This is the text of a letter The Guardian declined to print
It was sent from Fred Holroyd on May 13th 1987
Dear sir,
It comes as no surprise that Mrs Thatcher over reacted to the media attempting to discover the real facts of the Gibraltar shootings. Her attitude is vulnerable to close scrutiny, especially in the two areas of SAS operational deployment and the ethics of soldiering.
Recently Mr Ken Livingstone MP asked the Prime Minister details of a unit of Royal Engineers which operated in Northern Ireland in the 1970s in the Armagh area. The written reply which Mr Livingstone received was, I believe, a deliberate attempt to deceive the House of Commons.
Mr Roger Freeman replied that a unit, designated 4 Field Survey Troop, Royal Engineers, was formed in early 1973 and disbanded in late 1975. He claimed that the detailed records of this troop were destroyed when they were no longer required. He claimed that he was therefore unable to describe the function of this unit. As a former officer of the Special Military Unit (Northern Ireland), who regularly tasked 4 Field Survey Troop, may I enlighten him.
4 Field Survey Troop, Royal Engineers does not appear on the official list of Sapper units in Ulster for the three years mentioned. This is not surprising as the title was the first layer of cover which hid the fact that it was an SAS Troop. It’s two Officers Commanding in my time were both infantry officers currently serving in 22 SAS Regiment, the second of these was Captain Julian (Tony) Ball, KOSB. His 2i/c was Captain Robert Nairac. The CSM, NCO’s and operational members were either former, serving or recently trained SAS personnel. As it was co-located at Castledillon with an Engineer regiment, a second layer of cover was provided to satisfy soldiers of this regiment. They were told that the unit was a Northern Ireland Training and Tactics Team (NITATT). These Sapper neighbours were not taken in. The compound housing 4 Field Survey Troop was guarded by Ministry of Defence Police, which any ordinary soldier, used to routine guard duties, knows is highly unusual.
The unit possessed civilian ‘Q’ cars fitted with sophisticated communications linked to an operations room in one of the wooden barrack blocks in the compound. The personnel were issued with non-standard weapons as well as Army issue ones. American MAC11 silenced sub-machine guns, Remington folding-butt lightweight pump-action shotguns, Sterling Mk 5 silenced machine guns were all borrowed by me from this unit for my own operations. More ominously, in a cupboard in their armoury could be found a tray of 9mm Browning pistol barrels, extractors and firing pins which had been “cast” (Boarded as unsuitable for use because of wear and tear, and therefore destroyed by the Army.) I leave it for the public to decide why undercover soldiers should need these “unattributable” parts.
The personnel of the unit always dressed in civilian clothes and were encouraged to wear their hair long and wear indigenous clothing. For a period of some months I worked closely with some officers of this unit on escort and surveillance tasks, but in 1974, when I became aware that it was involved in criminal acts and was being tasked through their HQ 3 Infantry Brigade Staff Captain (Special Duties), I cut off all formal links with them. I made the appropriate complaints which were ignored. From then on I monitored their activities from a distance.
Your readers may also be aware that Mrs Thatcher and her Ministers have repeatedly stated that my allegations and those of my colleague, Colin Wallace, have been thoroughly investigated and no evidence has been found to substantiate them – how very odd. Very recently Mr Tom King was forced to admit in the House of Commons that no individual or body had ever visited Colin to ascertain what exactly his allegations were. In my own case, how very odd that no-one in authority will explain why it was agreed at a secret meeting in Whitehall, chaired by Mr Tony Stephens, that Colin and I were telling the truth, and that contingency plans were made to prevent our allegations being made public. At that meeting, the MI5 legal officer, Mr Bernard ‘X’ Shelton, was advised to approach the Chief Constable of Royal Ulster Constabulary in order to stop the current investigations into my allegations. Your readers can judge whether or nor he found a favourable response when I tell them that a few weeks later Mr Hermon informed the Director of Public Prosecutions in Ulster that his officers had been unable to find any evidence to substantiate my claims – this whilst my witnesses were writing to me to complain that no-one had been to see them, or, in one case, from a witness who had been seen, but who complained that the RUC refused to ask him the relevant questions.
Mrs Thatcher appears to view the SAS in the manner of a Caesar viewing his Praetorian Guard, her own private army, with a Prime Loyalty to her, not the Country. It is reported that she directly controls them and their deployment. As an old soldier I watched Mr Ian Smith doing the same in Rhodesia with the Selous Scouts. Before that conflict was over they were blowing up the main Salisbury churches and attributing it to the ZANLA/ZIPRA anti-Christs. Do we have to wait until Westminster Abbey goes up in a puff of smoke before someone in authority addresses our evidence?
Major F.J. Holroyd (retired)
Postscript
As this issue of Lobster was being prepared we heard from Fred Holroyd that he had received two warnings from within the British state/military that plans were afoot to fit him up (again). If something like that happens…..