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Archive Release: Secret British Ministry of Defence files records the failure of the Military Reaction Force to protect its Freds. Secret British Ministry of Defence (MoD) files discovered by the charity, Paper Trail, document the British state’s failure to protect its own soldiers and agents (or “Freds”) in its covert, extra-legal military unit, the Military […]

Join the discussion on the Shooters and Freds of Britain’s Military Reaction Force via Virtual Féile 2020. Tomorrow (Friday 31st July) at 1pm, Virtual Féile an Phobail 2020 is hosting author and Paper Trail project manager, Ciarán MacAirt, who will be releasing his latest British military archive discoveries relating to Britain’s Military Reaction Force, a […]

The Battle of St. Matthew’s was a pivotal moment in our local history and we have much to learn from it still. The 27/28th June is the 50th anniversary of the battle around the parish church in Short Strand. 3 men were shot dead and over two dozen injured. The local area around Ballymacarrett and […]

Paper Trail published proof from secret British archives that the MRF was guilty of a catalogue of murders and attempted murders of civilians in Belfast 1972. The report followed the failure of the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) Legacy Investigation Branch (LIB) to arrest or convict British Army soldiers in the killer gang, the […]

Paper-Trailers was first published in 2017. It is particularly poignant today as Paper-Trailers opens with an article by the talented writer, Lyra McKee, who was shot dead by extremists on 18th April 2019. Lyra was a great supporter of Paper Trail and the charity’s work from its inception. She remains a guiding light. We are […]

Collusion between state forces and paramilitaries can take many forms. Rarely do we see such casual collusion evidenced in inky black and white, though; and, here, it went to the top. Two incidents. The same British Army Regiment. Just over 24 hours apart and a just a few of hundred yards away from each other. […]

Paper Trail is releasing the earliest recorded shooting by Britain’s Military Reaction Force MRF. The MRF shooting is the earliest recorded that we have discovered – this, of course, does not mean that it was the first MRF shooting. It means that, at the moment, it is the earliest recorded shooting that researchers like ourselves […]

Paper Trail has linked Britain’s Military Reaction Force (MRF) to multiple murders and attempted murders of civilians in Belfast in 1972. Secret British military documents prove that the MRF was indeed guilty of a catalogue of murders and attempted murders of unarmed civilians – including teenagers – in Belfast between May and September 1972. The […]

If the police wanted to discover if the British Army’s Military Reaction Force had shot another civilian, all it had to do was telephone Palace Barracks 3534. If only we knew back then…