"At least let us know who carried it out"

50 years ago Colin Worton lost his brother Kenneth after he was subjected to one of the most unbridled acts of barbarity ever perpetrated throughout The Troubles.  

Kenneth, who along with being a brother and a son  was also a  loving father of two young daughters and devoted husband, was one of ten men killed near the village of Whitecross five decades ago after the mini-van they had been travelling on was stopped by republican paramilitaries.

   As all within the community of South Armagh are already aware  no chance whatsoever  was afforded   to  the 11 Protestant   occupants of the mini-bus who were  shot at near point blank range by the Provisional IRA whose only act of mercy was to allow the one sole Catholic among this  entourage to escape.  

 This was a Catholic whom the 11 Protestant workmen, in what would prove to be one of the few  acts of human solidarity  shown on the evening of January 5 1976, attempted to protect believing him to be the intended target of the unbridled malice which was about to be unleashed. 

Only one man would emerge with his life  intact after being subjected to this malice, Alan Black who is now in his 82nd year.   

 This is a story which like many others has permeated the community of South Armagh for 50 years, a period of time which has  seen Colin and the other Kingsmill  families  tirelessly campaign for justice to be done upon those who robbed them of their most beloved relatives.  

Alas with very little to be gleaned from a 10 year long  historical inquest  into the atrocity, which uncovered nothing that those who were most affected by the massacre were not already aware , Mr Worton believes that a public inquiry could serve as the last port of refuge for those who still seek the truth behind what happened near the village of Whitecross on the evening of January 5 1976.     

        Public Inquiry

“There would have to be a public inquiry regarding what happened at Kingsmill.” explained Colin, “not just for it to be seen to be done but for justice to be done.”

“I don't expect anyone to go to jail but at least let us know who carried it out. My mother was always concerned that she could have been talking to people who may have had relatives who killed her son, she would have liked to have known who they were.

“ People need to see what sort of people did this. I hate using the word people because they were not people. At least an animal, say a dog, if it has to kill it will kill for food, not for pleasure. This is what they did.

“It wasn't a fair fight. If it had of been the army or the police and the IRA at least the police and the army had the same capability of shooting back. My brother was armed with a lunchbox and a flask.

“Whenever they were stopped and lined up there was only one Catholic on the mini-bus. The terrorists asked for this man, they asked who was the Catholic. The guy on each side of the Catholic held his hand to tell him “don't you give yourself up for we are not going to give you up.”

“The Protestants on the mini-bus thought that he was the intended target because of the Reavey's the night before. The fact they did not give him up this speaks volumes in my eyes.

“I honestly don't know how those who have information relating to who carried out Kingsmill can live with themselves. I would advice them to come forward and come clean and tell whoever else was there to come clean as well. It may ease the suffering of some of the families concerned.”

A night never forgotten

Although this Monday January 5 will mark 50 years to the exact day when Colin was robbed of his much beloved brother Mr Warton can recall the events which transpired on this date five decades ago with such a degree of verisimilitude that one could be forgiven for thinking that the atrocity happened only yesterday.      

“It will be 50 years to the day when Kenneth was murdered.

“It does and it does not feel like 50 years. I was only 15 when he was murdered, another year and I will be a pensioner. It seems a long time ago and yet I can still remember it as if it was yesterday.

“We lived between Newry and Markethill in a wee hamlet called Loughgilly. It would not have been too far from the factory. I was the baby of five, I had two elder brothers and two elder sisters.

“I was a typical teenager, lying on the floor reading a comic. The TV was on and I was listening to it. There was a news flash that came on and they said that something had happened at Kingsmill.

“ I went into the kitchen and I asked my mother where is Kingsmill?

“She said it was up the road. It wasn't thought about for about an hour or so until a neighbour came in shortly afterwards, when we were sitting down to our dinner and the neighbour said "What are you doing eating dinner, your son is lying dead up the road."

“This was the very first that we knew about Kingsmill. My sister lived in a house a couple of doors away and she said to my mother that we would go up to my brother's house to see if everything was alright. They were praying that his wife would come to the door and say that he was working overtime because it was the first day back after the holidays. His wife would have been hoping that he had called at my mother’s house for a bite to eat.

“However when the two of them met they knew that he was not working overtime and he was not in my mother's so he had to have been in the mini-bus. The news came back fairly quick that there was only one survivor.

“Kenneth had a girl at six and a girl at three. After he died they asked me if I could be their dad as their dad was gone and I kind of looked like Kenneth, a younger figure.

“Kenneth was buried in the Church of Ireland cemetery. At the funeral I had never seen crowds like it and I am not sure if I have seen crowds even to this day like it.

“It ended up that his wife had to leave the family home in Bessbrook  because their house overlooked the graveyard, they could see him everyday.

“They did not have to go once a week or whatsoever to their grave, the landing window looked out onto the graveyard in which he was buried.”