Killing of the
Coffey Brothers
Introduction
from Chronology
Two brothers James & Timothy Coffey are adducted and shot dead in Kilrush, Ahiohill, Enniskeane, Co Cork. When their bodies are
discovered, a sign on one of the bodies says “Vice Bradfield, Anti Sinn Féin”
and the other says “Convicted of Murder”.
More Detail
According to Deasy, the West Cork IRA believe
that these killings were carried out by an Anti-Sinn Féin Society based in the
area of the Bandon valley. As a result,
he says that “Two members of the [Anti-Sinn Féin Society] gang were arrested,
court-martialled and shot without delay”.
However, the only people arrested and killed by the Cork No. 3 Brigade
in the immediate aftermath of the Coffey killings were two elderly Protestant
farmers in the Skibereen area (see Feb-19-21/4) and
Alfred Cotter (see Feb-25-21/7). Due to
location and age, they were unlikely to have been members of the ‘Anti-Sinn
Féin Society murder gang’ – also different reasons were given by the IRA
locally for these killings than involvement in the Coffey killings.
According to O’Halpin and Ó Corráin “It is highly probably that [the Coffey brothers]
were murdered by Crown Forces.”
According to the Cork Fatality Register (CFR) “These killings
appear to have been a reprisal for the execution of Thomas Bradfield of Knockmacool as a suspected spy by the IRA”. (As noted
above, there were two Thomas Bradfields killed by the
IRA as suspected spies. The one referred
to by the CFR was the one killed on February 2nd – see Feb-02-21/1.) However, the CFR also concludes that “it is
more likely that members of the crown forces had been responsible for the
deaths of the Coffey brothers”.
If Crown Forces were responsible, it would
indicate that they did not have good intelligence as they targeted two young
men who had no connection with the IRA.
In other words, it would seem that the Crown Forces targeted for killing
two random Catholics with, presumably, the intention of terrorising and
intimidating the local population.