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Murders of Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine

2000 in Northern Ireland2000 murders in the United Kingdom20th century in County ArmaghDeaths by stabbing in Northern IrelandEngvarB from October 2020
February 2000 crimesFebruary 2000 events in the United KingdomMurder in Northern IrelandPeople murdered in Northern IrelandUlster Volunteer Force actions

The Tandragee killings took place in the early hours of Saturday 19 February 2000 on an isolated country road outside Tandragee, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Two young Protestant men, Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine, were beaten and repeatedly stabbed to death in what was part of a Loyalist feud between the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and their rivals, the breakaway Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). The men were not members of any loyalist paramilitary organisation. It later emerged in court hearings that Robb had made disparaging remarks about the killing of UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade leader Richard Jameson by an LVF gunman the previous month. This had angered the killers, themselves members of the Mid-Ulster UVF, and in retaliation they had lured the two men to the remote lane on the outskirts of town, where they killed and mutilated them. Three men had carried out the double killing: Stephen Leslie Brown (also known as Stephen Leslie Revels), Noel Dillon, and Mark Burcombe. On 3 April 2009, Brown was sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment for each count of murder. Dillon committed suicide in January 2005, and Burcombe, originally charged with the killings, turned 'Queen's evidence' by testifying against Brown and therefore received a reduced sentence. The trial judge, Mr. Justice Gillen, stated that the murders, perpetrated 22 months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, were "among the most gruesome of the past 40 years". Both teenagers sustained penetrating, multiple knife wounds inflicted with a butcher's knife which nearly decapitated them. Additionally, Brown stabbed McIlwaine deeply in his left eye. The UVF's Brigade Staff (Belfast leadership) did not sanction the killings.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Murders of Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Murders of Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine

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