Draper killing is latest legacy of ‘Ballymount Bloodbath’

IT began with an arson attack on a van by a teenager but escalated into twisted revenge that has so far led to the deaths of at least three people, possibly a fourth, and the jailing of a further seven.

Ronnie Draper, the burly bouncer shot dead as he manned the door of a city centre pub at the weekend, is the latest victim of a vendetta, largely conducted by the INLA, that started with a row over £600 between a well known west Dublin criminal and a businessman.

Draper, 25, had already survived one attempt on his life when a bomb placed under his car only partially exploded, leaving him shaken but otherwise unhurt. The Tallaght native had been a marked man since the events of an evening in October 1999, the so-called ‘Ballymount Bloodbath’, when an INLA man was fatally wounded during a vicious fight.

Draper was one of a large group who faced down the INLA that night.

Since then, the businessmen and four others associated with the INLA have been jailed for terms of up to nine years while a sixth remains in prison after providing information that led to the revenge murder of Inchicore man Patrick Neville, shot dead in April 2000. One of the INLA group was stabbed in June last year following a row that may be connected to the Ballymount incident.

Another person involved in the melee was jailed for violent disorder after his trial for murder collapsed. He is the only one of those hired by the criminal who has spent time in jail. At least two of that group fled the State and have not returned to live.

On October 6 1999, six men, hired muscle for a well known Dublin criminal, entered a warehouse in the Ballymount industrial estate in Walkinstown. Armed with knuckle dusters, batons, a machete and a sword, they were looking for John Creed, a partner in a glazing firm who used the warehouse.

The criminal that hired the gang wanted £600 from Creed to pay for arson damage to a van allegedly caused by the teenage brother of the businessman. There was already bad blood between the two and the then 29-year-old Creed, unwilling to pay, had made contact with the INLA.

As Creed gave the signal, the INLA members, some of whom had firearms, stepped out of the shadows. They included Patrick Campbell, 22, Belfast-born and the son of an IRA gunman; Declan Duffy, originally from Armagh and the acknowledged leader of the INLA gang; and Denis Thompson, out of prison just four weeks but the one who organised the trap. Duffy remains in prison, sharing comfortable quarters with Dessie Fox in Castlerea Prison.

The six were stripped, beaten and interrogated after their hands and feet were bound. Scalding hot, and cold, water was poured over them and they were told they would be shot before being ordered to leave the State within 24-hours. One was told he was on his way to the North and not returning.

As they were led to a van, 12 more men, again hired by the criminal and including Ronnie Draper, arrived and a full scale fight broke out. Shots were fired and other weapons, including machetes, used freely. Campbell was fatally injured after being beaten and slashed with a machete.

Following the death of Campbell, the INLA vowed revenge. A number of the criminal’s hired hands immediately left the country. Most returned, maybe believing the heat was off. Draper may also have believed this. But the INLA, now nothing more than a heavily armed criminal gang, has a history of serving revenge cold.