Murdered Teenager "Failed Lamentably" by School

UTV
September 14, 2015

http://www.u.tv/News/2015/09/14/Murdered-teenager-failed-lamentably-by-school-44948

Bernard Teggart’s case was recently described as the "most horrific case" to come before the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA).

In November 1973, Bernard and his brother Gerard were both abducted from the school by members of the IRA.

Despite being aged 15, the boys had a mental age of no more than eight.

The twins had a record of trouble with the police due to their mental health problems, which in turn brought them to the attention of the IRA.

On the day before Bernard’s murder, police files show that three IRA men came to the school and interrogated his brother Gerard in the woodwork room.

A police review of files reveals a senior staff member objected, telling the men that Gerard was vulnerable, but that they allowed them to take him away.

The PSNI said “such uninvited visits from the Provisional IRA and men from similar groups were not condoned but reluctantly tolerated by the school”.

“THE SCHOOL FAILED LAMENTABLY TO FULFIL ITS DUTY OF CARE BY ALLOWING THE ABDUCTION AND FAILING TO REPORT THEM TO THE AUTHORITIES.”

PSNI review

Gerard was returned to the school unharmed and no action was taken over his abduction, nor was it reported to police.

However, the next day the IRA returned to the school and took both boys away, again meeting objections but no action from school staff.

The PSNI review states: "It is clear that the duty of care owed by the school to Gerard and Bernard was wanting."

"The HET accepts the difficulty the school had in managing groups, including the Provisional IRA, who intimidated staff and pupils, walking in and out of the school as they pleased."

The boys were taken to a number of houses across the city for interrogation.

Gerard’s ordeal is thought to have ended at a house somewhere in Glengormley, where he was released.

He ran home to his mother to explain what had happened, but by that stage, it was already too late for his twin brother.

Bernard was found by an army patrol later that evening at the side of a road near Belfast Zoo.

A placard had been draped round his neck with the word ‘tout’ written on it and he had been shot in the back of the head, dying a few hours later.

The school failed to report Gerard and Bernard’s abduction and had labelled the boys as escapees.

It was only when Bernard’s sister Alice identified his body at the morgue that police heard about the abduction.

The De La Salle Order, the Catholic organisation that ran St Patrick’s, declined to comment on the matter.