Fergus Magee

Fergus Magee 43 years, Kilmaine St, Lurgan, Co. Armagh, one of three men shot dead by the UVF as they came from their place of work at the Hyster forklift factory outside Lurgan on the night of 14 November 1991. The other two men killed were Desmond Rogers 43 years, and John Lavery 27 years. Mr Magee was getting a lift home in Mr Rogers’ car when they came upon what appeared to be a Crown Force roadblock. One of the men operating the roadblock used a red torch to stop on coming vehicles, several of which had already stopped before Mr Rogers halted his car. Moments after stopping a masked man wearing army fatigues and carrying an AK47 assault rife walked along the row of parked cars until he reached Mr Rogers’ vehicle and fired several bursts into the vehicle killing Mr Rogers instantly and fatally wounding Mr Magee. The driver in the car directly behind Mr Rogers’ vehicle, Mr Lavery, tried to reverse his car away from the scene but the gunmen fired on him. He died later in hospital. 

The UVF in a statement claiming responsibility said they had deliberately shot Mr Magee and Mr Rogers, both Catholics, but offered their deepest regrets over the death of Mr Lavery, who was a Protestant. Several days later a UVF commander in the area told a Dublin newspaper they carried out the attack and ‘the vehicle in which the two Catholics were killed in was used by a member of Sinn Fein - a military vehicle and legitimate target.’ This UVF commander was Billy Wright, known in the Press at the time as 'King Rat.’ Wright was involved in dozens of killings in the mid Ulster area and was believed to be a Crown force agent. Members of the INLA shot him dead in Long Kesh prison in December 1997. 

In October 1992, a Portadown man was charged with the murder of Mr Magee, Mr Rogers, and Mr Lavery. He was also charged with the murders of Kevin and John McKearney in January 1992 at Moy, Co. Armagh, and with withholding information in connection with the murders of Charles and Teresa Fox in September 1992. He was also charged with possession of a Browning 9mm pistol and other related offences. It was revealed at a later bail hearing that the Browning pistol had been used to kill Kevin and John McKearney and also two young girls, Katrina Rennie and Eileen Duffy along with Brian Frizzell at a mobile shop in a nationalist area of Lurgan in March 1991. Whatever the extent of the charges it was clear the Portadown man charged was not the gunman in any of the killings but rather looked after the weapons used by the gunmen. His was later convicted on possession charges. 

The weapons used in the killing of Mr Rogers and his two work colleagues were part of the huge haul imported into the North of Ireland from South Africa in 1987 by unionist/loyalist paramilitaries, with the knowledge and the assistance of various British intelligence forces.

At an inquest into the murder in December 1993, an RUC detective questioned by the coroner said an investigation into the murders was still continuing. He said people had been sentenced on lesser offences connected with the attack but as yet no one had been charged with the murders.