Blog

Today marks the 35th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands who was a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army. He died after 66 days on hunger strike, protesting within the British prison system for status as a Republican prisoner of war and not a criminal. He had been elected as a Member of the British […]

There have been many disturbing facts at this week’s inquest into the killing of Francis Rowntree by a British soldier, and not only because he was an innocent 11-year-old child and his family are only getting this semblance of justice 44 years later. Francis was shot in the face/head with a rubber bullet fired from […]

Paper Trail needs YOU!.. to complete a short online survey and share it with your friends and contacts. We are canvassing views on the importance of the retrieval of legacy archives in Britain and Ireland, especially for: People impacted by events detailed in the public records, and Those who work with these people The short […]

Previously unpublished Prime Ministerial records relating to the New Lodge 6 killings were released on the anniversary of the atrocity by Paper Trail. We tracked the files over the last couple of years before releasing them to the New Lodge 6 families and their legal representatives. They prove that: The British Prime Minister was told […]

News that the Police Service of Northern Ireland will finally investigate a clandestine unit of the British army that murdered civilians in the north of Ireland in the early 70s has been labelled as cynical window-dressing by the family of one of the victims. Young mother, Jean Smyth-Campbell, was murdered in June 1972 and police […]

A secret but seemingly innocuous British Ministry of Defence (MOD) file discussing a civil litigation case in 1975, not only confesses that a serious crime was carried out as part of Special Force duties, but also records how casual cover-up permeated the British system.   On April 12th 1974, three British soldiers, William James Simpson, […]

Secret archives show that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) helped create the myth of Gusty Spence, “The Orange Pimpernel”. The documents found at Kew National Archives by Paper Trail regard the RELEASE of Gusty Spence by RUC in October 1972 even though he was on the most wanted list after his first “escape” from prison custody […]

I write this on the 43rd anniversary of the murder of young mother Jean Smyth-Campbell. My thoughts are with her daughter, Sharon, and all of the Campbell family this evening, and I remember Jean as I write.   Jean Smyth-Campbell was shot dead on the Glen Road just before midnight of 8/9th June 1972. The car […]