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The gang murder and the women who went to the White House looking for answers

Chris Thorntonand
John O'Kane,BBC Spotlight
PA Media Six women stare at the camera. The one on the far left has short black hair, wearing a white T-shirt and brown cardigan. The woman beside her has short black hair and is wearing a green T-shirt. The woman in the middle has short brown hair and is wearing a brown cardigan. The woman second from right is wearing a blue T-shirt and has dark hair which is tied up. The woman on the far right sits on a stool. She is wearing a white blouse, green jacket and has short, dark hair. The woman at the very front is sitting on a large white armchair. She has long blonde hair and is wearing a dark top with a large silver cross and chain around her neck.PA Media
Robert McCartney's sisters from left, Catherine, Donna, Paula, Claire and Gemma with his partner Bridgeen Hagans (seated, centre) have long campaigned for justice over his murder

It is a Sunday night in the pub.

There is football on the TV and people packed around the bar - then suddenly, violence erupts.

Bottles are smashed and broken glass is slashed across the throat of one of the biggest men in the bar.

The melee spills out into the street, where the injured man says out loud the name of the man he believes attacked him.

There is, he says later, an immediate reaction with hostile men in the crowd around him saying: "You're getting it, you're getting it."

A knife flashes and two friends are left bleeding heavily on the pavement.

One of them is dying.

Robert McCartney, an engaged father-of-two, took no part in the violence, according to the few available accounts of what happened that night in January 2005.

But the 33-year-old ended up losing his life, and no one has ever been held to account for his murder – an outcome that reverberated across the world and is now the subject of a documentary series, Murder in Belfast: Sisters Seeking Justice.

McCartney family A man with short, dark hair is sitting in a cream leather armchair. He has two young boys sitting on his lap, with an arm wrapped around each. The man, who is looking at the camera, is wearing a cream shirt. The older of the two children is a toddler in a blue shirt. The other is a baby wearing a red flannel shirt. Both boys have dark hair. McCartney family
Robert McCartney was engaged when he was killed in January 2005

The failure to secure convictions can be linked to the organisation which exercised power over many of those present.

Even while Robert McCartney was being treated by paramedics on the street, his killers' tracks were being covered.

Back in Magennis's bar, right behind the Royal Courts of Justice in central Belfast, the pub's CCTV tape was snatched and the bar was cleaned with bleach.

"It wasn't their first rodeo," said David Lowans, a former Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) detective who worked on the case.

"They were experienced in clearing themselves forensically."

PSNI A police cordon stretches across a road between two no entry signs. On the right is the corner view of a bar, which is part of a red-bricked building. The bar has large windows and is painted black with the words 'Magennis's, and 'Spirits' visible. To the left is a well lit street which is largely empty, although a black car is visible near the police tape and a red car is parked further awayPSNI
The bar was a popular venue in central Belfast, which backed on to a series of smaller streets

The series, made by BBC Northern Ireland in association with Irish broadcaster RTÉ, obtained crime scene video and photos showing the aftermath of the incident.

The clean-up wasn't complete and police were able to find some blood stains in parts of the bar.

But substantial evidence seemed to have gone.

The knife used in the murder was never found and reportedly destroyed.

Crucially, witnesses appear to have been silenced.

"Out of the 70 people who were in the bar, we got no information from anybody to say the detail of what happened," said Lowans.

"We either got: 'I was in the toilet' or 'I didn't see anything', which is unbelievable.

"Whenever this altercation took place there were lots of people there."

A man with greying dark hair is looking at the camera. He is wearing a dark suit and white shirt with a purple tie just visible at the bottom of the image. He is in a large room with a window, but the background is out of focus.
David Lowans was a PSNI detective for more than 15 years

In the days after the murder, Robert's five grieving sisters and his devastated fiancée, Bridgeen Hagans, had even less information about the murder than the police.

"We were still completely in the dark as to what had happened," said his sister Paula McCartney.

"Didn't know where it had happened, how it had happened, who'd done it. Nothing."

But they soon began to hear rumours.

"It was just people coming in and telling what they'd heard in the street and 'such and such was in the bar that night'," said another sister, Catherine McCartney.

"All the talk about who'd done it, who was involved."

The information they were receiving explained why some witnesses weren't talking.

The killers were said to be members of the Provisional IRA.

Secret investigation and an offer to kill

The IRA had waged a campaign of violence for 30 years.

In 2005, as Northern Ireland's peace process was being cemented, the group was observing a ceasefire.

It issued a statement denying involvement in McCartney's murder, but that didn't convince witnesses who feared deadly consequences if they named IRA members to the police.

PSNI A long street gives way to a cityscape of tall buildings and illuminated street lights. On the right are a series of red brick buildings with an alleyway, which has a sign reading 'market street'. The area outside the alley is cordoned off with police tape which is tied to a lamp post. A silver car and parking meter are seen on the street, which is otherwise empty. PSNI
Robert McCartney and another man were attacked in Market Street after leaving the bar

"I've been about these areas enough to know how dangerous this organisation can be when they want to be," said Ed Gowdy.

He was McCartney's friend and one of the witnesses telling his story on television for the first time.

"I do know exactly the treatment informers get throughout the years.

"If I tell what happened, am I an informer?

"My mate's dead, heartbreaking. But I had to survive what had happened here."

Gowdy was one of several witnesses who were then questioned by the IRA, conducting its own secret investigation running parallel to police inquiries.

Another witness, who was also interrogated by the IRA, gives for the first time on TV a personal account of what happened in the bar.

Seeking answers at the White House

The McCartney sisters, meanwhile, found themselves fronting a campaign for justice that increasingly drew attention to the case.

All five sisters were interviewed for the series.

"It was my brother, and I just felt the world needs know... what has happened to him," said Paula.

PA Media Two women with shoulder-length brown hair sit behind a table at a press conference, with several microphones, glasses of water and bottles placed in front of them. A sign on the front of the table reads “MURDER” above a photograph of a man. Media microphones, including one branded RTÉ, are positioned on the table, while display boards with images are visible in the background.PA Media
Catherine (left) and Paula McCartney, speaking at a press conference in Belfast in January 2006

"I think [it was] the way we came across on TV, down to earth, working-class women, standing up for justice," said Gemma McCartney, the eldest sister.

"And doing something, breaking away from the old custom of not reporting these things to the police."

Their campaign produced some extraordinary results, forcing the IRA to acknowledge several of its members were involved in the murder – though it said the killing was not done on behalf of the IRA.

The IRA said three members were expelled from the organisation. It even claimed it offered to kill them – although the McCartney sisters say that offer was never made.

Getty Images Six women are walking in a broad line towards the camera. Behind them is a white building with large pillars and a black exterior chandelier. There are also neatly trimmed hedges and a garden, surrounded by a black iron fence.Getty Images
(L-R) Bridgeen Hagans, the partner of Robert McCartney, walks with his sisters; Donna, Paula, Claire, Gemma, and Catherine outside the White House

The sisters' campaign caught the attention of America's then Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, Mitchell Reiss.

He recognised an opportunity to put pressure on the IRA to make moves that would complete the peace process.

"Our feeling was that if the McCartney family was willing, and it didn't seem exploitative, that they would be a very attractive poster for the criminality, the vigilantism, the injustice, the rough justice that was taking place across republican communities by the IRA," he said.

Just two months after Robert McCartney's murder, the sisters and his fiancée Bridgeen were invited to the White House for St Patrick's Day, where they met the then President George W Bush.

Getty Images A woman with medium length brown hair with highlights, who is wearing a cream jumper, has her hand outstretched to a man in a dark suit with a blue shirt and green tie. He has a small American flag pinned to his lapel and has grey hair. Two other women stand beside the woman in the jumper, they have long blonde hair and medium length black hair, and are both wearing dark clothing. Another man with short grey hair is also in the photograph, with a sprig of shamrock hanging from his lapel. Behind the group is a wall with a scenic outdoor painting and an old grandfather clock.Getty Images
President Bush said he hoped the campaign would bring peace to Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland politicians were kept out of the event, an exclusion that was widely interpreted as being aimed mainly at the IRA's allies in Sinn Féin.

Mitchell Reiss tells the documentary series that advances which followed in the peace process – including the IRA's announcement of an end to its armed campaign – were "a direct consequence" of the McCartneys' campaign.

In a statement, then Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams credits negotiations and amendments to policing and justice arrangements as key drivers in completing the peace process.

A man with short dark hair, which is turning grey, is sat in front of a large dark fireplace. He is wearing a navy suit jacket and blue, open collar shirt. His hands are clasped in front of him as he rests his elbows on a table.
Mitchell Reiss served as US special envoy to Northern Ireland from 2003 to 2007

In the aftermath of those advances, the intense attention on the McCartney sisters' campaign began to fade.

But, as the documentary shows, their pursuit of justice was not over.

In 2008, three men were brought to trial and acquitted.

Murder in Belfast: Sisters Seeking Justice uses original court material to bring two key witnesses and the McCartney sisters back over the dramatic evidence from that trial.

All episodes of Murder in Belfast: Sisters Seeking Justice will be available on the BBC iPlayer on Sunday 25 October.

The series will begin on BBC One Northern Ireland that evening at 22.30 GMT.