“DEATH ON THE ROCK” Operation Flavius – British SAS wipe Out IRA Terrorist Cell – Gibraltar 1988

PLEASE NOTE FOR THE RECORD : THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL OR IT’S OWNER ARE NOT AFFILIATED IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM TO ANY POLITCALLY MOTIVATED, EXTREMIST, THE ESTABLISHMENT, OR OTHERWISE MOVEMENTS, CLUBS, ETC, ETC….

WE ARE SIMPLY A DARK TOURISM ATTRACTION THAT TOUCHES UPON TABOO, THOUGH HOPEFULLY HISTORICALLY EDUCATIONAL  SUBJECT MATTERS … THAT OTHER MUSEUMS OR VISITOR ATTRACTIONS DARE NOT COVER …….

Above : Three IRA members shot dead in Gibraltar 6 March 1988

On a quiet Sunday afternoon in Gibraltar, the SAS shot dead three members of the Provisional IRA who were planning to bomb a military parade on the peninsula. They were unarmed. ‘Operation Flavius’ attracted much controversy, including allegations of a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy. It began a period of 14 days that was to prove one the darkest of Northern Ireland’s Troubles. Photo: IRA members fire a volley of shots for three comrades killed in Gibraltar

DEATH ON THE ROCK

HERE IS A BRIEF INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARY AND INFORMATIVE INSIGHT INTO THE STILL, SO CLAIMED, CONTROVERSIAL SAS EXECUTIONS OF THREE  SUSPECTED IRA TERRORISTS DURING OPERATION FLAVIUS IN GIBRALTAR 1988 

A SUBJECT MATTER THAT IS FEATURED HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL WITHIN OUR “TERRORISM AND COUNTER TERRORISM EXHIBITION “

Operation Flavius was the name given to an operation by a Special Air Service (SAS) team in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988 tasked to prevent a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb attack. The IRA Active Service Unit‘s (ASU) members, Danny McCann, Seán Savage and Mairéad Farrell, conspired to detonate a car bomb where a military band assembled for the weekly changing of the guard at the governor’s residence. Although the operation was meant to be an arrest operation,^[ it ended with all three members of the ASU dead.

BELOW ARE SOME VINTAGE AND HISTORIC NEWS FOOTAGE VIDEOS RELATING TO THE SAS EXECUTIONS OF THE THREE SUSPECTED IRA TERRORISTS

Below are some images taken in Gibraltar following the murders of IRA volunteers Mairead Farrell, Danny McCann and Sean Savage by the SAS during Operation Flavius. and  alleged SAS hitmen

 

 

ABOVE AND BELOW : SO-SAY, MEDIA CLAIMED SAS HITMEN WALKING AWAY FROM THE EXECUTION SCENE ????

Below is a picture of Michael Stone (loyalist) attacking mourners at the funeral of  IRA volunteers Mairead Farrell, Danny McCann and Sean Savage at Milltown Cemetery  in 1988

BELOW IS VIDEO FOOTAGE OF MICHAEL STONE’S ATTACK ON THE MOURNERS AT THE IRA FUNERAL OF THE THREE SUSPECTED IRA TERRORIST EXECUTED BY THE BRITISH SAS

 

SAS OPERATION NIMROD MEMORABILIA, ALONG WITH A FULL SCALE REPLICA MODEL OF THE IRANIAN EMBASSY SIEGE BUILDING AS USED BY “B” SQUADRON 22 SAS REGIMENT FOR THE PREPARATION FOR THE SUCCESSFUL FINAL ASSAULT ON 5 MAY 1980, WHICH RESULTED IN 19 HOSTAGES BEING RESCUED AND 5 OF THE 6 TERRORISTS BEING KILLED (THE 6th BEING CAPTURED )

ORIGINAL 4 FT X 3 FT CANVAS  OIL PAINTING INTERPRETATION OF THE IRANIAN EMBASSY SIEGE SAS FINAL ASSAULT ON MAY 5, 1980 ….PRIVATELY COMMISIONED BY THE CRIME THROUGH TIME MUSEUM FOR PERMANENT DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL . PAINTED BY GLOUCESTERSHIRE ARTIST PAUL BRIDGMAN .

ABOVE AND BELOW : PLEASE KINDLY NOTE BOTH THESE ORIGINAL PAINTINGS WERE COMMISSIONED BY AND REMAIN COPYRIGHT OF THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION, LITTLEDEAN JAIL . THESE IMAGES CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT FROM ANDY JONES , CURATOR OF THE MUSEUM .

COMING SOON …. OFFICIAL RELEAE DATE 4 AUGUST 2017
A must see SAS film due to be launched worldwide on 4 August 2017..If in the area of Gloucestershire do pop by to The Forest of Dean and visit The UK’s only comprehensive SAS who dares wins private exhibition open to the public here at The Crime Through Time Collection, Littledean Jail. Includes a unique and hopefully educational feature This historic moment on the SAS Operation Nimrod – Iranian Embassy Siege 30 April – 5 May 1980 ..with personal contributions and original sas memorabilia from some of those involved in the siege.

Picture By: Jules Annan Picture Shows:COMMEMARATIVE PLATE AND TANKARD FOR THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF OPERATION NIMROD (THE IRANIAN EMBASSY SIEGE 1980) NOW ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL’S …”WHO DARES WINS ” – SAS COUNTER TERRORISM EXHIBITION … Date 12th November 2012 Ref: *World Rights Only* *Unbylined uses will incur an additional discretionary fee!*

IRANIAN EMBASSY SIEGE FINAL ASSAULT SIGNED ILLUSTRATION

REAR OF IRANIAN EMBASSY AT TIME OF THE FINAL ASSAULT , SIGNED BY PETE WINNER

ABOVE AND BELOW : PETE “SNAPPER” WINNER AKA SOLDIER I, BLUE TEAM , SAS OPERATION NIMROD, IRANIAN EMBASSY SIEGE . PICTURED  HERE  ON A  RECENT PRIVATE VISIT TO LITTLEDEAN JAIL TO HAVE A LOOK AT THE ORIGINAL PAINTINGS OF THE FINAL ASSAULT  AND SAS HOSTAGE RESCUE….. NOW HERE ON DISPLAY.

Picture By:Jules Annan Picture Shows:Various original 1983 hand painted Airfix 1:32 scale SAS Black kit clad troopers here on display at the SAS Who Dares Wins ” CRW ” ( “Counter Revolutionary Warfare ” ) Exhibition at LittleDean Jail Date 13/04/2013 Ref: *World Rights Only* *Unbylined uses will incur an additional discretionary fee!*

Picture By:Jules Annan Picture Shows:Authentic hand signed S6 NBC protective gas mask, respirator and holdall as of the type used during the Iranian Embassy Siege on 5 May 1980 by former SAS trooper … Pete Winner, AKA Soldier “I”, now on display to the public here at the Crime Through Time Collection at Littledean jail, Gloucestershire Date ;10/06/2014

Picture By:Jules Annan Picture Shows:Original Operation Nimrod Pye Pocketfone 70 microphone sets used by the SAS during the1980 Iranian Embassy Seige storming and now here on display at the SAS Who Dares Wins ” CRW ” ( “Counter Revolutionary Warfare ” ) Exhibition at LittleDean Jail Date 13/04/2013 Ref: *World Rights Only* *Unbylined uses will incur an additional discretionary fee!*

 

HERE IS A  UNIQUE REPLICA  SCALE MODEL OF THE IRANIAN EMBASSY AS WAS CONSTRUCTED AND  USED  BY “B” SQUADRON 22 SAS REGIMENT IN THE RUN-UP TO THE FINAL ASSAULT ON 5 MAY 1980 …. RESULTING IN THE  KILLING OF 5 OF THE 6 TERRORISTS AND THE RELEASE OF THE REMAINING 19 HOSTAGES .

THIS BEING KINDLY HAND BUILT BY FORMER “A” SQUADRON FREEFALL TROOPER …BOB PODESTA  FOR DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL’S… “SAS WHO DARES WINS EXHIBITION ” . THE MODEL HAS BEEN FURTHER CUSTOMISED WITH THE HELP OF PAUL BRIDGMAN WITH THE INCLUSION OF THE VARIOUS FIGURES DEPICTING HOSTAGES, TERRORISTS (ALL IN GREEN JACKETS AND BLACK CLOTHING ), THE SAS TROOPERS AND RESERVES STORMING THE EMBASSY BUILDING AND VARIOUS OTHER SCENES RELATING TO THE EVENT .

 

BOB PODESTA SAS “A” SQUADRON

FRONT ELEVATION OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

ROOF ACCESS AND INTERNAL ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

ROOF ACCESS AND INTERNAL ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

ROOF ACCESS AND INTERNAL ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

ROOF ACCESS AND INTERNAL ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

ROOF ACCESS AND INTERNAL ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

ROOF ACCESS AND INTERNAL ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

ROOF ACCESS AND INTERNAL ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

ROOF ACCESS AND INTERNAL ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

ROOF ACCESS AND INTERNAL ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

ROOF ACCESS AND INTERNAL ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

NEWSPAPER COVERAGE AT TIME OF FINAL ASSAULT AND SIGNAGE FOR MODEL

REAR ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

REAR ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

REAR ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

REAR ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

REAR ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

ROOF ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

FRONT ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

FRONT ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

FRONT ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

FRONT ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

FRONT ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

FRONT ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

FRONT ELEVATION ASSAULT OF IRANIAN EMBASSY

REPLICA OF ONE OF THE RUSSIAN HAND GRENADES CARRIED BY THE TERRORISTS DURING THE SIEGE .

REPLICA OF ONE OF THE RUSSIAN HAND GRENADES CARRIED BY THE TERRORISTS DURING THE SIEGE , PERSONALLY SIGNED UP FOR DISPLAY BY SAS TROOPER … PETE WINNER WHO WAS ONE OF THE SAS INVOLVED IN THE STORMING OF THE BUILDING .

AN ILLUSTRATIVE PICTURE OF THE STAIRWELL SCENE AT THE END OF THE SIEGE,, PERSONALLY SIGNED UP FOR DISPLAY BY SAS TROOPER … PETE WINNER WHO WAS ONE OF THE SAS INVOLVED IN THE STORMING OF THE BUILDING .

AN ILLUSTRATIVE PICTURE OF THE STAIRWELL SCENE AT THE END OF THE SIEGE,, PERSONALLY SIGNED UP FOR DISPLAY BY SAS TROOPER … PETE WINNER WHO WAS ONE OF THE SAS INVOLVED IN THE STORMING OF THE BUILDING .

LIMITED EDITION OPERATION NIMROD COMMEMORATIVE COIN

LIMITED EDITION OPERATION NIMROD COMMEMORATIVE COIN

LIMITED EDITION SAS COMMEMORATIVE COIN

TERRORISM & COUNTER TERRORISM HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL – 30TH JANUARY 1972 … BLOODY SUNDAY

HERE IS SOME BRIEF INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARY AND INFORMATIVE INSIGHT INTO THE STILL CONTROVERSIAL “BLOODY SUNDAY” INCIDENT IN NORTHERN IRELAND ,BACK ON THE 30TH JANUARY 1972 .

A SUBJECT MATTER FEATURED HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL WITHIN OUR “TERRORISM AND COUNTER TERRORISM EXHIBITION “. 

Bloody Sunday (Irish: Domhnach na Fola)—sometimes called the Bogside Massacre^[—was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogsidearea of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which 26 unarmed civil-rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army. Thirteen males, seven of whom were teenagers, died immediately or soon after, while the death of another man four-and-a-half months later was attributed to the injuries he received on that day. Two protesters were also injured when they were run down by army vehicles.^[4] Five of those wounded were shot in the back.^[The incident occurred during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march; the soldiers involved were members of the First Battalionof the Parachute Regiment (1 Para).

U2- SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY

U2’S THIRD HIT SINGLE FROM THE ALBUM “WAR” FEATURING SOME DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE FROM BLOODY SUNDAY

BELOW IS SOME RARE RAW FOOTAGE FROM THE BLOODY SUNDAY TROUBLES

More information about:Bloody Sunday

On the morning of Sunday 30 January 1972, around ten thousand people gathered in Londonderry for a civil rights march. The British Army had sealed off the original route so the march organisers led most of the demonstrators towards ‘Free Derry Corner’ in the nationalist Bogside area of the city. Despite this, a number of people continued on towards an army barricade where local youths threw stones at soldiers, who responded with a water cannon, CS gas and rubber bullets.

As the riot began to disperse, soldiers of the 1st Parachute Regiment were ordered to move in and arrest as many of the rioters as possible. In the minutes that followed, some of these paratroopers opened fire on the crowd, killing thirteen men and injuring 13 others, one of whom died some months later.

Free Derry

British troops had been sent into Derry as a peacekeeping force in August 1969 and had initially been welcomed by the predominantly Catholic nationalist community as a preferable alternative to what they saw as the discrimination of the local Northern Ireland security forces. The residents of the Bogside area of the city had declared it ‘Free Derry’ and refused to recognise the authority of the Northern Ireland government, led by a unionist majority that drew most of its support from the Protestant community.

Opposition to policies such as detention of terrorist suspects without trial (internment) and the alleged rigging of electoral wards to favour Protestant voters (gerrymandering) had inspired a nascent civil rights movement across Northern Ireland. With support for the demands of the civil rights movement so strong among local people, Derry was an obvious choice for a mass demonstration.

The events of Bloody Sunday

About ten thousand people gathered in the Creggan area of Derry on the morning of Sunday 30 January 1972. After prolonged skirmishes between groups of local youths and the army at barricades set up to prevent the march reaching its intended destination (Guildhall Square in the heart of the city), paratroopers moved in to make arrests. During this operation, they opened fire on the crowd, killing thirteen and wounding 13 others.

The dead were all male, aged between seventeen and forty-one. Another man, aged fifty-nine, died some months later from injuries sustained on that day. The wounded included a fifteen-year-old boy and a woman.

Reaction and inquiries

While the British Army maintained that its troops had responded after coming under fire, the people of the Bogside saw it as murder. The British government was sufficiently concerned for the Home Secretary to announce the following day an official inquiry into the circumstances of the shootings.

Opinion was further polarised by the findings of this tribunal, led by the British Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery. His report exonerated the army and cast suspicion on many of the victims, suggesting they had been handling bombs and guns. Relatives of the dead and the wider nationalist community campaigned for a fresh public inquiry, which was finally granted by then Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998.

Headed by Lord Saville, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry took 12 years and finally reported in 2010. It established the innocence of the victims and laid responsibility for what happened on the army.

Prime Minister David Cameron called the killings “unjustified and unjustifiable”. The families of the victims of Bloody Sunday felt that the inquiry’s findings vindicated those who were killed, raising the question of prosecutions and compensation.

Ulster Defence Association (UDA) Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) & Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) featuring Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair

” TERRORISM AND COUNTER TERRORISM ” HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL 

Here is some more interactive and historic documentary footage as well as some brief informative insight into one of the UK’s most feared terrorism movements . Featured here too at the Crime Through Time Collection , Littledean Jail .

Certainly controversial and taboo subject matters that insight a thought provoking debate       

The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is the largest^] loyalist paramilitary and vigilante^] group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during “The Troubles“. It used the name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) when it wished to claim responsibility for attacks—because the two claimed to be separate organisations, the UDA was able to remain legal for over twenty years. The United Kingdom outlawed the “UFF” in November 1973 and the UDA itself was classified as a terrorist group on 10 August 1992.

The UDA’s/UFF’s declared goal was to defend loyalist areas from attack and to combat Irish republicanism. However, most of its victims were unarmed civilians according to the Sutton Index of Deaths. The majority of them were Irish Catholics, killed in what the group called retaliation for attacks on Protestants. High-profile attacks carried out by the group include the Milltown massacre, theSean Graham bookmakers’ shooting, the Castlerock killings and the Greysteel massacre. The UDA/UFF declared a ceasefire in 1994, although sporadic attacks continued until it officially ended its armed campaign in November 2007.

The UDA were often referred to by their Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) rivals as the “Wombles”, derived from the furry fictional creatures,The Wombles, or “Japs”  owing to their mass rallies and marches in combat clothing.

The UDA’s motto is Quis Separabit, Latin for “Who will separate [us]?”.

JOHNNY “MAD DOG ” ADAIR – ULSTER LOYALIST

Jonathan Adair, better known as Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair (born 27 October 1963) is an Ulster loyalist and the former leader of the “C Company”, 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the “Ulster Freedom Fighters” (UFF). This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary organisation. Adair was expelled from the organisation in 2002 following a violent internal power struggle. Since 2003, he, his family and a number of supporters have been forced to leave Northern Ireland by the mainstream UDA.

THE INFAMOUS & NO HOLDS BARRED … IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (IRA)

” TERRORISM AND COUNTER TERRORISM ” HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL 

Here is some more interactive and historic documentary footage as well as some brief informative insight into one of the UK’s most feared terrorism movements . Featured here too at the Crime Through Time Collection , Littledean Jail A certainly controversial and taboo subject matter that insights a thought provoking debate       

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) (Irish: Óglaigh na hÉireann^[) was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916. In 1919, the Irish Republic that had been proclaimed during the Easter Rising was formally established by an elected assembly (Dáil Éireann), and the Irish Volunteers were recognised by Dáil Éireann as its legitimate army. Thereafter, the IRA waged a guerrilla campaign against British rule in Ireland in the 1919–21 Irish War of Independence.

Following the signing in 1921 of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which ended the War of Independence, a split occurred within the IRA. Members who supported the treaty formed the nucleus of the Irish National Army founded by IRA leader Michael Collins. However, much of the IRA was opposed to the treaty. The anti-treaty IRA fought a civil war with their former comrades in 1922–23, with the intention of creating a fully independent all-Ireland republic. Having lost the civil war, this group remained in existence, with the intention of overthrowing both the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland and achieving the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916.

BELOW ARE A COUPLE OF INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE ON THE IRA AND ALSO THE 1984 BOMBING AND ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE THEN BRITISH PRIME MINISTER … MARGARET THATCHER AND THE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT, AS THEY SLEPT AT THE GRAND HOTEL IN BRIGHTON , UK

THE REAL IRA

The Real Irish Republican Army, otherwise known as the Real IRA (RIRA), is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which aims to bring about a united Ireland. It formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional IRA, which had declared a ceasefire that year. The RIRA sees itself as the only rightful successor to the original Irish Republican Army and styles itself as simply “the Irish Republican Army” in English or Óglaigh na hÉireann(Volunteers of Ireland) in Irish. It is an illegal organisation in Ireland and designated as a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Since its formation, the RIRA has waged a campaign in Northern Ireland against the British Army and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). The RIRA is the biggest and most active of the “dissident republican” paramilitaries operating againstthe British security forces. It has targeted the security forces in gun attacks and bombings, as well as with grenades, mortars and rockets. The organisation has also been responsible for a number of bombings in Northern Ireland and England with the goal of causing economic harm and/or disruption. The most notable of these was the 15 August 1998 Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people. After the bombing, the RIRA went on ceasefire, but began operations again in 2000. On 7 March 2009 RIRA members claimed responsibility for an attack on Massereene Barracks that killed two British soldiers, the first to be killed in Northern Ireland since 1997.

On 26 July 2012, it was reported that Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) and other independent republican paramilitary groups were merging with the Real IRA. As before, the group continues to refer to itself as “the Irish Republican Army”