Francis Hughes

Francis Hughes was an Official IRA, and later, Provisional IRA guerrilla who participated in dozens of attacks on British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary targets. He grew up in Bellaghy, County Derry. In his IRA career, he became a legend for his fearlessness. He would often phone up the police and tell them where he was, if they wanted to come and get him, but they declined as they knew they would be walking into an ambush. He once walked through a British army patrol who had surrounded a house he was staying in. Rifle in hand, he brushed past the officer at the door, saying "Nothing in here, sir." As it was nearly dark, the poor light meant the soldiers were unable to distinguish Hughes' paramilitary fatigues from their own uniforms, or to notice his face did not belong to their patrol. He was for a time the most wanted man in Northern Ireland. He was eventually captured after he was seriously injured in a gun battle with the SAS where an SAS man was killed. He was convicted for the murder of the SAS man and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Related Topics:
Official IRA - Provisional IRA - Guerrilla - British Army - Royal Ulster Constabulary - Bellaghy - County Derry - IRA - Northern Ireland - SAS

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He took part in the short-lived mass hunger strike in 1980, and was the second prisoner to die in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike in the H-Blocks at HM Prison Maze. His cousin, Thomas McElwee, was the ninth hunger striker to die. He is remembered today by many Irish republicans as an honourable man who died for what he believed in.

Related Topics:
Hunger strike - 1981 Irish Hunger Strike - HM Prison - Maze - Thomas McElwee - Irish republican

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