On April 25th, I987, Lord Justice Maurice Gibson (73) and his wife, Lady Cecily Gibson (67), travelling home from their holiday, were killed just after crossing into the North, having been given a Garda escort to the Border. They had crossed the Irish Sea on the Liverpool to Dublin ferry.
The couple had been frequent visitors to the Kilcar area of Co Donegal and had purchased a site there to build a holiday home. Intelligence reports as early as I974 indicated that the Provisional IRA had plans to assassinate him at his home in Donegal.
Reasons for him being made a target included the acquittal of three RUC officers who had been charged with the murder of three men believed to be members of the IRA - Eugene Toman, Sean Burns and Gervaise McKerr.
Acquitting the RUC men, Lord Justice Gibson had said: "I wish to make it clear that, having heard the entire Crown's case, I regard each of the accused as absolutely blameless in this matter. That finding should be put on record along with my own commendation as to their courage and determination for bringing the three dead men to justice, in this case, to the final court of justice."
The Cory report says that these remarks were interpreted by some nationalist organisations as indicating Lord Justice Gibson's support for the "shoot-to-kill" policy, which was then alleged to be practised by the RUC and the army when dealing with IRA suspects.
As soon as he was aware of this interpretation Lord Justice Gibson made a public statement specifically saying that his remarks were not intended to be an affirmation of a shoot-to-kill policy. Judge Cory reports that it was thought that, at least from this point on, there could be no doubt that Lord Justice Gibson was a prime target.
In 1984 his home in Donegal was destroyed by fire, the work of arsonists. The Cory report notes that the Provisional IRA seemed to be aware of the times and dates of most, if not all, of the Gibsons' visits to Donegal.