directed against Mrs Mallon's two republican nephews, Christopher and Martin, who had been jailed for Provisional offences.
Christopher Mallon lived at the house while his brother lived with his family nearby.
The brutal killing of the pensioner sparked immediate claims of security force collusion, which continue to gather momentum.
The murder occurred in the mid-Ulster area, where allegations persist that large numbers of UVF and LVF paramilitaries were operating as security force agents.
Roseanne's political beliefs were completely opposite to those of her republican nephews.
"She wouldn't have seen things the way we saw it," says Martin.
"Even my father, believe it or not, was actually a member of the Alliance party and stood for them at one time in the elections.
"Roseanne would have seen things in more that light and wouldn't have agreed with violence or anything like that.
"As long as Roseanne had her family and something to eat, she wanted no trouble and my mother was the same.
"That would have been her attitude. As long as there was peace and quiet and no trouble."
A passion for photography and her renowned baking skills made Roseanne a well known and well liked neighbour.
The murder of the deeply religious woman was a terrible shock to all who knew her.
"The only people she had were us, she never married," says Martin,
"In fact, she helped rear us. Roseanne was my godmother as well and her life revolved around the family.
"She was always about the house and farm. She would have baked some wedding cakes or made curtains, she was very neighbourly.
"Roseanne was a real lady. At her funeral the priest remarked that there were as many Protestant neighbours as there were Catholics.
"If I or Christie (his brother) was shot, people probably would have said 'well, they were republicans, they had been in jail'. But with Roseanne it was different.
"She would have got on very well with all her Protestant neighbours and they would have visited her house and she would call on them.
"That is why there was such an uproar through the whole community over my aunt's murder."
The dark green car – believed to have been used by the UVF gang – was spotted in suspicious circumstances near the house the day before.
Despite the property being under 24-hour security surveillance, the gunmen struck with relative ease.
Roseanne's niece Paula heard the horror unfolding over the phone when she telephoned to catch up with the events of the day and seeing the house from her own window, warned her mother and Roseanne to be careful.
"Roseanne was sitting on the sofa beside the window with the blinds down. My mother told Roseanne to go into the hall as Paula said there were a couple of men at the house," says Martin.
"My aunt had arthritis, and was a wee bit slow on getting up. The next thing the hail of bullets came flying through the window. Roseanne fell on the floor and the blinds shot up.
"They (the gunmen) could see my mother and she ran down the hall and they fired at her. Paula was still on the phone while this was going on. She heard the shooting, everything.
"My mother had dropped the phone, she didn't put it back on the receiver. My sister called the police."
Martin Mallon was returning home after a night out when he saw his nephew running towards his mother's house.
"We went into the house. Roseanne was lying there (on the sofa). She was dead. My mother had been injured.
"When I saw Roseanne, I was obviously angry but I also felt helpless."
One the eve of the murder, two boys were playing in a nearby old barn and stumbled upon activity, the nature of which has been disputed, but the Mallon family maintain the pair had disturbed an uncover military unit.
And suspicions were raised even further when surveillance equipment – which transmitted pictures to Dungannon and Portadown RUC/British army barracks – was discovered eight weeks later overlooking the farmhouse. It had been in place at the time of the murder.
"As I was taking the cameras out three helicopters came in like a formation, two of them low and one of them high. I got on the tractor and hid them in another place," says Martin.
"By the time I got back the whole place was saturated, unmarked cars, men with trench coats."
Mr Mallon firmly believes, at the very least, his aunt's death could have been prevented.
"If you let a banger off on that road or fired a shot, the road would have been sealed off within 20 minutes.
"There were SAS men watching this house, still these loyalists manage to drive in from Portadown or Dungannon," he says.
"They didn't go to the front (of the house), but walked right round the back, to the room where the two women were, fired through the window, ran to the car, drove seven miles and dumped it.
"With 24 hours the cops found the gun located in the shooting, hidden under a sheet of tin, five miles away in an old farmyard.
"No-one would have dreamt of going there unless they were sent there. It wasn't near where the car was found burnt out, it was in a completely separate direction.
"From day one I never for one second believed this was an isolated murder. When I saw Roseanne I knew Special Branch, MI5 were in some way connected.
"Special Branch had been harassing us (Martin and Christopher), trying to put the pressure on."
And the purpose of the soldiers in the dug-out, during a period when the security forces had been accused of operating a shoot-to-kill policy?
"Their role was probably to shoot IRA people seen with guns," says Martin.
"I'm saying that because if it was only an observation operation they (Special Branch, MI5) would be happy enough to let the camera relay pictures back to Portadown just to monitor it.
"But they had two teams of people within 150 yards of the house as a quick-reaction team. I believe that was the role of military intelligence in those dug-outs."
After nine years of campaigning to uncover the truth, Mr Mallon believes they are getting there, but is only too aware that in the murky world of the intelligence services, barriers are commonplace and notoriously hard to penetrate.
"You become case hardened to a certain extent.
"You keep fighting and you keep pushing because you see the injustice and wrong in it," he says.
"My mother and my sisters couldn't do it because physically and emotionally every time your picture appears in the paper, every time there is a paragraph written, my mother is in pieces.
"We know who did the shooting, we know who drove the car, we know where they got washed after, we know all about it, as do the police.
"Roseanne's case is a strong one because of the amount of paper evidence.
"There are other cases in Tyrone where there was collusion, but the paper trail is not there.
"The fact that we are still trying to have an inquest into Roseanne's death says it all."
