On This Day / January 1, 1971
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19710101
Reference Date
19710101
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 1st January 1971, the Catholic Church appointed its first chaplain to the Northern Ireland Parliament; Belfast businessman Andrew Jardin was shot dead during a robbery. Edited by Éamon Phoenix
Belfast Director Shot Dead | On This Day – 1st January 1971
MURDER squad detectives were over Christmas hunting for two men after a 65-year- old company director was shot dead during an attempted robbery at his luxury home on the outskirts of West Belfast on Christmas Eve.
The dead man was Mr Andrew Jardin and he was killed as the men, both armed, tried to break into his home, the White Gables at Hannahstown. Police think one of the raiders may have been injured.
As the murder team, led by Chief Superintendent William Meharg, carried out investigations in the Jardin home, soldiers guarded the wooded lane leading to it and police with tracker dogs searched surrounding fields for clues.
Police and troops had raced to the scene in Belfast’s Upper Springfield Road after a 999 call from a woman believed to have been the dead man’s wife. They found Mr Jardin dead from gunshot wounds.
A spokesman for the RUC said: ‘We are treating it as a case of murder.’ Early today an official police statement said: ‘We believe that the two armed men who forced their way into the home of Mr Jardin did so in an attempt to rob him.
Mr Jardin was fatally injured in his attempts to resist them. It is thought that the raiders were armed with a shotgun and a revolver.’
Police were able to put out a description of one of the raiders. He was young, medium height, feminine appearance and had shoulder-length fair brown wavy hair. He wore dark clothes and may have been injured.
A neighbour, Mrs Mary Finnegan who lives in a cottage nearby, said she was in her kitchen when she heard what she thought was an explosion. ‘There was a terrific crack’, she said, ‘and I thought there had been some sort of blast nearby. It really shook me.’
She described the Jardins as good neighbours. ‘They would do anything to help you and they were always very pleasant.’
Mr Jardin was managing director of the Blackmountain Quarry, not far from his home.
First Stormont Catholic Chaplain
CARDINAL Conway announced yesterday that the Catholic Bishops have nominated Rev Robert Murphy, PP, Newtownards, to be the first Catholic chaplain to the Northern Ireland Parliament.
Fr Murphy (57) is a native of Duneane, Toomebridge. He was educated at St Malachy’s College and at Queen’s University where he graduated in 1933.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Exactly 50 years after Cardinal Logue had spurned an invitation from Lord Londonderry to appoint a Catholic representative to the Lynn Committee on educational reform, the Church appointed its first chaplain to the Stormont Parliament – a formal act of recognition following the civil rights reforms.)
On This Day – 1st January 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19710101
Reference Date
19710101
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 1st January 1971, the Catholic Church appointed its first chaplain to the Northern Ireland Parliament; Belfast businessman Andrew Jardin was shot dead during a robbery. Edited by Éamon Phoenix
Belfast Director Shot Dead | On This Day – 1st January 1971
MURDER squad detectives were over Christmas hunting for two men after a 65-year- old company director was shot dead during an attempted robbery at his luxury home on the outskirts of West Belfast on Christmas Eve.
The dead man was Mr Andrew Jardin and he was killed as the men, both armed, tried to break into his home, the White Gables at Hannahstown. Police think one of the raiders may have been injured.
As the murder team, led by Chief Superintendent William Meharg, carried out investigations in the Jardin home, soldiers guarded the wooded lane leading to it and police with tracker dogs searched surrounding fields for clues.
Police and troops had raced to the scene in Belfast’s Upper Springfield Road after a 999 call from a woman believed to have been the dead man’s wife. They found Mr Jardin dead from gunshot wounds.
A spokesman for the RUC said: ‘We are treating it as a case of murder.’ Early today an official police statement said: ‘We believe that the two armed men who forced their way into the home of Mr Jardin did so in an attempt to rob him.
Mr Jardin was fatally injured in his attempts to resist them. It is thought that the raiders were armed with a shotgun and a revolver.’
Police were able to put out a description of one of the raiders. He was young, medium height, feminine appearance and had shoulder-length fair brown wavy hair. He wore dark clothes and may have been injured.
A neighbour, Mrs Mary Finnegan who lives in a cottage nearby, said she was in her kitchen when she heard what she thought was an explosion. ‘There was a terrific crack’, she said, ‘and I thought there had been some sort of blast nearby. It really shook me.’
She described the Jardins as good neighbours. ‘They would do anything to help you and they were always very pleasant.’
Mr Jardin was managing director of the Blackmountain Quarry, not far from his home.
First Stormont Catholic Chaplain
CARDINAL Conway announced yesterday that the Catholic Bishops have nominated Rev Robert Murphy, PP, Newtownards, to be the first Catholic chaplain to the Northern Ireland Parliament.
Fr Murphy (57) is a native of Duneane, Toomebridge. He was educated at St Malachy’s College and at Queen’s University where he graduated in 1933.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Exactly 50 years after Cardinal Logue had spurned an invitation from Lord Londonderry to appoint a Catholic representative to the Lynn Committee on educational reform, the Church appointed its first chaplain to the Stormont Parliament – a formal act of recognition following the civil rights reforms.)
On This Day – 1st January 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19710101
Reference Date
January 1, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 1st January 1971, the Catholic Church appointed its first chaplain to the Northern Ireland Parliament; Belfast businessman Andrew Jardin was shot dead during a robbery. Edited by Éamon Phoenix
Belfast Director Shot Dead | On This Day – 1st January 1971
MURDER squad detectives were over Christmas hunting for two men after a 65-year- old company director was shot dead during an attempted robbery at his luxury home on the outskirts of West Belfast on Christmas Eve.
The dead man was Mr Andrew Jardin and he was killed as the men, both armed, tried to break into his home, the White Gables at Hannahstown. Police think one of the raiders may have been injured.
As the murder team, led by Chief Superintendent William Meharg, carried out investigations in the Jardin home, soldiers guarded the wooded lane leading to it and police with tracker dogs searched surrounding fields for clues.
Police and troops had raced to the scene in Belfast’s Upper Springfield Road after a 999 call from a woman believed to have been the dead man’s wife. They found Mr Jardin dead from gunshot wounds.
A spokesman for the RUC said: ‘We are treating it as a case of murder.’ Early today an official police statement said: ‘We believe that the two armed men who forced their way into the home of Mr Jardin did so in an attempt to rob him.
Mr Jardin was fatally injured in his attempts to resist them. It is thought that the raiders were armed with a shotgun and a revolver.’
Police were able to put out a description of one of the raiders. He was young, medium height, feminine appearance and had shoulder-length fair brown wavy hair. He wore dark clothes and may have been injured.
A neighbour, Mrs Mary Finnegan who lives in a cottage nearby, said she was in her kitchen when she heard what she thought was an explosion. ‘There was a terrific crack’, she said, ‘and I thought there had been some sort of blast nearby. It really shook me.’
She described the Jardins as good neighbours. ‘They would do anything to help you and they were always very pleasant.’
Mr Jardin was managing director of the Blackmountain Quarry, not far from his home.
First Stormont Catholic Chaplain
CARDINAL Conway announced yesterday that the Catholic Bishops have nominated Rev Robert Murphy, PP, Newtownards, to be the first Catholic chaplain to the Northern Ireland Parliament.
Fr Murphy (57) is a native of Duneane, Toomebridge. He was educated at St Malachy’s College and at Queen’s University where he graduated in 1933.
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Exactly 50 years after Cardinal Logue had spurned an invitation from Lord Londonderry to appoint a Catholic representative to the Lynn Committee on educational reform, the Church appointed its first chaplain to the Stormont Parliament – a formal act of recognition following the civil rights reforms.)
On This Day – 1st January 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
On This Day is a daily column in the Irish News looking back either 50 or 100 years. The column was compiled by Dr Éamon Phoenix from the mid 1980s until autumn, 2022. The Foundation is very grateful to the Irish News for giving permission to reproduce Eamon’s columns. Funding gratefully received from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Magill Trust.
* The Foundation has worked hard to recreate Eamon’s distinctive voice through AI. Since this is an emerging technology, occasional imperfections may be audible.