Joseph Campbell

Joseph Campbell was 17years old, Havana Street Ardoyne, North Belfast, when he was shot dead in Ardoyne on 11 June 1972 by members of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Wales.

Joseph Campbell was the oldest of a family with three children. He attended St Columba's Primary School and St Gabriel's Intermediate School. When he left school he started an apprenticeship as an electrical engineer. His father said one of his son's main interests was rabbit hunting. He said his son loved nothing more than going down to his grandmother's house near Lurgan in County Armagh every weekend where he did his hunting. He said his son was especially close to his grandmother.

From early morning on Sunday 11 June 1971, Ardoyne and its immediate surrounding area was the scene of serious trouble. Nationalist youths in Ardoyne became involved in clashes with British military forces and heavy rioting ensued. Unionist/loyalist mobs attacked the near-by nationalist 'Bone' area. Unionist/loyalist snipers also joined the attack and fired into the area, wounding several people and killing Hugh Madden, a shopkeeper, who was shot dead as he brushed the footpath in front of his shop. The IRA in the area returned fire. 

The situation settled down during the afternoon, but large numbers of British soldiers remained in the Ardoyne and Bone areas.

In the late afternoon a friend of Joseph Campbell called to see him at home. The violence had apparently ended, as there been no shooting for some time. Joseph and his friend decided to go out, and he told his father, but before he left Mr Campbell warned his son if there was any further shooting he was to come home immediately. Ten minutes later, British soldiers firing from inside a parked armoured car shot Joseph dead only streets away at Berwick Road. 

The British army issued a statement later the same evening claiming they shot Joseph because he was a gunman. They claimed he had a rifle and was about to fire it when he was shot. Local residents at the time rejected the British army statement. The residents said the youth was shot by British soldiers firing from inside an armoured car parked a short distance from where the youth was hit. They also said the youth's body lay on the street for some time after the soldiers searched it. No weapon was found on or near the dead youth.

Joseph's mother was interviewed by the Relatives of Justice in recent years and related her experience of that afternoon. She said a short time after the shooting she had to go to a near-by corner shop. She heard people talking about the shooting in the shop, and then the shopkeeper said some young lad had been shot and was lying on the street. Instantly on hearing this she said a strange feeling came over her. 'I don't know how,' she said 'but I just knew it was him and I ran out of the shop.' 

An inquest into Joseph's killing was held in November 1972. None of the soldiers involved in the shooting attended the hearing. A British army representative read out their statements, each soldier known simply as soldier 'A', 'B', 'C', and 'D', etc. The British army representative repeated the claim that Joseph was a gunman and was in his procession of a 303. rifle when the soldiers shot him. 

In their statements the soldiers said they were in an armoured car when they noticed a youth with a rifle at the corner of Eskdale Gardens and Berwick Road. They said the youth was about to open fire when one soldier fired a single shot hitting the youth in the head. Immediately after the shooting they jumped from their armoured car and ran towards their victim. They stated when they examined the youth's body they found no weapon on or near him. They said they carried out a search of the youth and found six spent shotgun cartridges and seven live shotgun cartridges in his pockets. 

Several Ardoyne residents gave evidence at the inquest disputing the British army's version of events. One resident from Eskdale Gardens said he saw Joseph Campbell going along the street and spoke to him. The witness said the youth was not armed and when he ran to him after he was shot there was no weapon near him. 

Joseph Campbell's father told the hearing the shotgun cartridges were from one of his son's hunting trips to his grandmother's. He said that the RUC knew this, as they had gone to Joseph's grandmother's house once after they stopped him on one of his hunting expeditions in County Armagh. The RUC, he said, later came to the home of the legal owner of the shotgun, a relative, and told him the boy should be accompanied when he had the weapon. His son was not arrested for this offence.

The Coroner advising the jury at the end of evidence said ''whether you believe Campbell was a gunman or an innocent by-stander they could only return one verdict-an open one.'' 

The jury returned an open verdict. 

Mr Campbell speaking to the Relatives For Justice some years ago said the statements of the British soldiers at the inquest all contradicted each other on various details. After the inquest, he said, none of his son's clothes were ever returned to them. 

Talking about the day of the tragedy Mr Campbell said he was only informed of his son's death when a man came to his home and said 'It's bad news, your son has been shot.' Later the same evening he went with the local parish priest to the city morgue and identified his son. He said the distress and grief they had to bear was made even harder by the way the RUC dealt with events. Instead of the RUC coming and informing him and his family of Joseph's death they released the details of the shooting and his name to the media, who reported it. Mr Campbell said his elderly mother heard it on the television that her grandson was shot dead. Joseph Campbell was a member of a republican youth organisation Na Fianna Eireann at the time of his death.

Mrs Campbell, said 'they (the RUC) never came to my door. Not that I wanted them to, but they have yet to come to that door and tell me my son is dead.' 

No British Soldier was ever charged in connection with the killing of Joseph Campbell.