Kevin Heatley

Kevin Heatley 13 years, Second Avenue, Derrybeg estate, Newry, Co. Down, shot dead on 28 February 1973, by members of the British Army’s Royal Hampshire Regiment.

Kevin Heatley was one of a family with 6 children and attended St. Joseph’s Secondary School in Newry. To his friends he was known as ‘Beansy.’ One friend described ‘Beansy’ as a ‘jovial outgoing boy who was always full of crack, wit and stories.’

On the evening of Tuesday 27 February 1973, residents of the Derrybeg estate witnessed numerous incidents of harassment from British troops patrolling the area. The harassment had been ongoing in the area over a period of days. Shortly before mid-night a force of British soldiers rushed into the estate shouting and blowing whistles. None of the soldiers were wearing berets, concealing the identity of their regiment. Residents said some of the soldiers were also under the influence of alcohol. 

The loud whistling and shouting resulted in residents coming out of their homes to investigate. Kevin was with several friends at Main Avenue sitting on a garden wall of a house chatting and watching the antics of the soldiers. Suddenly, just after mid-night on 28th, a shot rang out and Kevin fell off the wall. A soldier who was standing about 150 yards from where Kevin was sitting fired the shot. 

When Kevin’s friends examined him they quickly discovered he had been shot in the head. Residents in the street ran to his aid, and after a time obtained a small van and took him to the hospital. He was carried into the casualty department at 12.45am, but he died shortly afterwards.

Several witnesses to the shooting later told their stories to the local Press. One witness described how one British soldier was acting ‘a bit mad.’ The witness said that ‘when the patrol moved up the street two or three bottles were thrown. The next thing there was a crack, which I knew was a rifle shot. When the boy fell I thought he had just lost balance but someone coming from behind said he was shot. There were about four or five people standing where the young fellow was shot.’ Previous to the shooting the witness said British soldiers had given a young man a beating in the estate. The witness was sure there had been no firing at the British soldiers before the shooting of Kevin. The witness said ‘the boy was shot in cold blood.’

Another witness, Patrick McCloskey, said he was about 20 yards from Kevin Heatley when he heard a shot. He said he ran over and lifted the boy up and saw the blood pouring from his head. The boy was still breathing and he helped to take him to hospital. Mr McCloskey said ‘the boy had no gun. The child would not know how to use one if he had.’ He added that he heard only one shot, and that the soldiers blew whistles. 

Mrs Margaret Haughey said she and her sister and a friend were just entering the estate when a British army foot-patrol came along. Members of the patrol took up positions at the shops. Then one soldier walked from the shops to the beginning of Main Avenue. He aimed his rifle and fired one shot, but Mrs Haughey and her companions thought it was a rubber bullet. She then shouted to the soldier who fired the shot ‘Are you at it again?’ as he walked back to his colleagues. Mrs Haughey said none of the British soldiers present in the estate at the time of the shooting were wearing berets or any headgear, and that they were blowing whistles. She also said after the shooting, as she and her companions walked behind the soldier who fired the shot, the soldier said he was Irish and came from Belfast.

Mrs Larkin, who was with Mrs Haughey, also spoke to the soldier who fired the shot. She said to him ‘You have a drink on you,’ and he replied, ‘I have had a few beers, do you deny a man a drink.’

Mrs Larkin described the Royal Hampshire Regiment, which had been in the Newry area since November 1972, as the worst regiment they ever had. The soldiers were always blowing whistles to bring people out on to the streets.

The Royal Hampshire Regiment issued a statement several hours after the shooting claiming ‘it is normal practice for the army to carry out an administrative enquiry.’ The statement rejected the allegations of British soldiers involved in the shooting were under the influence of drink, and totally without foundation. 

The statement went on to detail events surrounding the shooting, claiming that ‘at 20 minutes to 1am on Wednesday morning a patrol of the Royal Hampshire’s was leaving the Derrybeg estate and was going down towards the Meadow estate when it was fired on by one round from the road junction of Second Avenue and Main Avenue. The patrol was hindered in their investigation by a crowd of about 50 people who had gathered between the patrol and the street corner. About 20 minutes later, at 1am, the company commander arrived and two houses were searched in Main Avenue. Nothing was found in the search and all the patrol withdrew.’

A further brief statement issued from the British army’s HQ at Lisburn followed. They claimed one shot had been fired at the army patrol and a gunman was hit when fire was returned. 

Patrick O’Hanlon, an MP for the area, joined local residents in rejecting the British army statements. Mr O’Hanlon said ‘I have absolutely no doubt that the evidence will prove conclusively that this young boy was murdered and that the British army is telling lies.’ 

Mr O’Hanlon later held an interview with the local Press and played for them an audio tape recording of events in the Derrybeg estate at the time Kevin was shot. The recording contained the sounds of shouting and whistle blowing, but only a single shot was heard. Mr O’Hanlon demanded an inquiry.

Some eight months after Kevin Heatley’s death corporal Francis Foxford, a member of the Royal Hampshire Regiment was charged with the manslaughter of the boy. Foxford went for trial in March 1974. At his trial he claimed a crowd attacked his patrol and a ‘small person’ fired him on and he returned fire. Civilian witnesses giving evidence rejected the claims of Foxford and his colleagues. 

The trial judge found corporal Foxford guilty of the lesser charge of unlawful killing and sentenced to three years imprisonment. The judge in his summing up described Foxford’s evidence as unreliable and unsatisfactory, and said that other soldiers had also given false evidence to the court to protect Foxford.

Shortly after he was sentenced Foxford was transferred to a prison in England. On his arrival there he immediately lodged an appeal against his conviction and was given bail. 

In June 1974 Foxford returned to Belfast to have his case heard in the Court of Criminal Appeal. The appeal went in his favour and the conviction was quashed. The judges said the reason for the decision were ‘irregularities in Crown procedure at the trial and it was impossible to say that the conviction would inevitably have followed had the irregularities not occurred.’ 

The ‘irregularities’ the judges spoke of involved the Crown Prosecution closing its case against the accused without tendering the evidence of two British army witnesses, which, the appeal judges said ‘introduced an impunity into the stream of justice which no procedural step could thereafter extract.’

Foxford was therefore released and returned to England and his regiment.

Over 18 months after Kevin’s death his mother Kathleen was given £943 compensation by the Northern Ireland Office for the lost of her son. Mrs Heatley later said she felt physically sick when she returned home that day from the court. 

After Foxford’s release on a technicality no other British soldiers were charged in connection with the killing of Kevin Heatley.