Former special-forces personnel have revealed new details of the operation that led to the capture of Bernard McGinn, a suspected IRA sniper, at a secluded farm complex near Crossmaglen in South Armagh in 1997.
The account appears in the latest episode of SAS: The Shadow War, a programme examining the covert operations carried out during the final years of the Troubles. Those interviewed for the series say the raid was one example of the pressure placed on the IRA while political negotiations continued alongside attacks.
McGinn had been pursued by British forces for months. They believed he had killed nine people using a powerful new rifle and regarded him as a key target. His arrest came during one of the most politically volatile periods of the peace process, when discussions were continuing despite ongoing IRA activity.
The farm operation near Crossmaglen
Getting to McGinn required the SAS to approach a farm complex protected by scores of IRA lookouts. McGinn and three other people were gathered inside the secluded site, which was in the Crossmaglen area of South Armagh.
The SAS team was supported by surveillance personnel from 14 Intelligence Company and specialist police. The aim was to reach the target without alerting those watching the surrounding area. The operation took place in broad daylight, increasing the danger that the approach would be detected before the arrest could be made.
A former SAS operative identified only as Tom, whose voice was disguised for the programme, said the team managed to reach the target without anyone realising what was happening. He described the people inside as determined and heavily armed, including a suspected sniper associated with nine killings involving a .50-calibre rifle and others with AK-47s.
The commandos moved into the entrance of a barn. Their sudden appearance left the people inside “absolutely startled” and surprised. However, McGinn was apart from the other three people and recognised the danger as soon as the assault began.
He ran from the complex at high speed. One member of the team noticed him out of the corner of his eye, and several soldiers gave chase. McGinn travelled roughly 200 metres before exhaustion overcame him. He then hid beneath a large thorn bush, but the pursuing soldiers had seen where he went and pulled him out.
Billingham’s role in the arrest
Another account of the capture came from Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham, the former SAS veteran who later became known to television audiences through Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins.
Billingham spoke publicly about his role in the operation in 2016. He said the team needed McGinn to reveal himself and that he led a patrol into the open, aware that the sniper would be waiting for him.
“We had to get him to reveal himself. I ended up leading a patrol into the open, knowing he would be there waiting for me.”
Billingham received the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery for his role in the operation. The account presented in the programme shows how the arrest depended not only on the assault on the farm but also on surveillance, deception and the pursuit of a fugitive who had managed to break away from the main group.
Trial, sentence and release
McGinn was tried in 1999 and sentenced to 490 years for multiple offences, including three murders. One of those killed was Bombardier Stephen Restorick, who was shot by a sniper in 1997.
Despite the length of the sentence, McGinn was released after serving 16 months under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. He later died of natural causes in 2013.
His arrest therefore took place against a background in which military operations, criminal prosecutions and political negotiations were unfolding at the same time. The source describes the IRA as seeking to increase the level of terrorist attacks while peace talks continued.
Wider claims about mainland attacks
SAS: The Shadow War also examines an alleged IRA plan for a major bombing campaign in Britain. A former surveillance operator identified as Bob said five IRA members in London were preparing a coordinated operation involving 10 one-tonne truck bombs.
According to Bob’s account, British intelligence uncovered garages containing about 10 tonnes of homemade explosives, as well as additional explosives, weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition. He said the plan involved about 50 IRA members travelling from different parts of Europe, collecting specially prepared vehicles and driving them to intended targets.
The targets described in the account included Downing Street, financial districts and transport nodes. Bob said the scale of the suspected operation led police to intervene rather than allow the plan to develop further. During a raid on a bed and breakfast in Hammersmith, IRA quartermaster Dermot O’Neill was shot dead by police.
The alleged plot is presented in the source as an account from a former surveillance operator, rather than as a claim independently tested within the supplied material.
What brought the conflict towards peace?
Former special-forces personnel interviewed for the series argue that the IRA had been penetrated deeply by intelligence and subjected to sustained operational pressure by the middle of the 1990s. In their view, the organisation’s leadership came to understand that it could not achieve victory by military means.
That interpretation is disputed. Mary Kelly, a veteran Northern Irish journalist who covered the political development of the conflict, accepts that military pressure played a part but does not regard it as the decisive factor.
“I think it was a factor, but I don’t think it was the overriding factor.”
Kelly points instead to the consequences of the 1981 hunger strikes, when Bobby Sands was elected to Westminster while refusing food and became the first of 10 republican prisoners to die that year while demanding political status. She says Sinn Féin increasingly recognised that political activity could achieve more than armed struggle, as its vote continued to grow.
She also identifies war-weariness after decades of violence as an important change, while accepting that intelligence penetration damaged republican confidence. Gerry Adams was elected as a Sinn Féin MP in 1983, and Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander, won a Sinn Féin seat in 1997. Neither took up his parliamentary seat.
Former BBC Northern Ireland security correspondent Brian Rowan describes the situation as a stalemate. Both sides could inflict serious harm, he says, but neither could win. The programme presents that realisation, alongside intelligence pressure, political change and public exhaustion, as part of the route towards ceasefires, negotiations and the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.