1983 escape IRIS
24/07/2008
15:00
Page 17
Arrival of the food lorry THE GREATEST ESCAPE
B
OBBY CALLED for a report from each wing. “A Wing secure. No alarms sounded. No Volunteers injured. One screw injured – not serious.” Once the four reports were in, Bobby instructed all wings to take their captured screws to cell 26, the double cell in each wing.
All orders and reports were given in the same crisp manner which was designed to emphasise, particularly to the screws, that an efficient military operation was under way. Bobby held a clipboard, ticking off each task as it was completed. The screws in the wings were stripped of their uniforms and given ponchos, made from prison blankets, to cover themselves. No screw was degraded by being left halfnaked. They were then tied up. The uniforms were put in brown bags and each bag was marked with the size of the uniform (small, medium or large) and left in the circle. At the same time, in each wing, an escaper gathered together all those prisoners not involved in their operation. He told them to lock up in their cells and turn their radios on at full volume. This was to protect them from future prosecution – they could truthfully say they saw and heard nothing. Six escapers were called out to the circle. Séamus McElwaine and Séamus Clarke took up position at the front gate in order to escort anyone back to the block, whom Seán and Joe would arrest. (As it happened, no arrests were made.) Peter Hamilton tied up the PO and SO in the PO’s office and Goose Russell and Dennis Cummings tied up the other screws. Marcus Murray stood at the front door to monitor the front gate and alert Bobby to any developments, including the arrival of the food lorry. At this point the rearguard was called out. They wore hoods and ponchos and
kept talking to a minimum, never referring to each other by name. Their immediate duty was to guard the screws while the escapers prepared for the arrival of the food lorry. Over the next 15 minutes the screws were moved to the two classrooms, one off the hallway connecting the circle to A and B wings, the other on the C and D side of the block. They were tied together in pairs. Some of the screws found the pillowcase hoods made it difficult for them to breathe. The prisoners guarding them occasionally lifted the hoods slightly and fanned the screws’ faces with table tennis bats. An escaper in each classroom took the screws’ names and the order in which they were seated. This was in case there was a phone call for any of them – the list would be consulted and the screw reached immediately. The PO was tied to the chair in his office and guarded by a member of the rearguard. He was to answer any incoming phone calls. In the circle, 13 escapers donned
• MARCUS MURRAY
IRIS
• SÉAMUS CLARKE
screws’ uniforms. Nine of them were to take the tally lodge and main gate; the others might have to be used in an emergency. Some men also shaved off moustaches in order to disguise themselves. The circle was full of prisoners, members of the rearguard and escapers changing into uniforms. Clothes, boots and shoes lay about on the floor. There was a serious climate and yet an air of excitement. The smooth takeover of the block had added to the sense of confidence. Brendy Mead was one of those detailed to question a screw about his car – its colour, type and exact location in the car park outside the perimeter wall. He went into one of the classrooms and put a plan of the car park at the bottom of the pillowcase covering a screw’s head, untied his hands and asked him to mark an X in the place where his car was parked. Brendy told the screw that the IRA had taken over the entire jail and that he would be phoning his comrades in the car park to verify what the screw told him. “If you are lying, you will be shot,” said Brendy. The screw insisted that the information was correct. He was asked to describe his car keys and this he did. His hands were re-tied and Brendy went off to find the keys. But there had been a mix-up with the uniforms and Harry Murray was wearing the uniform meant for Brendy, jangling the keys in his pocket. Kieran Fleming then went into each classroom and read out a prepared statement designed to deter any thoughts among the screws of brutalising those prisoners left in the block after the escape, or of perjuring themselves in any subsequent court cases: 17