THE GROUP charged with locating the remains of the “disappeared” has added a name to its list of missing victims and is considering including another victim on its list, it has emerged.
A former IRA commander has admitted that the IRA murdered one of its members, Joe Lynskey, in 1972. The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains is now examining if it can assist in finding his remains.
The commission already had added the name of Peter Wilson (21), a west Belfast man who is believed to have been abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1973.
The Belfast Telegraphand Irish Newswere informed by republican sources how both men were murdered by the IRA.
Mr Lynskey was “executed” and buried in an unmarked grave in 1972 after he was summoned to a meeting outside Belfast by the then IRA leadership. He was unaware that he was under IRA investigation. An IRA “court martial” found him guilty of breaches of IRA standing orders.
Mr Lynskey allegedly was in a relationship with the wife of an IRA man who was in prison at the time. The IRA ruled that Mr Lynskey was seriously compromised because of the relationship.
A former IRA leader told the Belfast Telegraphthat the IRA has not yet identified the location of Mr Lynskey's remains.
The commission said it was examining the case of Mr Lynskey.
“Information surrounding the Joe Lynskey case has been reported to us recently. We are at the early stages of investigating this case. We must establish that the case falls within our remit first.”
Mr Wilson’s name has been added to the commission’s list of the disappeared, which now stands at 15. So far six bodies have been recovered.
Mr Wilson was abducted from his home on St James’s Road, Belfast. He was murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1973. He was described as a vulnerable person with learning difficulties. For the four days before his disappearance, he lived with a unit of the British army’s Royal Green Jackets regiment near his Falls Road home.
The British army was accused of using a vulnerable person to gather information on the IRA while the army said that Mr Wilson had arrived at the barracks asking to join the regiment.