Today, we remember Constables Hugh McConnell and William Turbitt; dedicated officers serving in one of the most dangerous periods and places of the Northern Ireland conflict. Their deaths highlight the human cost of political violence: two family men ambushed while on routine duty, one executed after capture.
On the 17th June, 1978, near Crossmaglen in South Armagh, Provisional IRA gunmen ambushed a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) mobile patrol, murdering two officers in a calculated attack that exemplified the brutal violence of the Troubles in that region.
Constable Hugh (James) McConnell, aged 32, a married Protestant from Bessbrook with two children, was killed instantly when snipers opened fire on the officers' unmarked civilian-type patrol car at Sturgan Brae overlooking Camlough Lake (near Belleek/Crossmaglen area).
His colleague, Constable William (Herbert) Turbitt, aged 46, a married Protestant from Richhill with children, was seriously wounded in the same ambush. He was abducted from the scene by the IRA. His body was later found on July 10th, 1978, in a derelict farmhouse at Drumlougher near Crossmaglen, following information provided by the IRA. He had been murdered after the abduction.
This occurred in a high-violence republican stronghold ("Bandit Country"). It prompted retaliatory actions, including the brief kidnapping of a Catholic priest (Fr. Hugh Murphy) the next day, later released.
May their sacrifice and the suffering of their loved ones never be forgotten, and may such targeted killings never recur in pursuit of peace.