I first ‘blew in” to Ireland in 1965, to hunt down the alleged gay sexual partner of British Politician and Liberal Party leader, Jeremy Thorpe.
I developed an affinity to Ireland, and later opened offices in both Belfast and Dublin providing the whole spectrum of PI services to the legal profession, industry and commerce and the public-at-large.
Over the following 60 years, my agencies and I undertook a whole range of high-profile assignments across the island of Ireland, as well as the rest of the world.
An obvious advantage of having a presence in both parts of the island was the ability to undertake investigations without the jurisdictional barriers of a border.
One of my investigations was sparked by Sir Michael Havers, the QC who served as Margaret Thatcher’s attorney-general.
Hyde Park
In 1982, the Provisional IRA mounted a horrific and deadly bomb attack at Hyde Park killing three soldiers and seven horses, while a simultaneous bomb at Regents Park killed a further seven military personnel.
Co. Donegal man John Downey was implicated in these outrages, but he was able to slip from England into the relative safety of the Republic.
Despite formal requests to the Irish to locate, arrest and extradite Downey, it the law enforcement forces of the State were unable to locate him.
Sir Michael Havers, the UK’s Attorney General became frustrated at the lack of co-operation with Dublin. This was exacerbated by the fact he had endured an attempted bomb outside his London home. He requested Barrie Penrose, a journalist with The Sunday Times, for help. Penrose was an old friend of mine and asked me to assist. Barry later reported what happened next in his paper.
“A PRIVATE eye who spied on terror suspects across the globe has told how he tracked Britain’s most wanted IRA suspect with a single phone call.
[Ian] Withers was secretly tasked via UK government officials with locating alleged Hyde Park bomber John Downey after the horrific attack in 1982.
Three Household Cavalry soldiers and seven horses were killed in one of two horrific Provo attacks in London that day.
Despite requests from the UK, Irish authorities told the British they could not locate key suspect Downey, from Co Donegal.
Two years later, after the IRA’s 1984 Brighton Bomb, the pressure was mounting.
It was then that [private investigator] Ian Withers was asked to track down one of Britain’s most wanted men.
The request began with the UK’s Attorney General and passed to him via Sunday Times and BBC journalist Barrie Penrose.
The investigator agreed to launch a hunt for Downey – and had his details within an hour.
Withers writes that over “fish and chips in Belfast” Penrose told him of the request from Sir Michael Havers, the UK’s then Attorney General.
He told of British frustrations that the Irish authorities were not helping after IRA suspects crossed into the Republic.
Withers said: “The issue of the mysteriously unlocatable IRA suspects had been discussed.
“Barrie told me Sir Michael Havers had said, ‘You know your people in Ireland? I’d like to see if they can find this John Downey individual.’
“Barrie said the Attorney General, and therefore the UK government, were seeking to embarrass the Irish government by finding on-the-run Downey without any Irish participation.
“There were many constraints on any official parties becoming involved in the search but, as Sir Michael had said, none at all on private citizens playing a part. I said I’d begin immediately.”
Withers called the Pay Related Social Insurance HQ in Ireland, the equivalent of the UK’s National Insurance scheme, telling them he worked for the “Department of Health and Social Security.”
He writes: “I recall being slightly nervous as I picked up the phone. This was an important case. I didn’t want to bugger it up. I wanted to find John Downey. A man answered at the Dublin office, and I introduced myself with a made-up name.
“‘We are having trouble getting in touch with a claimant who has returned to Ireland,’ I said in my best London accent. ‘To Donegal, I believe. We have a final cheque for him and have no idea where to send it.’”
He said that “a minute later and I was in luck. Lots of it”.
Withers writes: “‘I have him,’ the man said. He read out the address in Donegal and, even better, told me Downey was unemployed and signing on for benefits every two weeks. And, better still, he said he would be signing on at the Ballyshannon benefits office this Thursday, October 18, 1984. That was in two days’ time.
“This was an incredible information haul. With one phone call I had all I needed to know about the whereabouts of Britain’s most wanted terrorist bomber. I’d only left Barrie an hour before.”
The Attorney General was told, Downey was photographed on the day and, amid uproar in Britain, his image was carried in newspapers around the world.
Said Withers: “The fact that I had located Mr Downey so fast spoke very clearly of the Irish government’s unwillingness to track him down. It was clear that something needed to change.”
I believe the resulting fallout led directly to increased efforts in Dublin and London to get the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement over the line.
It boosted co-operation between Britain and Ireland at the height of the Troubles although attempts to extradite Downey failed, until 2013, when he was charged over the Hyde Park bombing.
Yet that case collapsed after it emerged that in 2007, he had been given assurances from former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government that he was not being sought by UK authorities.
However, in December 2020, the High Court in London ruled Downey must compensate family members of 19-year-old Hyde Park bomb victim Lance Corporal Jeffrey Young in a civil action.
The Donegal man was ordered to pay £715,000.
