Miami Showband survivor felt ‘sick' when he saw migrant boat on loyalist bonfire
Three members of the band were killed by the UVF on a rural road after a gig in Banbridge, County Down, in 1975.
Miami Showband massacre survivor Des Lee, said that he felt ill after seeing the effigy of refugees placed in a boat on top of a bonfire in Moygashel
Miami Showband Massacre survivor Des Lee said he felt 'sick' when he saw mannequins of migrants in a boat on top of a bonfire in Moygashel.
Police described the offensive effigies as a 'hate crime' but they took no action to remove them and on Thursday night, crowds of onlookers cheered as the bonfire and the boat of 'migrants' went up in flames.
But veteran musician Des Lee – who was wounded when his fellow musicians were gunned down by a UVF gang led by brothers from Moygashel in County Tyrone – said the image proved that some people in the village had not moved on since the attack on his bandmates 50 years ago this month.
Des – whose autobiography My Saxophone Saved My Life hit the shops this week – said the shocking 'migrants boat' bonfire was 'a bad taste stunt' and 'racist in the extreme'.
Moygashel UVF man Wesley Somerville – who died placing a bomb in the Miami Showband's van – was also honoured this week when local loyalists flew a banner bearing his image from a lamppost in the village.
And there's a UVF mural in tribute to Wesley in the town, which has been recently painted.
At the time of his death, 34-year-old William Wesley Somerville was a serving soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment.
The bonfire in Moygashel
And during the same horror attack five decades ago, Somerville's brother John pumped 22 bullets into Miami lead singer Fran O'Toole's face.
But last night – as he prepared to launch his new book – Miami musician Des posed the question: 'Have loyalists in Moygashel learned nothing in 50 years?'
And directly addressing loyalists in the Tyrone village, he said: 'In our time, the Miami Showband gave their fans hours of happiness and joy. But today – 50 years later – loyalists in Moygashel are still building bonfires of hate. Why?'
The book, My Saxophone Saved My Life – The Miami Showband Massacre and My Quest for Answers, tells the amazing life story of west Belfast boy Des McAlea – as he was known – who went on to make his name in the music business as a leading member of the massively popular Miami Showband.
Five decades ago, the Miami Showband were the most popular entertainment act in Ireland, with legions of fans on both sides of the border.
But a carefully planned UVF gun and bomb attack at Buskhill outside Newry, on July 31 1975, left three band members dead and two others seriously injured.
Miami Showband fell victim to Wesley Sommerville and his UVF gang of killers.
The band were travelling back to Dublin after a successful show in Banbridge when their minibus was stopped by armed men dressed as soldiers. They forced the band members to stand in a line adjacent to a ditch at the side of the road.
Des was concerned about the way the men were moving things around in their vehicle. And he asked permission to remove his saxophone, which was granted. By complete chance, when he returned to the line-up, Des took up a different position. That small decision probably saved his life.
And last night he recalled the moment he lost his band mates and when another three were seriously wounded by gunfire.
'When the bomb went off, I was blown into the ditch and the explosion set it on fire. The gunfire was relentless. But suddenly the noise stopped and the shouting voices disappeared into the distance.
'I was lying next to Stephen Travers, who was badly shot. Then I called out the names of the other lads, but there was no reply.
'I whispered to Stephen I was going to make a run for it to get help. I ran up that ditch like an Olympic athlete and then I saw a sight I never want to see again. There were bits of bodies lying every where. It was horrible that human beings could do that.
"I didn't know it at the time but I saw Wesley Somerville's mutilated body lying next to another UVF man, who had also been blown to bits. I never want to see anything like that again.
'I kept running and when I got to the main road to Newry, I flagged down a lorry, but the driver refused to take me.
A memorial plaque to UVF killer Wesley Somerville in Moygashel
'I then signalled to a car to stop and the couple in it, thank God drove me to Newry. The RUC at Ardmore had no knowledge about what had happened a few miles out the Belfast road. But they soon realised they had a major incident on the hands.
'I was in a state of complete shock and I had bits of shrapnel in my body. The police got a doctor for me. He gave me medication to calm me, but I never took it. I didn't trust anyone.
'After a couple of hours the detectives asked me if there was a girl in the van. I said no, but then it emerged Fran's face was so badly mutilated by the gunfire, the police wondered if the dead body was female,' said Des.
At least four of the Miami Showband attackers were serving members of the British army's Ulster Defence Regiment.
And during an interview with RUC detectives, Des was able to supply a vital piece of information which led the police to positively identifying one of the UVF gunmen.
He said: 'I remembered one of the soldiers was wearing horn-rimmed Buddy Holly-type glasses. And from fragments found on the road, the police managed to trace the prescription and track down one of the gunman.'
UVF serial killer Robin 'The Jackal' Jackson – who had assumed command of the Mid-Ulster UVF days before the Miami Showband Massacre – was also badly burned in the incident.
Three members of the band were killed by the UVF on a rural road after a gig in Banbridge, County Down, in 1975.
In November 1981, Wesley Somerville's brother John was convicted of another unrelated murder and he was also convicted of the three Miami Showband murders.
He was sentenced to 35 years, but served just 18 years behind bars. Somerville was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, which he opposed.
Last year the Sunday World revealed details of a prison confession, where Somerville admitted his role in the murder of Fran O'Toole. The young singer and keyboard player had been pursued into a field where John Somerville shot him 22 times in the face.
Somerville told a fellow loyalist prisoner: 'I saw my brother blown to bits in the explosion and I went crazing. I just kept firing wildly.'
After his release from prison, Somerville died of cancer.
Last night, Des Lee explained that there isn't a day passes when he doesn't think of his dead band mates.
He said: 'I relive what happened every day of my life. But when I look at the glorifying of Wesley Somerville and Harris Boyle in Moygashel, I'm just appalled that people can celebrate murder.
'The Miami Showband was made up of people of different faiths. Religion didn't come it.'
He added: 'How can you have a monument to people who murdered innocent young musicians? It beats me.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sunday World
an hour ago
- Sunday World
Face of man accused of shooting ex UVF gangster in head with crossbow
Matthew Allison was due to apply for bail at Ballymena Magistrates Court today Ballymena man Matthew Allison who is accused of shooting Darren Moore in the face with a crossbow. This is the Co. Antrim man who has been accused of shooting former UVF gangster Darren Moore in the face with a crossbow. Matthew Allison was due to apply for bail at Ballymena Magistrates Court today but defence counsel Connell Trainor confirmed the application was being withdrawn. Allison, with an address at Glenarm Court in Ballymena, is accused of possessing a crossbow with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, wounding Moore with intent to cause GBH and attempting to wound a second man, also with intent to cause GBH, on 8 August this year. It was reported over the weekend that 54-year-old Moore was hospitalised after he was shot in the face with a crossbow bolt. Shocking images were circulating on social media, showing how the bolt pierced his cheek and exited just below his jawline. Former UVF thug Darren Moore When Allison was initially charged earlier this week, the court heard that Moore had 'released himself from hospital on Friday night' and that he had returned to collect prescribed medication. Remanding Allison back into custody today, District Judge Nigel Broderick adjourned the case to 11 September, suggesting that if there is to be a bail application in the meantime, 'the matter can be brought forward.'
Sunday World
4 days ago
- Sunday World
Drug-addled UVF mobster Darren Moore lucky to be alive after crossbow attack
The bolt pierced his cheek, exiting below the jawline, during an incident at a house in Ballymena on Friday evening Darren Moore pictured in his hospital bed today. UVF killer Darren' Judas'Moore had both his legs and arms sharttered in a savage attack last night(friday). PACEMAKER BELFAST 14/09/2011 Darren Moore arrives at Court as 14 men are appear in Belfast Court charged in connection of the Murder of Tommy English. Nine alleged UVF men, including former leading member Mark Haddock, are charged with the murder of UDA leader Tommy English in October 2000. They and another five alleged UVF men also face a range of other charges. Photo Pacemaker Press Moore pictured in his hospital bed in 2013 after a previous attack Drug-addled UVF mobster Darren Moore is in hospital after being shot in the face with a crossbow bolt, the Sunday World can reveal. The 54-year-old gangster is lucky to be alive after the bolt pierced his cheek, exiting below the jawline, during an incident at a house in Ballymena on Friday evening. We have seen evidence of how close Moore came to death. The sequence of events remains unclear but the Sunday World understands he was targeted in an ongoing dispute with rival criminals over a drug deal that had gone wrong. Sources in Ballymena have also told us the incident took place after Moore and a group of others were taking drugs — believed to be heroin and fentanyl — although there have been no reports of any drugs being recovered by police. Mark Haddock A 42-year-old man was arrested after the crossbow attack and is in PSNI custody for questioning in relation to a number of offences. Darren Moore News in 90 seconds - 10th August 2025 This latest incident is yet another stage in what has been a downward spiral for the one-time feared terror chief, who once had a stellar Irish League soccer career. In recent months he has been in the headlines for a series of shoplifting charges. Desperate to fuel his chronic drug addiction, he now has a number of convictions for stealing food and other items from supermarkets. His hauls include, on one occasion, 20 legs of lamb and variously other food items as well as bedding, pots and pans, alcohol and scented Yankee candles. It has been a dramatic fall from grace for Moore, who immediately became a target for disaffected UVF members when he was kicked out of the organisation. Terror boss John 'Bunter' Graham washed his hands of him and a price was put on his head. UVF outcast Moore is a marked man and this is not the first time has had a brush with death in recent years. Drummed out of the paramilitary organisation, he has been running the gauntlet of numerous threats to his life. Stripped of UVF protection, he has cheated death in a series of attacks, some of which have landed him in hospital. Moore pictured in his hospital bed in 2013 after a previous attack In 2013 he was left for dead after a savage attack which left him with broken legs and arms. A battered Moore was found in the grounds of a north Belfast primary school. He had been badly beaten with what police believe was a claw hammer, and had both his arms and legs broken in the vicious attack. From the heights of lifting the Irish League championship with Crusaders and lording it as a ruthless paramilitary boss, he is reduced to a broken shell of a drug addict. Moore was once king of the hill. As a leading figure in the notorious UVF unit in Mount Vernon he had a reputation for violence. Along with Mount Vernon commander Mark Haddock, he ran a highly lucrative drug-running operation and is credited with flooding north Belfast with heroin. The gang operated with impunity as they were all paid RUC Special Branch agents. The unit is believed to have been responsible for up to 14 murders in a sectarian killing spree in the 1990s and early 2000s. Many of the killings were carried out with the full knowledge of their police handlers. It was only when the wholesale collusion was uncovered by then Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan in her 2007 report that the unit was finally shut down. All members were stood down after previously being protected by the UVF leadership. It is claimed that Moore was linked to the gang who brutally murdered Raymond McCord Jnr in 1997. Raymond (22) had been summoned to a meeting at a remote quarry on the outskirts of the city. Seeking assurances from Moore — a man he considered a friend — he was encouraged to go, believing he would be on the wrong end of a punishment attack at worst. Instead he was battered to death on the orders of Haddock. Last night Raymond McCord Snr told the Sunday World he was not surprised Moore had been targeted. CCTV footage of an attack on Darren Moore 'Moore has more enemies than any man I know. He's a marked man with a bounty on his head, someone was always going to try and cash that in,' he said. 'He's a typical Mount Vernon coward, he liked to dish out violence as long as the UVF mob was with him. 'The coward he is and the organisation he belonged to are finished. He set up my son Raymond Jnr to be murdered. Whatever happens to him, he has brought on himself — he hasn't a friend in the world.' In 2018 five men were jailed for their parts in another attack on Moore as he drank in a bar in the Co. Antrim village of Doagh the previous year. Ten men were involved in what was described in court as an 'almighty beating'' and was believed to have been a revenge attack in relation to an earlier incident involving Moore. So severe was that attack, which involved the use of a claw hammer, that a baseball bat broke in two as Moore was battered while lying on the ground. Raymond McCord the father of Raymond McCord Junior The Sunday World revealed at the time that Moore had pleaded with 'Bunter' Graham to be allowed back into the UVF ranks. But having been turned down, he went to police offering himself up as a supergrass. His approaches were rejected and he was hammered. Yesterday the PSNI confirmed the incident in which Moore was shot with a crossbow. div id="qs_newsletter_sundayworld"> They said: 'Police received a report of an incident in the Glenarm Court area of Ballymena at 6.40pm on Friday, 8th August. 'One man aged in his 50s has been taken to hospital for treatment to injuries which are not believed to be life-threatening. 'A 42-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of a number of offences. 'There is no ongoing risk to the public. However, officers remain at the scene at this time.'
Sunday World
4 days ago
- Sunday World
The Legacy Act was a ‘sop to shield UVF' over Troubles crimes, new film claims
The legislation was an attempt to drag the UVF closer to a point where they could safely transition from criminality, it's been claimed. Video footage, showing the moment guns and ammunition were found in loyalist community worker Winston Irvine's car, has been released by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The Tory Legacy Act was a pledge to the UVF to grant immunity from prosecution for conflict-era crimes, it has been claimed. The contentious legislation imposed by Boris Johnson's Conservative government was seen as an attempt to protect former British military personnel from prosecution – but a new film claims it was a sop to the loyalist terror group. A consequences of the act was to grant anybody, be they a soldier or paramilitary, virtual immunity from criminal proceedings. But it has now been claimed that it was an attempt to drag the UVF closer to a point where they could safely transition from criminality. Two videos have been posted to YouTube in recent weeks which explore the fall of UVF gunrunner Winston 'Winkie' Irvine and negotiations between the terror group's leadership in the shape of Chief of Staff John 'Bunter' Graham and alleged second in command 'Harmless' Harry Stockman. Two short videos – the second of which is called the Rise of Mackers – posted by New York-based filmmaker Will Maloney – questions the UVF intention to transition into an old boys' club, as they have repeatedly pledged to do. John 'Bunter' Graham. News in 90 seconds - 10th August 2025 The videos, which have each attracted 30,000 views in the first 24 hours, take the viewer through the UVF's journey to potentially transitioning. Graham, who has been at the head of the group for almost five decades and who oversaw the likes of the Shankill Butchers, has been actively engaged in discussions with British government negotiators for some years. In recent years he has come under pressure to rid the UVF of drug dealers and has appointed convicted bomber Jackie Anderson to carry out the task. Several high-profile UVF figures were stood down for their involvement in drugs, and his purge was rewarded with the dangling carrot of immunity from prosecution. Maloney in his YouTube video said the details of the Legacy Act were revealed to Graham and Stockman in a meeting at the Archbishop of Canterbury's residence at Camden Palace. As previously revealed by the Sunday World, one of the key demands from the UVF was protection from past crimes and as Maloney asserts that was delivered under the guise of protecting soldiers. 'Winkie' Irvine's arrest and conviction for gunrunning, following the UVF's orchestration of a hoax bomb attack which forced then Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney to leave a cross-community engagement on Belfast's Crumlin Road, complicated the issue for Graham and Stockman. It was Stockman and Irvine who orchestrated the coup that saw the removal of the command structure of East Belfast UVF allegedly headed by loyalist Stephen Matthews. Matthews has previously denied being involved in both criminality and paramilitarism. It was supposed to be another indication to the British that the UVF was cleaning its house. The imposition of a new command structure was supposed to signal a new era which would lead to the establishment of the veterans' club. However, it backfired spectacularly. Drugs were and remain the currency in east Belfast, the murder of anti-drugs loyalist Ian Ogle in 2019 ramped up tensions. Nine people involved in the Ogle murder were convicted and jailed, five getting life sentences. There had been much speculation that the UVF was close to transitioning, with an announcement anticipated as early as this autumn. The Irvine fiasco has set the project back but those within the UVF in favour of a transition are pinning their hopes on Sam Austin. Commander of the UVF's A company on the Shankill, he is vehemently anti-drugs, having lost his son Dan to an accidental overdose. He is being touted as a deal maker and an acceptable face for the British security services as they struggle to drag the UVF over the line. East Belfast remains a stumbling block, with drug dealing and racketeering continuing with little support for the newly Shankill appointed command structure. Security sources have told the Sunday World the government may be ready to accept a compromise that will allow elements of the UVF to transition, while accepting that rogue elements will continue to use the terror group's name. Maloney has posted a series of short videos on a variety of Northern Ireland-related topics including the disintegration of the UDA's command structure and the tragic disappearance of tragic schoolboy Noah Donohoe.
