Casefile True Crime - Case 156: Shergar

Episode Date: September 12, 2020

In Ireland in 1968, a period known as The Troubles began. Years of extreme protesting and violence culminated in low morale and widespread despair throughout the country, and the economy struggled, resulting in high unemployment rates and mass emigration. --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched by Jessica Forsayeth Written by Elsha McGill Creative Director: Milly Raso For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-156-shergar

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. In 1920, the country of Ireland consisted of two self-governing territories, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, both of which belonged to the United Kingdom. Following the War of Independence and the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, Southern Ireland declared independence from the UK and became the Republic of Ireland, while Northern Ireland

remained under British rule. This partitioning caused great conflict between the two regions, with Irish nationalists in the Republic wanting all of Ireland to be reunified as an independent country, while Unionists in the North didn't agree. Many inhabitants of Northern Ireland were descended from English ancestors and identified more as British instead of Irish, hence their loyalty to the UK. The fact that the Unionists were mainly of Protestant background, while the nationalists were predominantly Catholic, only furthered the divide.

In 1968, a period known as the Troubles began, marking a battle for control between those who thought Northern Ireland should be returned to the Republic and to those who felt it should remain under British rule. Leading the charge was the Irish Republican Army, or IRA, also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The IRA was an illegal paramilitary organisation whose primary goal was to force the United Kingdom to negotiate a withdrawal from Northern Ireland. They sought to bring about unification of Ireland through any means, including violence

and terrorism. When the Troubles began, fighting between the IRA and British soldiers from Northern Ireland was at an all-time high. Over the years, the IRA bombed political and economic targets across Northern Ireland and England, using guerrilla tactics in both urban and rural areas. Years of extreme protesting and violence had culminated in low morale and widespread despair throughout Ireland, and the economy was in trouble, resulting in high unemployment rates and mass emigration.

Yet, one industry that continued to thrive was horse racing, which provided 20,000 jobs and attracted large sums of money from overseas. In 1980, an Irish racehorse named Surgar took the industry by storm, becoming a racing champion and national treasure. The Irish public adored Surgar, and watching him achieve great success provided a much-needed distraction from the Troubles. He became a symbol of hope and possibility in an otherwise bleak and trying time. Surgar was born on March 3, 1978 at Cheshoun, a private stud farm in the Irish county of

Kildare. His father was a British-born thoroughbred racehorse named Great Nephew, and his mother was Charmaine, a thoroughbred who had produced many other successful racehorses throughout her breeding career. Surgar was a quintessential thoroughbred. He was tall and lean, with an athletic build ideal for racing. He had a light brown coat with a black mane and tail, and four white socks on his legs. Running down his nose was a wide white stripe, known as a blaze, and one of his eyes was blue,

a phenomenon called a walleye. Some horse racing professionals believed that horses with a walleye are predisposed to being skittish and temperamental, but trainers who worked with Surgar dismissed this theory, finding him laid back and easy to train. The Cheshoun stud farm was owned by Prince Karim, a Muslim leader, better known in the West as his Highness Aga Khan IV. As the 49th spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, the Aga Khan is believed to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.

Shia Islam has an estimated 15 million followers, and the Aga Khan is considered to be their king and spiritual guide. In 1957, he inherited his position from his grandfather, Aga Khan III, at the age of 20, and grew up to be a business magnate, humanitarian worker, and a racehorse breeder. During his time as leader, the Aga Khan has been celebrated for his exceptional contributions to human development and has received numerous awards and honorary degrees from institutions throughout the world. He is also a billionaire, who has been described by Forbes magazine as one of the world's

10 richest royals. Over the years, the Aga Khan has amassed assets such as valuable stud farms, hundreds of award-winning racehorses, an exclusive Italian yacht club, a private island in the Bahamas, several estates, and two jets. Sherga was trained to be a racehorse from a young age and grew up to become one of the Aga Khan's greatest success stories, known for his nice temperament and for having a certain elegance in the way he moved. He was more relaxed and affectionate than the average thoroughbred, which appealed to

his owners and the public, who nicknamed him Ireland's Pegasus. One of Sherga's most endearing features was that when he galloped at full pace, his tongue lulled out the side of his mouth, which one racing commentator said made him look like a 10-year-old solving a tricky maths problem. Sherga's trainer was Michael Stout, a Barbados native hired by the Aga Khan in 1978. Regarded as an up-and-comer, Michael had worked as an assistant to famous British horse trainer Pat Rowan and already had some big wins under his belt. He began training Sherga at the Beechhurst Stables in the English town of Newmarket,

but initially saw nothing special about him, viewing him as somewhat immature. In August to 1980, jockey Leicester Pigott began taking Sherga out for morning rides and the two quickly formed a bond. Leicester was one of only two jockeys who ever rode Sherga, the other being Walter Swinburne. In racing Sherga, the two jockeys dressed in the racing colours of the Aga Khan, an emerald green cap and jacket with red epaulets. Sherga's racing career began at the Crease Plate in Newbury, on September 19, 1980, when he was two and a half years old.

He was the favourite to win at odds of 11-8 and after initially keeping behind, he ultimately won by two and a half lengths. This style of racing became his signature, with Sherga often sitting in third or fourth place until he sped up and ultimately overtook the winning horses in the final straight. In 1980 and 1981, he went on to win six of the eight major races he competed in, including the Guardian newspaper Classic Trial, Chester Vars, the Epsom Derby, the Irish Derby, and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. These collective wins were considered to be tremendous achievements in the racing world,

and as Sherga's reputation and prestige grew, so did his popularity. Horse racing enthusiast Richard Bearline described his appeal in the Guardian newspaper, writing, To say Sherga typifies the perfect racehorse would not be overstating the case. His powers of acceleration are exceptional. One or two experts have told me they consider Sherga the best horse they've ever seen. In 1981, Sherga was named European Horse of the Year and he soon became a household name in Ireland and England, even amongst those who didn't follow racing. On July 9, 1981, Diaga Khan announced he would be keeping Sherga in Ireland in order to use

him as a stud. Unlike race winnings, which can be inconsistent and unpredictable, putting a racehorse to stud provides a steady income, and Diaga Khan expected to breed ten of his mares to Sherga each breeding season. Diaga Khan wanted to syndicate Sherga, which meant selling shares so that ownership of the horse would be split between several individuals. With 40 shares up for grabs, Diaga Khan revealed he would be keeping six shares and selling the remaining 34 at the price of £250,000 each, the equivalent of around one and a half

million Australian dollars in today's money. Anyone who knew anything about horse racing wanted in on the action and the shares were quickly snapped up. In total, the syndicate invested £10 million in Sherga, which was a record at the time for Astalian at stud. It was reported that Diaga Khan could have made more money by shipping Sherga to the United States, where some breeding syndicates were prepared to pay up to 40 million US dollars. However, there had been a recent outbreak of a highly infectious equine venereal disease,

known as contagious sequine metritis, resulting in international travel restrictions. In addition, Diaga Khan wanted Sherga to remain in Ireland because he was so well loved by the public and provided a respite for the tension between the Republic and Northern Ireland. Owning shares in Sherga was considered to be a great privilege and it was up to each shareholder to organise their own insurance. Each of their individual policies ensured Sherga for death caused by accident, illness and disease, but only some of the policies covered theft.

Trainer Michael Stout and Diaga Khan wanted to race Sherga in the October 1981 French pre-delarct detrion, also known simply as the Ark. To gain entry, Sherga first needed to succeed in a prep race, so it was decided he would compete in the St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster in England. It was the final race for the season and to the last time Sherga would race as a three-year-old. Although he was a favourite, he finished in fourth place, with his poor performance attributed to the fact that it had rained heavily the previous evening. This loss meant that racing in the Ark was out of the picture.

Diaga Khan didn't want any further losses impacting on Sherga's desirability as a start, and it was therefore decided that he'd be retired at the peak of his short, yet illustrious racing career. To celebrate Sherga's achievements, a public celebration was held in the Irish town of Newbridge, with Diaga Khan parading Sherga in front of crowds along the main street while a pipe band played. At the time of Sherga's retirement, he was the most valuable stud horse in Ireland, making Diaga Khan the leading breeder.

It was expected that Sherga would produce many offspring who would be equally successful racehorses. He was taken to the Balimani stud farm in Newbridge, where he was kept in a four-stalled stallion barn. Like most other horse studs in Ireland at the time, Balimani had very few security measures in place. The entrance consisted of a five-bar wooden gate that could be unlocked from the outside, and led to the stables where nameplates identified each of the horses.

The staff noted Sherga was a very agreeable horse with a good temperament. He was mainly looked after by 53-year-old horse groom Jim Fitzgerald, who lived with his wife and children down a quiet, tree-lined street a short walk from Balimani. Jim's proximity to the stud farm was intentional, as his role required him to be available to attend to the horses at any and all times. He had a lifelong love of horses, and had started working for the Aga Khan as an assistant when he was just 16. Jim took his job very seriously, and spent each day talking to the horses, immaculately

cleaning their stables, and grooming them thoroughly. When the 1982 breeding season arrived, Sherga was studded out at the cost of £70,000 per day, the equivalent of around $118,000 in today's money. By the end of the year, he had fathered 37 foals, and was booked to breed with 55 mares in the 1983 season, which was due to commence on February 14. One week prior, on Tuesday, February 8, a large horse auction hosted by Goff's sales took place in the village of Kil, located 22km south-west of Balimani. The auction attracted visitors from all over Ireland, with the typically quiet and peaceful

area becoming a hive of activity as people, traffic, and horse floats milled around well into the night. As it was also nearly the breeding season, there were a greater number of horse floats around than usual, as mares were moved to various stud farms. February 8 was one of the coldest days Ireland had experienced that year, but was otherwise a regular day for Sherga at the stud farm. In the morning, he was taken out for exercise, and later returned to his stable in the afternoon by Jim Fitzgerald.

That evening, Jim went home to eat dinner with his wife Maj and their six children, the youngest of whom was five years old. At 8pm, Jim returned to the Balimani stables to check that the horses were comfortable and settled. The night was cold and foggy, but everything seemed to be in order, so Jim walked back home. At around 8.40pm, Jim was upstairs when he heard knocking at his front door, which was unusual for that time of night.

Jim headed downstairs to see who it was, but his pre-teen son Bernard had already opened the door. Standing there was a tall man dressed like the garter, the name of the Irish police service, where the balaclava pulled over his head. Given how cold it was outside, it wasn't out of the ordinary to see a garter officer wearing a balaclava. The man asked Bernard, is he in? Which Bernard took to mean his father?

He turned to call for Jim, but as he did so, the man hit Bernard across his lower back, striking him to the ground. By the time Jim made it downstairs, the man had pinned Bernard to the floor with one hand. In the other, he held a pistol, which he pointed towards Jim. At this point, two more balaclava-clad pistol-wielding men entered the house and pointed their guns at the family. Another two assailants then burst through the door and ushered the children to a bedroom, while the other four took Jim and his wife-match to the kitchen.

Jim noted that the men were all very calm and organised, and referred to one another using the code word Creswell. It was obvious to him that the attack had been carefully planned. One of the men told Jim they had come for Shergar, and demanded to be taken to him. They told Jim to get his code, and then marched him over to Ballymoney at gunpoint, while the other two armed men stayed at the house to keep an eye on the family. At 8.50pm, Jim and his attackers arrived at the stables. Jim believed that horses could sense the emotions of people they were familiar with, and did

his best to stay calm so as not to alarm Shergar. It seemed to work as Shergar appeared relaxed and was easily led from his stable. Still holding Jim at gunpoint, the men then demanded that he load Shergar into a horse float that was attached to a nearby car. At this point, Jim noticed that the men were carrying shortwave radios. He also noted that one of the men seemed to have experience handling horses, as he was more confident with his movements and less wary of Shergar than the others. By 9.00pm, Jim had successfully loaded Shergar into the float.

Some of the thieves then got into the car and drove away, as Jim watched helplessly. The remaining men took Jim back to his house and kept him under watch until 10pm, at which point three of them loaded him into the back of a van and drove off. Jim was ordered to lie down with a coat over his face. His captors then drove over the rough country roads at high speeds, repeatedly warning Jim that he and his family would face violent ramifications if they went to the police. After approximately two hours, they dropped Jim off at the side of a road about 48km northeast of Ballimani and gave him directions to the nearest town called Kilcock.

The thieves told Jim they wanted £2 million for Shergar's safe return and would be using the codename King Neptune for upcoming ransom negotiations. After telling Jim not to look back, they drove away into the night. Terrified, Jim walked to Kilcock, arriving just before midnight and pounded on the door of a Chinese restaurant until the owners let him in. They allowed him to use their phone and Jim called his brother Desvis Gerald, who drove out to give him a lift back to Ballimani. By the time he arrived home, the armed men had left and his family were waiting up, shaken,

but unharmed. At 12.10am on Wednesday, February 9th, as Jim was trying to come to terms with what had happened, Belfast the based horse breeder's Jeremy and Judy Maxwell were awoken by a phone call. Judy answered and a male on the other line introduced himself as King Neptune, saying We've got Shergar. If you want proof, we'll send you his ear. Thinking it was a prank call, Judy somewhat facetiously asked the men to take good care

of the horse. She then hung up and went back to sleep without giving the call much more thought. 20 minutes later at 12.30am, the phone rang at the BBC television office in Belfast. The employee who answered heard the voice of a well-educated sounding man with a southern Irish accent. He told the employee that Shergar had been kidnapped and the captors were only willing to negotiate with Britain's three best racing journalists, Derek Thompson, John Oakesy and Peter Campling.

He ordered that the trio be at the Europa Hotel in central Belfast by the evening of Thursday, February 10 and said that on future calls he would identify himself as Zarkal, which was the name of another famous racehorse. Meanwhile, at Ballymanee, Jim Fitzgerald was contemplating what to do next. At 1.15am, he called his boss, Gilla Dreon, who was the stud manager for the Aga Khan's Irish studs and told him what had happened. Gilla wanted to phone the guarder, but Jim warned him not to, so Gilla called the Aga Khan in Switzerland instead.

Unable to get a hold of him, he then called Shergar's vet and shareholder Stan Cosgrove. The two men drove to Ballymanee to speak with Jim in person and to confirm that Shergar really had been stolen. Stan Cosgrove soon phoned his friend, Captain Sean Berry, the manager of the Irish Thurabread Breeders Association and told him what had happened. Captain Berry later told author Milton C. Toby that in his business, the telephone call from Stan Cosgrove was, quote, the equivalent of the director of the Louvre in Paris being told that the Mona Lisa had been stolen.

At 1.45am, racing journalist Derek Thompson awoke to a phone call in his London hotel room. It was a reporter from London's Press Association who advised Derek that Shergar had been kidnapped and the captors had asked to speak with him personally. Derek didn't believe this at first, but the reporter repeatedly told him that it was not a joke. Derek eventually agreed to accompany the other two racing journalists, John Oxy and Peter Campling, to Belfast the following evening to negotiate Shergar's release.

By 4am, Gilla Dreon had managed to get hold of the Aga Khan in Switzerland. Gilla asked whether they should simply pay the ransom quietly without getting the police involved, but the Aga Khan instructed him to notify the guarder. He reasoned that there were too many shareholders involved with Shergar for him to make a decision on his own, and it was inevitable that the guarder and press would learn about the theft anyway. The Aga Khan also said that there was no guarantee that Shergar would be returned safely even if they paid the ransom, and that paying could set a precedent for further thefts of Irish

racehorses. By the time the guarder were notified, Shergar had been missing for almost 8 hours. This was enough time for the thieves to have taken him anywhere within Ireland, or even abroad. Tracking him would be especially difficult as the goth sales horse auction that was held the previous day meant there were a large number of horse floats travelling through the country. Because of the tensions between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, all the main

guarder stations had radio contact with one another. This meant that if officials had been notified earlier, stations further away could have put up roadblocks and possibly found Shergar within hours of the kidnap. Yet, by the time the kidnapping was reported, the area was too large to cover, leading many to believe that the search was doomed from the start. Chief Superintendent James Murphy was assigned to lead the case. Nicknamed the Spud, he was a tall, slim man with a strong Irish accent and a dark sense of humour, who always wore a three-piece suit with a black felt trilby hat similar to

a fedora. By midday, the media had gotten hold of the story and news reports of Shergar's theft were being broadcast around the world. Journalists flocked to Newbridge and the small town was soon swimming with reporters. Speaking on the steps of the Newbridge guarder station, Chief Murphy told the gathering reporters that he wasn't overly concerned about the case, because, quote, ''Astallian cannot be kept by people who are not well up in the horsey field and who do not know how to keep the animal.''

He openly admitted that the police had no leads, but ordered that all Irish stud farms and stables be searched immediately. 40 detectives were sent to Newbridge to work on the case and help with the search, while the head of the guarder's murder squad was also assigned to the investigation. The International Criminal Police Organization, more commonly known as Interpol, were contacted due to the possibility that Shergar had been smuggled out of the country. It is inquired about any possible security footage, but the owners of Balimani Stud had considered installing a security system an unnecessary expense, as it didn't seem possible

that a racehorse could ever be stolen. Balimani did have one CCTV camera inside the main stable where Shergar was housed, but it was broken and didn't even have a tape inside. Several search efforts uncovered no sign of Shergar, but the guarder did find caches of IRA weapons hidden throughout the Irish countryside, which resulted in the IRA losing many of their safehouses. At 4.05 on Wednesday afternoon, one of the thieves phoned Balimani Stud. Gila Drian answered, but as he was French and not fluent in English, he struggled to

understand the caller's demands. The caller eventually became frustrated and hung up. Just over an hour and a half later at 5.45, the thief phoned back. This time, Gila asked him to speak slowly, which he did. The caller introduced himself as King Neptune and demanded £2 million for Shergar's safe release, with the ransom to be paid in 20, 50 and 100 pound notes. He also requested a phone number in France that he and his men could contact instead of making calls to Irish landlines that could be traced.

Gila gave him the phone number for the Aga Khan's office in Paris. When word of the ransom demand reached Shergar's shareholders, they thought it was odd that the thieves had demanded to be paid in 100 pound notes, as such notes didn't exist. This led some of them to believe that Shergar's theft was more a publicity stunt than a genuine kidnapping for ransom. Regardless, the shareholders hired a company named Control Risks Group Limited to handle the negotiations on their behalf, and a negotiator was sent to the Aga Khan's office in Paris in anticipation of further incoming calls.

The following day of Thursday, February 10, racing journalists Derek Thompson, John Oxy and Peter Campling were taken to Belfast's Europa Hotel as the thieves had requested. At the time, the hotel was informally used as a home base for foreign journalists, which coupled with its central location, had made it the ideal target for bombings by the IRA. The building had earned the undesirable reputation of being the most bombed hotel in Europe, a fact that made the three journalists wary as they entered its lobby. Other reporters who had caught wind of the story had already gathered outside the building. Within minutes of their arrival, a message over the loudspeaker announced that there

was a call for Derek Thompson. Derek took the phone, and the caller on the other line told him he was being watched. He was then instructed to go to the farmhouse owned by horse breeders Jeremy and Judy Maxwell, and a couple who had received a phone call from King Neptune in the early hours after Shergaugh was stolen, saying that Shergaugh had been kidnapped and that his ear could be sent as proof. The Maxwell's farmhouse was located 48km south of Belfast in the town of Downpatrick. After hanging up the phone, Derek immediately updated the guarder and the Europa Hotel's

chief of security, as well as his fellow reporters John Oakesy and Peter Camping. The three racing reporters discussed how they could leave the building without being noticed to prevent the other journalists from following and possibly compromising Shergaugh's safety. Eventually, they snuck out via the hotel's kitchen and into a waiting car. When they arrived at the farmhouse, the guarder were already on site. Judy Maxwell advised that she had just received another phone call from the thieves, who this time changed the code name to Wackbalko, referencing another well-known racehorse. They had also reduced the ransom to just £40,000, equaling £1,000 for each share in Shergaugh.

At 8.30pm, the phone rang at the Maxwell farmhouse and Derek Thompson answered it. The caller used the code word Wackbalko and repeated the £40,000 ransom demand he had given to Judy earlier. He ordered that the demands be broadcast over the BBC Evening News before abruptly hanging up, leaving the guarder within sufficient time to trace the call. Captain Sean Berry, who had been contacted by Vette Stan Cosgrove in the early hours following Shergaugh's kidnapping, was eager to help in any way he could. He contacted the members of his organisation, the Irish Thurabread Breeders Association,

and they agreed to sponsor a reward of £50,000 for Shergaugh's safe return. The reward was advertised in Irish newspapers, alongside a phone number for the office of the Irish Act Wine Centre, which the public could call with any information. Captain Berry said his organisation was prepared to pay a higher reward if necessary, although he didn't publicise a specific amount, stating, Our association represents all horse breeders, and we decided on this course of action as a gesture on behalf of the entire breeding industry. It is vital that Shergaugh be found safe and well.

The guarder agreed to Captain Berry's plan on the condition that they were allowed to tap the phones in his home and office in case someone decided to contact him there instead. Within hours of the reward being publicised, calls started to come through. Some were from animal lovers concerned about Shergaugh's welfare, with one caller asking if specific information on how to feed and care for Shergaugh could be published in a local newspaper. In response, Captain Berry organised for a veterinarian to appear on Irish television to provide detailed care instructions directed at Shergaugh's captors.

In addition to these well-meaning calls, Captain Berry received several threats, with one caller threatening to burn his house down if he continued to search for Shergaugh. These calls were usually terminated quickly after Captain Berry told the caller that the phones were being recorded by the guarder. Chief Superintendent James Murphy continued to provide updates to the media from the steps of the Newbridge guarder station. Due to his dark sense of humour and the vague answers he gave, many members of the press believed he wasn't taking the crime seriously.

The truth was that Chief Murphy knew more about the case than he let on, and simply chose not to share the information with the media. But his secrecy added to the speculation that he didn't know what he was doing. The press dubbed him Inspector O'Cluso after the bumbling detective from the Pink Panther movies, and some reporters turned up to press conferences wearing a similar hat to his trademark Trilby as a way of poking fun at him. At 1.15am on the morning of Friday, February 11, the phone rang at the Maxwell's farmhouse in Downpatrick.

It was answered by journalist Derek Thompson, who was still there with the guarder. The caller introduced himself as King Neptune, and told Derek that if he didn't come up with the £40,000 ransom money by 9am, Sherga would be shot. Derek had been advised by the guarder to try and keep the caller on the line for as long as possible so they could trace the call, and he managed to drag out the conversation for roughly three minutes. This should have been enough time to trace it, but when Derek hung up, he was told that the officer responsible for tracing calls had finished his shift at midnight, leaving

nobody to fill his role. This error would turn out to be one of the biggest mistakes the guarder made during their investigation, and they received considerable backlash as a result. Six hours later, at 7am, the phone rang once more at the Maxwell's farmhouse, and Derek answered yet again. This time, the caller said that there had been an accident and Sherga was now dead. When asked where his body could be recovered from, the caller hung up. The guarder had been theorising whether two different groups had been making the ransom

calls. They suspected those made to the Aga Khan's office in Paris were legitimate, while the calls to the Maxwell's and to the journalists were intentional hoaxes, designed to confuse the situation and buy time for further negotiations and more media attention. This latest call strengthened their theory, and the £40,000 ransom demand and news of Sherga's death were considered to be false. In a press conference, Chief Murphy told reporters that he was regretfully no closer to solving the case than he had been the previous day.

Horsegroom Jim Fitzgerald was still reluctant to speak to the police. At first, he had been in such a state of shock that he was unable to recall any of the details of the attack. But by this point, he was simply fearful of the threats that thieves had made against his family. Although Chief Murphy didn't push him to speak, Jim did have one message for Sherga's captors. He asked them to feed Sherga some carrots as they were his favourite food and would

cheer him up. At 9 o'clock that evening, another call was placed to the Aga Khan's office in Paris. The caller demanded the £2 million ransom again, but the negotiator said he didn't have the money because there were 35 shareholders he had to consult with. The negotiator also asked for proof that Sherga was still alive, which the caller agreed to provide before ordering that the money be ready by 9 the following night or Sherga would be killed. One hour later, at 10pm, another call came through to the Paris office.

By this point, the media were reporting on the claim that Sherga had been shot, made during the phone call to the Maxwell's house that morning. The caller told the negotiator that the news was false and that he could prove Sherga was alive. He gave instructions that someone who wasn't associated with the Balimani start needed to travel to the Crofton Airport Hotel in Dublin. Once they arrived at the hotel reception, they were to use the alias Johnny Logan, the name of a famous Irish pop singer, at which point they would receive proof that Sherga

was still alive. The caller warned the negotiator not to tell the guarder about this plan. Ignoring the thieves' request to send someone who wasn't associated with Balimani, the owner's syndicate chose Sherga's vet, Stan Cosgrove, to attend the Crofton Airport Hotel. They also tipped off the guarder, who sent special armed officers to surround the premises. At 9 o'clock, on the morning of Saturday, February 12, Stan arrived at the hotel and asked, Have you got a message here for Johnny Logan? The staff at reception said, No.

Unsure of what to do next, Stan ate breakfast at the hotel while waiting for further news. At 11.15am, one of the thieves called the Aga Khan's office in Paris, Furious. They had been unable to deliver the proof of life to the Crofton Airport Hotel because the building was surrounded by police officers. The caller threatened to kill Sherga as well as the negotiator if they were caught by the guarder. Four hours later, at 3.12pm, the thieves phoned Paris once again. They accused the negotiator of stalling for time and said he had one hour to get the £2

million ransom together or Sherga would be killed. When the negotiator said the shareholders were concerned that Sherga was already dead, he was told that proof of life could be found at the Rossnery Hotel in the town of Drohada, 49km north of Dublin. A guarder officer went to the Rossnery Hotel reception, where he was given a polaroid photo. It was a close-up shot of the horse's head, taken next to a copy of the Irish news newspaper, dated the previous day of February 11, 1983. Vet Stan Cosgrove was called to the Newbridge guarder station to examine the photograph.

He was certain the horse in the picture was Sherga, but as it didn't show the horse's body, he couldn't tell for sure whether or not it proved that Sherga was still alive. Furthermore, as the newspaper was from the day prior, it was possible that Sherga had been killed after the photo was taken. Details of the photo were withheld from the press, with the guarder denying that any such polaroid existed. At 5pm, the thieves once again called the Agakhan's Paris office demanding that the ransom be paid.

The negotiator said the shareholders wanted to see a full-bodied photo of Sherga standing up to prove he was still alive. This angered the caller, leading him to threaten, quote, You may not pay for this horse, but you will definitely pay for the next one when you see what we do to this horse, before hanging up. The Agakhan still wanted to buy more time, as it was against his principles to give in and pay the ransom. The Irish and British governments agreed with his decision to withhold payment, confirming

that under no circumstances would they assist with facilitating the money. Five and a half hours later, at 10.40pm, the thieves called the Paris office to yet again ask for the ransom. The negotiator repeated the shareholders' demand for further proof of life, to which the caller replied, If you're not satisfied, that's it. Then promptly hung up. Days passed without any further contact from the thieves or any developments in the case.

On Tuesday, February 15, one week after Sherga was stolen, a man named Paddy McCann was walking through County Tyrone in Northern Ireland when he came across a horse's dismembered hind leg that had been crudely severed at the hip joint. Paddy was a horse enthusiast and could tell by looking at the limb that it belonged to a thoroughbred that had been wearing professionally shod horse shoes. He immediately thought of Sherga and reported the discovery to police. Authorities seized the leg, but as it didn't have white sock markings on its hoof like all four of Sherga's limbs did, it was confirmed not to be his.

That same day, the guarder released a description of three of the suspects. Although Jim Fitzgerald hadn't seen their faces due to the balaclavas they'd been wearing, the groom at Ballimani had witnessed some men hanging around the stud farm's entrance and was able to provide further information on their facial features. One of the suspects was labelled as a jockey type, being five foot three inches tall and having a slight build. He was aged in his mid-twenties with a dark complexion, hair combed down across his forehead, and was wearing jeans and a denim jacket.

Based on this description, some journalists surmised that he may have previously worked with Sherga at the stud farm, adding to Jim Fitzgerald's theory that one of the thieves had appeared proficient at handling horses. The second suspect was in his early twenties, was five foot seven inches tall and had a medium build. He had dark hair parted to the left, a large, prominent nose, and was wearing a brown jacket. The third suspect was five foot eight, of medium build and undetermined age, and had been wearing a dark jacket and pants with a hat that had a shiny peak.

He was described as resembling a guarder officer or bus driver. Based on these descriptions, the press referred to the three suspects as the jockey, the nose, and the guard. The guarder technical bureau used the descriptions to create photo feed images of the suspects. Although they were only intended for use by the guarder, two of the three photos were leaked to the media, with one published in the Irish independent newspaper. When a reporter asked Chief Murphy whether the release of the images had resulted in any clues, he responded,

We have got a good description, but what we haven't got is a clue. Journalists used this quote repeatedly to highlight how botched the investigation was. As part of their investigations, the guarder followed up on a two-way radio call that had been intercepted on Sunday, February 6, two days before sugar was stolen. The call had taken place between four men in County Goreway on the west coast of the Republic of Ireland. One of the men spoke with a cultured English accent, while the other three spoke with Irish accents.

They used short phrases as though they were speaking in code and mentioned an orange car and a road that was bad for a box, presumably meaning a horse float. Suspecting the call might have had something to do with the plans to transport sugar, the guarder conducted a thorough search of County Goreway, but to no avail. On Wednesday, February 16, the guarder released a witness description of a horse float that was spotted leaving the Balimany Stard at 8.30pm on the night of sugar's disappearance. It was described as either a light blue or light green two-horse trailer that was possibly manufactured by a company called Rice.

It was in rough condition, with no license plate or working lights, and was being towed by either a brown hillman hunter or a voxel. During the release of this information, investigators were optimistic that the float would be identified, but their hopes were quashed when no leads arose. Later that day, Chief Murphy stepped down from handling the press briefings, instead assigning the task to Superintendent Noel Anderson, an experienced spokesperson and senior press officer. Although he never confirmed why, it was likely that Chief Murphy stepped down due to the

media's constant ridicule. On Saturday, February 19, a loaded magazine cartridge from an automatic rifle was found near the entrance of Balimany Stard. It was from a Steyr Daimler Pook, an Austrian submachine gun that was rare in Ireland but known to be used by the Southern Command Branch of the IRA. The guarder were unable to lift any fingerprints off the magazine or link it to an owner, and ultimately decided to withhold the discovery from the public. The days continued to pass without any further contact from Shergar's captors.

Later shareholders tried to re-establish communication with the thieves via the media, but their attempts were unsuccessful. They believed that Shergar would eventually be released unharmed, as they couldn't imagine that a fellow Irishman would kill an innocent horse and beloved national treasure. However, weeks went by without any leads or breakthroughs in the case, and the investigation and media reports started slowing down. The public were eager to help, with 150,000 people joining the search to check fields, farms and stables.

The guarder followed every tip-off they received, searching canal banks, travellers caravans and properties, only to find out that several of the tip-offs were hoaxes, crafted by vengeful neighbours. In a bid to gather information, detectives interviewed more than 100 jockeys from Ireland and England, with the guarder clarifying that these interviews had nothing to do with one of the suspects being described as a jockey. From an economic point of view, the theft of Shergar was a huge problem for Ireland. Not only did the horse racing industry provide 20,000 jobs within the country, but it also

generated lots of money from international sources. With the crime casting doubt on the safety of the industry, the Irish economy was at risk of impact. Chief Murphy told the press, quote, If any harm happens to that horse, it is going to do the industry an amount of anguish in this country, and for that reason alone, I would ask the kidnappers to return the horse safely. As the guarder grew increasingly desperate, they sought the help of around 50 clairvoyance,

which drew further ridicule from the press. A majority of the psychics believed that Shergar would be found west of the River Shannon in County Goreway, which investigators believed was too compelling to ignore. They searched this area with the help of several psychics, but nothing was found. In early March, a man named Patrick Kelly recognized the description of the horse float used in Shergar's kidnapping as his own float that was stolen in County Louth, near the border of Northern Ireland. He provided photos of the float, and Jim Fitzgerald positively identified it as the one used by

the thieves to transport Shergar. What seemed like a big breakthrough ultimately led nowhere, as Patrick Kelly was unable to provide any further insight into who might have stolen the float. The hotline that had been set up by Captain Sean Berry, manager of the Irish Tharebred Breeders Association, remained active, and on March 16, he received a call from a man with a cultured Irish accent who requested a £250,000 reward to begin negotiations for Shergar's safe return. Captain Berry agreed to get the money together, and the caller said he would be in touch again

soon, using the code name Rugby. This code name concerned Captain Berry, as he was a huge Rugby fan, and became paranoid that the caller may have been monitoring his personal life or watching his family. He notified the guarder, and on March 24, Rugby called again. Captain Berry told him the reward money would only be paid if he received conclusive evidence that Shergar was still alive, to which Rugby said he would be in touch. Captain Berry and his wife were scheduled to depart for a two-week holiday in the Canary Islands, but they told the guarder they'd be happy to cancel the trip in order to stay

home to continue negotiations. The guarder urged the couple to carry on with their plans, and while they were on holiday, no further calls came through. This added to Captain Berry's suspicion that he was under surveillance. The next phone call from Rugby came on the morning of May 2, 1983. This time he directed Captain Berry to drive to the Cadeen Hotel in Newbridge, near Balimani Dutt, to wait for an incoming phone call for a Mr Davies. Captain Berry did as he was told, with undercover guarder officers also positioning themselves

inside the hotel. At 11am, the phone rang for Mr Davies, and Captain Berry answered as directed. Rugby instructed him to return to the hotel the following afternoon, with £250,000 in cash, at which point he would be taken to see Shergar. Captain Berry went home and obtained a blood testing kit from a local Lekwine DNA testing facility. He returned to the hotel on the afternoon of May 3, where the phone rang at approximately two o'clock.

This time, Rugby advised Captain Berry to travel to a payphone in Kildare at 9pm on May 5, where arrangements would be made to take him to Shergar. Undercover officers noted a man who had also been at the hotel the day prior, was watching Captain Berry closely, which confirmed their suspicion that he was under surveillance. They warned him to cease the negotiations if he feared his family was in danger, but Captain Berry wanted to persevere in the hopes of Shergar's return. At 8.57pm on May 5, he went to the phone booth in Kildare and waited for the call. Rugby rang one hour later, asking Captain Berry if he would be willing to be held with

Shergar while positive identification was made and the reward money was handed over. Captain Berry agreed, but said that vet Stan Cosgrove would have to accompany him to facilitate the necessary identity testing. Rugby said he would check and call back shortly, but Captain Berry waited and waited, and no further calls came through. He never heard from Rugby again, and the reward remained unclaimed. Shortly after this, a member of the guarder named Officer Keirnians contacted Stan Cosgrove wanting to introduce him to Dennis Manoog, a well-known horse dealer with an interesting

story to tell. Dennis told Stan that intermediaries of Shergar's captors had shown him a photo of Shergar, then placed a hood over his head and drove him to an unknown location in the Irish countryside, where he saw Shergar alive. Stan asked Dennis if £80,000 would be enough to have Shergar returned safely with no questions asked. Dennis agreed to speak to the intermediaries, who in turn agreed to the deal. Through Dennis, the thieves directed Stan to place £80,000 cash into the boot of Dennis's

car along with a £10,000 finder's fee for Dennis. They were then instructed to drive the car to the village of Artna Crusher in County Clare and leave it in a specified remote location. There, the thieves would remove the money and replace it with instructions on how to retrieve Shergar. Officer Keirnians agreed to accompany Stan and Dennis in the hopes of catching the thieves in a sting operation. The trio followed the instructions, leaving Dennis's car in the specified location with

£90,000 cash in the boot and then left the scene. They returned a short while later and found that the money had been taken, but there were no instructions regarding getting Shergar back. Upon realizing that the whole plot had been set up, Stan was convinced Officer Keirnians had been involved from the get-go. Officer Keirnians was investigated by the guarder and eventually sacked for carrying out under-the-table police operations. Dennis Minogue remained adamant that the horse he'd been shown was Shergar and opinions

differ as to whether he and Officer Keirnians were part of the setup or had been fooled themselves. The months continued to pass with no major breakthroughs. By September 1983, mares that had been lined up to breed with Shergar in the 1984 breeding season began arriving at Ballimani Stard, where they were to be bordered until definitive news regarding Shergar emerged. From the outset of the investigation, the guarder suspected that the IRA was involved in stealing Shergar. Throughout the 1970s, the IRA had started receiving weapons and training from international

supporters including sympathizers from the United States, Libya and Palestine. However, their campaigns were costly and the amount of money coming in via donations and illegal activities wasn't enough to fund their violent protests, equipment, weapons and explosives. By the 1980s, the FBI was conducting an ongoing investigation into American support of the IRA, which meant there had been a halt on weapons procured from the USA. Consequently, the IRA was in financial strife and began resorting to kidnapping for ransom as a means of income with varying levels of success.

In October 1981, the IRA had kidnapped a wealthy supermarket executive Ben Dunne after he pulled over in his car to offer assistance at a staged accident. Ben was held hostage for six days while negotiations were made for a £1.5 million ransom to be paid. His family wanted to pay the ransom but were blocked by the guarder, prompting Ben's property manager to pay instead to secure Ben's safe release. This kidnapping set a crucial precedent as the IRA earned a lucrative ransom without any consequences.

In August 1983, six months after Sherga was stolen, seven armed IRA members stormed the South Dublin House of Galen, Western, the wealthy president of a Canadian supermarket chain, intending to kidnap him for ransom. The guarder had already received a tip-off that Galen might be a target and were waiting inside to arrest them. A gunfight ensued, with five of the perpetrators taken into custody for attempted kidnapping while two escaped. Investigators believed these were the same individuals who had stolen Sherga, but they

denied any involvement with the case. Three months later, the IRA abducted one of Galen's employees, a widowed father of four named Don Tidy. Don was driving his teenage daughter to school in the Dublin suburb of Rathbarnam when IRA members posing as the guarder pulled him over and shoved him in the boot of their fake police car. After a 22-day long investigation, Don was found unharmed with his captors in a wooded area of County Letram and a shootout followed, resulting in the deaths of a guarder trained

in E and an army private. The general consensus was that the IRA took Sherga as they had the motive and means to carry out the theft. But when the IRA didn't claim responsibility, some people doubted their involvement as they had always admitted to all their other kidnappings. Moreover, at the time Sherga was taken, a number of British intelligence agents had infiltrated the IRA and it was expected that one of them would have surely heard about the plan.

Those who suspected the IRA was responsible have argued that British intelligence might have known but didn't speak up out of fear of putting their lives in jeopardy. It's also been suggested that the IRA may have never roamed up to the crime because the public outrage over Sherga's theft was so much more intense than the reaction to IRA kidnappings of people. It was argued that the IRA kept it a secret because they feared a huge backlash from the Irish community over the theft of the beloved horse. By the end of 1983, insurance companies began to pay out Sherga's various shareholders for

their losses. Most of the shareholders had taken out insurance with Lloyds of London for over £10 million, which included coverage for Sherga's death as a result of accident, sickness or disease. Twenty of the shareholders had also paid extra premiums to cover theft, which resulted in each of them receiving a payout of £7 million. Those who didn't have coverage for theft didn't receive any payouts as it couldn't be proved whether or not Sherga was dead and therefore the insurance companies weren't obliged to pay.

Some of the wealthier shareholders took the issue to court but their claims were unsuccessful, which discredited some lingering theories that Sherga's theft was an inside job orchestrated by the shareholders in a bid to collect large insurance payouts. By 1984, the case had gone cold and on February 6, just prior to the commencement of the breeding season, the shareholders and Aga Khan released their first official statement. They confirmed their belief that the IRA was responsible for the crime and that Sherga had been killed shortly after he was stolen, describing his chances of being alive as remote. Eighteen months after Sherga's disappearance, Chief Inspector James Murphy told the Washington

Post, quote, You have to take into account more serious things. A person's life is involved in a murder, not a horse's. But we keep looking. You can never feel dispirited, though you have to take into account the lapse of time. We follow up on anything. You can't call the case closed until it is. He's continued to abound as to Sherga's fate.

Some believed he was held in a private farm until the story died down, at which point he was disguised and raced under a different name in order to win money for his captors. This theory held a little credit, as there was no guarantee that Sherga would have performed after several years without training, and nor could he have been disguised well enough to prevent people from recognizing him. Another theory was that Sherga had been stolen for breeding purposes. This too was easily dismissed, as the profits derived from breeding with a famous racehorse came almost entirely from the name attached to the horse.

Without revealing that Sherga was the father, any offspring he bore would be worth a fraction of the cost. Some believed a Middle Eastern shake had stolen Sherga to breed his own successful racehorses, but this theory was also dismissed, given the sheer effort it would have taken to secretly transport the horse internationally. Authorities did investigate this claim, but found no evidence to suggest a horse had been chartered out of the country by sea or air around the time of Sherga's disappearance. It was also speculated that the mafia may have been responsible.

In the months before Sherga's theft, a French bloodstock agent named Jean-Michael Gambit, who was living in the United States, had been in talks with the Aga Khan about purchasing a racehorse. It was speculated that Jean-Michael didn't have the money to buy the horse up front, so he obtained a loan of half a million dollars from the New Orleans mafia. The deal with the Aga Khan then fell through, but Jean-Michael had already spent the money and couldn't afford to repay the mafia. On December 13, 1982, Jean-Michael was shot dead in his car and the vehicle set alight.

The theory was that he had been killed by the mafia, who then stole Sherga as a means of repayment. However, the police ruled that Jean-Michael's death was a suicide, and he had staged the crime scene to look like a murder so his family could collect from his multiple life insurance policies. Neither the authorities nor the Aga Khan believed the two incidents were related. At one point, it was even speculated that Libyan political leader, Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, was responsible and was holding Sherga in Libya.

The theory was that Colonel Gaddafi had struck a deal with the IRA to steal Sherga in exchange for weapons because he was opposed to the Aga Khan's position as a Muslim spiritual leader, a position he felt he was much better suited to. It was argued that Colonel Gaddafi had decided to kidnap Europe's most famous force as a way to demonstrate the influence and power he held while causing the Aga Khan great embarrassment. This theory was rejected by authorities and Sherga shareholders as there was no evidence to suggest that Colonel Gaddafi even knew who Sherga was, let alone had anything to do with his kidnapping.

There were also theories that Sherga may have been taken by someone who was jealous of his success. The Aga Khan had an ongoing rivalry with a Kentucky-based bloodstock agent named Wayne Murdy over a complicated horse sale in 1978 that had ultimately worked out in the Aga Khan's favour. Wayne had been furious, which led the media to report he may have retaliated against the Aga Khan by stealing Sherga. Wayne denied any involvement, and without any evidence to link him to the crime, the theory

dissipated over time. In an interview, Wayne admitted that he hated the Aga Khan enough that he would have relished pulling off Sherga's kidnapping, but emphasised he would never stoop that low. Years went by without any breakthroughs in the case. In July of 1997, the IRA called a final ceasefire, and on April 10, 1998, a treaty known as the Good Friday Agreement was signed, marking an end to the troubles. Over the course of the IRA's 30-year campaign, approximately 1,800 people were killed, including 640 civilians and 1,100 members of the British security forces, and an estimated 10,000 IRA

members were imprisoned at various times. The same year that the Good Friday Agreement was signed, an autobiography was published that claimed to reveal the truth about what happened to Sherga. Titled The Informant, the book was written by Sean O'Callaghan, a former senior member of the IRA who had also worked as a police informant for the guarder. In his book, O'Callaghan claimed that the IRA had been facing bankruptcy in the early 1980s and desperately needed money to further their campaigns, so renowned leading member of the IRA, Kevin Mallon, was tasked with the job of raising several million pounds.

O'Callaghan claimed that Mallon gathered a small team from Dublin to pull off the theft, including one IRA member named Jerry Fitzgerald. Two weeks after Sherga was taken, Fitzgerald confided in O'Callaghan that he was responsible and said only a handful of other people knew about the plot. According to Fitzgerald, just hours after the theft, Sherga became extremely distressed and started thrashing about. His captors were unable to calm him down and he eventually injured one of his legs. Not knowing what to do, the IRA members decided they had no choice but to shoot Sherga and then pretend he was still alive in order to collect the ransom money.

When they realized the syndicate wasn't going to pay without proof that Sherga was still alive, the group abandoned the plan and ceased all communications. O'Callaghan confirmed an ongoing theory that the thieves had made the mistake of thinking that the Aga Khan was Sherga's sole owner and would therefore be the only one deciding whether or not to pay the ransom. They also didn't think the theft would attract anywhere near the amount of media attention that it did. Summarizing the kidnapping, O'Callaghan said, quote, It was a total cock up from start to finish. Police documents from the time corroborate this story as there were reports that a small group of men from the IRA suddenly changed

their behavior around the time that Sherga was taken. But no definitive evidence exists and O'Callaghan's claims have never been proven. In 1999, a movie titled Sherga was released based loosely on the events surrounding the theft and it went on to win the award for Best Foreign Film at the Temecula International Film Festival in California. That same year, a special race named the Sherga Cup was held at the Goodwood Race Course in West Sussex, England, to commemorate Sherga's memory. The race was designed to be a lighthearted competition with a unique racing format similar to the Ryder Cup in golf and the winners were presented with a silver statue of Sherga,

donated by the Aga Khan. The Sherga Cup was so popular that it became an annual event, which today is called the Dubai Duty Free Sherga Cup and is held at Ascot Race Course in England. In the spring of 2000, a council worker named Tommy Foley was clearing out a narrow valley in County Kerry Island when he found a rotting coalsack hidden underneath a rock. It was badly disintegrated, indicating it had been there for a significant amount of time. Tommy unwrapped the sack and inside, he discovered a horse's skull containing two bullet holes. Thinking it was Sherga, Tommy was beside himself and news quickly spread throughout town that Sherga had been found. Des Leiden, an equine veterinarian and clinical pathologist, was

called to examine the skull. A detailed examination revealed the skull belonged to a two-year-old horse, where a Sherga was five years old at the time he was stolen, ruling out the possibility that it was him. On January 27, 2008, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper published an article titled The Truth About Sherga Race Horse Kidnapping. The article expanded on IRA member-turned-police informant Sean O'Callaghan's story that Kevin Mallon had orchestrated the kidnapping. According to a source close to a former IRA member, the plan to kidnap Sherga had been sanctioned by the IRA's ruling body, the Army Council. The kidnapping plot had failed from the start because the vet who'd agreed to look after Sherga pulled out on the night of the theft.

Four days into the ransom negotiations, the Army Council decided it was too much trouble for little gain and told the IRA to release Sherga. By this point, the guarder were looking for Sherga all over Ireland and Kevin Mallon was under surveillance, making it impossible to transport the horse without getting caught. Mallon instead allegedly ordered that Sherga be shot and two handlers opened fire on him using a machine gun. According to the source, it was a, quote, very bloody death and it took several minutes for Sherga to succumb to his injuries. The article concluded, quote, And so, the greatest racehorse of the century was butchered in the same way that the IRA killed

many of its human enemies. The source did not know exactly where Sherga's body was buried, but the fact that his carcass was riddled with bullets meant the gang did everything to ensure Sherga's remains were never found. Many in the Republic, including broad Republican sympathizers, would never have forgiven the IRA and its political wing, Shin Fein, for machine gunning the equine pride of the nation in cold blood. In 2017, the Royal Mail released a series of postage stamps featuring racehorse legends, including Sherga. The back of the pack read, In the summer of 1981, Sherga was the meteor that filled the racing sky. On August 29, 2019, Sherga's vet, Stan Cosgrove, passed away. He never received an

insurance payout for Sherga's theft and had been forced to sell his 120-acre farm to recoup costs involved with his shares in the horse, as well as the £80,000 he lost in the failed reward money scam. Stan was remembered as an extraordinary equine veterinarian, and for the work he did in trying to recover Sherga. Many believe Sherga's remains are most likely hidden in County Letram, a largely deserted area that covers a landmass of 1,590 square kilometers. At the time, the area was used for IRA training camps and to house members of the IRA who were on the run. In the 1980s, police secretly excavated some boggy areas in County Letram looking for Sherga, but with no success. Des Leiden, the equine veterinarian and clinical pathologist,

says he still receives skeletal remains from time to time that require testing to see if they belong to Sherga. A DNA profile for Sherga has been completed and is stored securely in case it is ever required to make a positive identification in the future. It was able to be completed because two veterinarian students had come forward following Sherga's theft to admit they'd plucked two hairs from Sherga's tail to keep his souvenirs while studying at Balimani Stud. To this day, the IRA has never claimed responsibility for stealing Sherga, although the Ghada, the Aga Khan, and a majority of Sherga's shareholders believe they were to blame. In recent times, it's been suggested that former IRA members still haven't acknowledged

their involvement because the troubles and the organization's terror tactics are a painful old wound that the people of Ireland want to move on from. The investigation into what happened to Sherga is no longer active, and former members of the IRA have no reason to come forward if they were responsible, as they'd only risk putting death below ex-comrades behind bars. Prior to Stan Cosgrove's death, he commented that the IRA's silence only served as proof that they were responsible. He believed that they chose to remain silent out of shame, regret, and the fear of bad publicity after realizing that they, quote, had done a repulsive thing to the Irish people.

you