Magee attack linked to IRA 'enforcer'
Posted: 07 Mar 2004, 13:47
THE thug who led the savage attack that ended the career of Belfast boxing world champion, Eamonn Magee, is a top Provo enforcer, Sunday Life can reveal.
The man, who lives in the Dunmurry area, has a reputation as a feared IRA hardman.
He led the gang who beat the boxer with pickaxe handles, over a personal dispute between the pair that's been simmering for months.
Despite reports the boxer had refused to speak to police, Magee is understood to have given a statement naming the man who led the attack.
It is believed he told cops the attack followed a dispute between himself, and a man from the Dunmurry area. That bitter row is believed to have begun, due to a dispute between children. According to Magee's lawyer, Aiden Deery, the boxer was trying to end the dispute.
"Eamonn, I understand, was trying to resolve the issue," he said.
But the row exploded last Sunday, when Magee was bludgeoned by a number of men, after the car in which he was a passenger was forced to stop, on Black's Road.
The WBU welterweight champion suffered a broken leg and punctured lung.
He has since been told by medical experts that he will never box again.
Said Mr Deery: "This appears to be a premeditated attack, where Eamonn's car was purposely stopped.
"If he'd been dragged from the car, he may well have been killed."
Sunday Life understands that, a short time earlier, there had been an angry exchange in the street, involving Magee and the top Provo.
Magee has dismissed claims the IRA attacked him in relation to the attempted abduction of dissident republican, Bobby Tohill, from Kelly's Cellars.
It is believed that Magee was in the pub at the time of the attempted abduction.
And it had been claimed that, at one stage, Magee had jumped to the dissident republican's defence, but was warned off by Tohill's attackers.
But Magee's lawyer dismissed his presence in Kelly's Cellars as a coincidence, and that the attack was over a personal dispute.
A police spokesman last night said no one has yet been arrested in connection with the attack.
Last week's attack was not the first time that Magee has experienced violence outside the ring, at the hands of IRA members.
In November 1992, he was shot in the leg by a Provo 'punishment' squad.
By Ciaran McGuigan
The man, who lives in the Dunmurry area, has a reputation as a feared IRA hardman.
He led the gang who beat the boxer with pickaxe handles, over a personal dispute between the pair that's been simmering for months.
Despite reports the boxer had refused to speak to police, Magee is understood to have given a statement naming the man who led the attack.
It is believed he told cops the attack followed a dispute between himself, and a man from the Dunmurry area. That bitter row is believed to have begun, due to a dispute between children. According to Magee's lawyer, Aiden Deery, the boxer was trying to end the dispute.
"Eamonn, I understand, was trying to resolve the issue," he said.
But the row exploded last Sunday, when Magee was bludgeoned by a number of men, after the car in which he was a passenger was forced to stop, on Black's Road.
The WBU welterweight champion suffered a broken leg and punctured lung.
He has since been told by medical experts that he will never box again.
Said Mr Deery: "This appears to be a premeditated attack, where Eamonn's car was purposely stopped.
"If he'd been dragged from the car, he may well have been killed."
Sunday Life understands that, a short time earlier, there had been an angry exchange in the street, involving Magee and the top Provo.
Magee has dismissed claims the IRA attacked him in relation to the attempted abduction of dissident republican, Bobby Tohill, from Kelly's Cellars.
It is believed that Magee was in the pub at the time of the attempted abduction.
And it had been claimed that, at one stage, Magee had jumped to the dissident republican's defence, but was warned off by Tohill's attackers.
But Magee's lawyer dismissed his presence in Kelly's Cellars as a coincidence, and that the attack was over a personal dispute.
A police spokesman last night said no one has yet been arrested in connection with the attack.
Last week's attack was not the first time that Magee has experienced violence outside the ring, at the hands of IRA members.
In November 1992, he was shot in the leg by a Provo 'punishment' squad.
By Ciaran McGuigan