‘For 50 years we thought loyalists killed dad… now we hear it was rogue MRF soldiers’: Thomas Wardlow’s family break their silence

The family of a father-of-four murdered half-a-century ago have broken their silence after receiving new information which appears to shed new light on the brutal killing.

homas Wardlow’s loved ones thought the loyalist terror group the UVF was responsible for shooting the doting dad dead as he walked to a wake in north Belfast.

But undercover soldiers, secretly operating here back then, are now being linked to the killing.

“So many people have lost their lives for nothing here, we just want to know, we deserve to know,’’ says oldest son Timmy.

“We all have a conscience. We are brought up to know right from wrong. Those who stood in front of my daddy and pulled the trigger, they know that was wrong,’’ adds daughter Elizabeth.

Sunday Life can reveal the new information has come from someone with inside knowledge of that covert military unit, the Military Reaction Force (MRF) — a group of undercover soldiers who patrolled parts of Belfast in unmarked cars in the early 70s.

Their job was to counteract the activities of the Provisional IRA, but they were disbanded after just 18 months amid claims they were targeting innocent Catholics.

In recent years, former MRF members have spoken about their operations here, admitting unarmed civilians had been killed while hunting the IRA.

The Wardlow family are desperate to know once and for all if Thomas could have been one of those victims.

“If you hold this in your heart, you don’t have any peace… I don’t hold the guy who pulled the trigger responsible, but the one who gave the orders,’’ says youngest son Thomas.

Sunday Life can reveal the Wardlow family has become the latest to take their case to the courts here, suing the Ministry of Defence and the chief constable.

The hope is that through the disclosure process, documents they weren’t able to access before may prove revealing.News of this fresh legal challenge comes as Westminster pushes ahead with new legacy legislation that would effectively halt all civil challenges like this one.

“The emergence of new evidence implicating the British Army and in particular the MRF in the murder of Mr Wardlow is a game-changer and it is now imperative that an independent and impartial criminal investigation is begun into the killing,’’ says solicitor Gary Duffy.

“We would call on the Ministry of Defence to engage constructively with the family and to provide the truth as to how their father died.”

Very little has been written about Thomas Wardlow’s murder; his just one of so many lives lost during the Troubles.

To understand this case, it is important to know who Thomas, known as Tommy to those close to him, was.

He was born a Protestant, but fell head over heels in love with Annie, who was a Catholic. Something that was frowned on back then.

Thomas even joined the Army to win her over and once he did, left a week later.Timmy explained: “He came down in his uniform and rapped the door. My mum took a buckle in her eye when she saw him in uniform. She says, ‘Oh my God, what have you done?’ He says, ‘You told me you like a man in uniform…’ and that was it.”

Family was all that mattered and the Wardlows would settle in Durham Street, close to the Falls.

“We didn’t think much about Protestant and Catholics, fighting and shooting. Nothing really happened where we were. I ran about with kids from Sandy Row,’’ says Timmy.

“I just remember daddy playing with my hair, I remember him walking me to school, I remember being chased out of the room where his coffin was, like it was yesterday,” adds Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was only a child when the Troubles came to their door on the evening of May 29, 1972.

Thomas decided to walk to a wake in the north of the city — to pay his respects to a young woman who had just been murdered.

Before he did, he waited until 15-year-old Timmy returned home to borrow his black boots. His short journey would have taken him past the Shankill, but the hospital porter didn’t make it.

“It was a really big shock. The last thing we said was cheerio, and put on the TV. One minute he was alive, the next thing he’s dead. From giving him my boots to finding out your Da is dead,’’ says Timmy.

Tommy was targeted between the Falls and the Shankill. It was reported at the time a soldier heard two shots then saw a man stagger and fall.

The news filtered through a family friend.

“With me being 15, mummy asked me to keep an eye on the house, she had to go somewhere, she didn’t say where, we didn’t know anything at that point, she hadn’t told us. The way she looked at it was there was no sense in telling us if it wasn’t true. So she went up to the police station and police took her to the morgue and she identified the body. She came back, brought us into the living room and told us, ‘Your daddy has been murdered’,’’ explains Timmy.

“If someone is sick, you get to spend time with them, but we didn’t get any time. The next thing he was coming home in a coffin.”

The enormity of their loss had an immediate and profound impact, not least on widow Annie who was admitted to Purdysburn hospital for a while until she got back on her feet.

“We went into our own separate corners, it was everyone for themselves because it was such an enormous thing, it doesn’t get any bigger than murder. It was like throwing a hand grenade into the middle of us. We just coped the best way we could,’’ says Elizabeth.

“What haunts me is if someone got to him sooner, he may still have been alive. I know he would have been in a lot of fear, that haunts me too. Everyone, regardless of who they are, deserves someone to hold their hands when they die.”

“All I remember is the photograph of my dad sitting on the mantelpiece. You feel like half an orphan if you like, you don’t know what you’ve missed,’’ says Thomas.

“You are always having flashbacks, trying to put together what happened, trying to reimagine what happened. And you always think the worst — ‘What was he thinking about when he was dying alone, was he thinking about us when he was gasping for his last breath?”

Suspicion immediately fell on the UVF. That has now been called into question.

“We always thought it was loyalists, perhaps even the Shankill Butchers, then Thomas rang me up and said, ‘No, it may now have been the Army’. We have lost 50 years thinking it was loyalists,’’ says Timmy.

Thomas added: “I was shocked when I was told. You know the moment when your heart stops, like when your whole world stops and everyone is looking at you. Being told who possibly killed by daddy after all this time.”

The Military Reaction Force (MRF) has long been blamed for randomly shooting and killing innocent civilians in Belfast at the height of the Troubles.

In 2016, police launched a major investigation into the activities of that secret unit, focusing on 18 shootings including two that were fatal.

Files have since been sent to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS). Thomas Wardlow was not part of that investigation.

In a statement the PPS confirmed a decision will be made in “due course’’.

“We have received two investigation files from police which relate to alleged Military Reaction Force activity in the 1970s,’’ says a spokesperson.

“One file relates to five separate incidents involving a total of five suspects, all of whom are former soldiers. The other file relates to one incident and involves two suspects, both of whom are former soldiers.

“These files are under active consideration by senior prosecutors. We will continue to keep the victims and families informed as we progress this work.”

Separate to that, former Bedfordshire chief constable Jon Boutcher is investigating the MRF-linked killing of Jean Smyth-Campbell who was shot dead while sitting in a car in west Belfast back in June 1972.

Sunday Life contacted the PSNI in light of the recent development relating to Thomas Wardlow.

Detective Superintendent Stephen Wright said: “The Historical Enquiries Team (HET) completed a review into the murder of Thomas Wardlow and no new investigative opportunities were identified as a result of that review

“The case does not form part of the current case-load of Legacy Investigation Branch; however, new information about the murder should be brought to the attention of police.

“Any credible investigative lines of inquiry capable of leading to the identification and prosecution of suspects will be considered.”

Sunday Life also contacted the Ministry of Defence. A spokesperson said: “The Northern Ireland Troubles were an extremely difficult time and regrettably civilians were caught up in the violence.

“As Mr Wardlow’s death is subject to ongoing legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

For the Wardlows, the time has come for closure.

“With all these investigations into collusion etc, I never really believed it. Then it comes to your door. We only had the one dad. The truth would mean a lot,’’ says Thomas.

“I’m sad. We’ve had a lifetime of questions, I would really like justice now,’’ says Elizabeth.