Sergeant Joe Campbell, a Donegal-born Catholic, was posted to the Glens of Antrim in 1963 and stationed at Cushendall Police Station, the town in which he lived with his family. Before his murder in 1977 he told Denis Murray, a Special Branch officer, he feared that fellow officers he suspected of corruption were plotting to kill him.

At the time of Sergeant Campbell’s death Cushendall Police Station operated limited opening hours between 9.00am and 11.00am and 5.00pm and 7.00pm. These hours were to facilitate members of the public attending the station whilst also providing Sergeant Campbell and a Constable, recently posted to the area, with the capacity to pursue other policing duties.

On the evening of his murder he received two telephone calls at home, the nature of which he didn’t share with his family. After the second call, at about 8.30pm, he left his home to walk the short distance to Cushendall Police Station where his colleague was on duty. Sergeant Campbell had elected to wear his personal protection sidearm, which was unusual for him. Sergeant Campbell remained in the station talking with his colleague until shortly before 9.00pm, when the Constable finished his duties for the evening. Sergeant Campbell saw him off the premises and secured the main gates to the compound of the police station. At approximately 9.00pm at least one shot was heard by a number of people in Cushendall and soon after Sergeant Campbell was found by a member of the public on the ground outside the main gates to Cushendall Police Station. He sustained a gunshot wound to his head and was conveyed to hospital but died without regaining consciousness.

Roll of Honour Citation

Securing the gates at Cushendall Police Station he was fatally shot once to the head.