The Shankill Butchers
A Case Study of Mass Murder
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cornerstone
Published:19th Jul '90
Should be back in stock very soon

The bestselling non-fiction book from the definitive writer on Ireland's tumultuous past. A gruesome investigation into one of Britain's most brutal and horrifying murder cases, perpetuated by the infamous serial killers Murphy's gang.
This book by the author of "Rogue Warrior of the SAS", retells the story of a series of murders by the Ulster Volunteer Force in N. Ireland in the 1970s. When convicted, the killers received over 2000 years in jail, the longest sentences ever given in a single trial in British legal history.
The bestselling investigation of one of Northern Ireland's most brutal and infamous murder cases
'Makes for gripping but altogether terrifying reading' Washington Times
'Dillon is recommended reading for anyone wishing to understand the complexities of British-Irish politics. He stands alone as one of the most creative writers of our time' Irish Times
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'This was the ultimate way to kill a man.'
In the 1970s, in some of the most violent days of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, a group of Protestant paramilitaries embarked on a spree of indiscriminate murder in the Shankill area of Belfast, leaving thirty Catholics dead. Their leader was Lenny Murphy: a fanatical Unionist whose childhood was marked by sectarian violence, Murphy swore revenge on all Catholics, and with his gang wreaked havoc onto an already fractured city.
Not for the squeamish, The Shankill Butchers is a horrifying and detailed account of one of the most brutal series of murders in the history of Northern Ireland - a phenomenon whose real nature has been obscured by the troubled and violent context from which it sprang.
Gruesome yet compelling and superbly researched * Tribune *
Gruesome territory...the great value of Martin Dillon's carefully researched and readable work is that it enters a world that few journalists have been inclined or able to penetrate * Listener *
Mr. Dillon recounts in chilling detail the evolution of Murphy's gang and the efforts to catch them. It makes for gripping but altogether terrifying reading * Washington Times *
A chilling book, chilling but fascinating ... People on both sides - or some of them - are likely to read Martin Dillon, and to learn from him -- Conor Cruise O'Brien
Dillon's books are a working lifetime's brave and persistent effort to get information of a kind which, as he frankly says, can be perilous to possess, let alone to reveal -- Times Literary Supplement
Dillon is recommended reading for anyone wishing to understand the complexities of British - Irish politics. He stands alone as one of the most creative writers of our time * Irish Times *
This will make you squirm * London Evening Standard *
ISBN: 9780099738107
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 25mm
Weight: 304g
416 pages