Francis Hughes
| Francis Hughes | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 February 1956 Bellaghy, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland |
| Died | 12 May 1981 (aged 25) HM Prison Maze |
| Organization | Provisional IRA |
| Known for | Hunger strike of 59 days, from 15 March 1981 |
Francis Hughes (28 February 1956 – 12 May 1981) was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from Bellaghy, Northern Ireland. Hughes was the most wanted man in Northern Ireland until his arrest following a shoot-out with the Special Air Service (SAS) in which an SAS soldier was killed. At his trial he was sentenced to a total of 83 years' imprisonment; he died during the 1981 Irish hunger strike in HM Prison Maze.
Hughes was born in Bellaghy, County Londonderry on 28 February 1956 into a republican family, the youngest of four brothers in a family of ten siblings. Hughes' father Joseph had been a member of the Irish Republican Army in the 1920s and one of his uncles had smuggled arms for the republican movement. This resulted in the Hughes family being targeted when internment was introduced in 1971, and Francis Hughes' brother Oliver was interned for eight months without trial in Operation Demetrius. Hughes left school aged 16 and started work as an apprentice painter and decorator.
Hughes was returning from an evening out in Ardboe, County Tyrone when he was stopped at an Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) checkpoint. When the soldiers realised he came from a republican family, he was badly beaten. Hughes' father encouraged him to see a doctor and report the incident to the police but Hughes refused, saying he "would get his own back on the people who did it, and their friends".
Hughes initially joined the Official Irish Republican Army but left after the organisation declared a ceasefire in May 1972. Hughes then joined an Independent Republican Unit along with Dominic McGlinchey and Ian Milne, before the three decided to join the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1973. Hughes, Milne and McGlinchey took part in scores of IRA operations, including daylight attacks on Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) stations, bombings, and attacks on off-duty members of the RUC and UDR. Another IRA member described the activities of Hughes:
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