Seán Savage

Seán Savage (Irish: Seán Sabhaois) (26 January 1965 – 6 March 1988) was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional IRA who was shot and killed by British Army Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers in Operation Flavius.

Born to an Irish republican family in the Kashmir area of Belfast, Savage was educated at primary level at St. Gall's Primary School and later at St. Paul's Secondary School in the Falls Road area of West Belfast.

According to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), in 1987 Savage and Daniel McCann shot two Special Branch officers dead in Belfast docks.

Savage was the leader of the IRA unit that placed a booby-trap bomb underneath the car of senior Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member John McMichael outside his Lisburn home in December 1987. McMichael, who was the UDA's Deputy Commander and leader of its South Belfast Brigade, died of his injuries two hours after the blast.

In March 1988, Savage and McCann, along with Mairéad Farrell, were sent to the British overseas territory of Gibraltar to plant a bomb in the town area targeting the British military band which paraded weekly in connection with the changing of the guard in front of the Governors' residence (see Operation Flavius). Savage was shot dead, along with Farrell and McCann, by British Army soldiers in civilian dress whilst they walked unarmed towards the frontier with Spain, at the Winston Churchill Avenue Shell filling station. Savage who was following on behind the other two attempted to flee after he saw them being confronted and opened fire upon, only to be pursued and shot dead beneath a beech tree a short distance away in Smith Dorrien Avenue. He was shot 16 to 18 times. Several witnesses to the shooting alleged that Farrell and McCann were both shot while attempting to surrender and while lying wounded on the ground. British and Gibraltar Government official sources said the trio were acting suspiciously and that the soldiers who confronted and killed them had believed at the time that their own lives were in danger. No radio or other detonating device were found on the bodies, nor was there any bomb in the car in Gibraltar which had been identified as belonging to the IRA unit. Another car in use by them across the border in Spain was found two days after the engagement at Gibraltar containing 140 lb (64 kg) of Semtex with a device timed to go off during the changing of the guard.

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