ON THIS DAY IN 1979, CORBYN'S MATES...

The Provisional IRA shot dead an off duty RUC reservist as he crossed the Irish border to buy a Christmas turkey.  Reserve Constable Stanley Hazelton was also a garage owner in his hometown of Dungannon, Co Tyrone.  His business was destroyed by a bomb in 1976 in an earlier attempt to kill him, but he later rebuilt the premises.

The Saturday before Christmas 1979 he crossed the border into Co Monaghan to collect a turkey for the family's Christmas lunch.  Shortly after collecting the turkey he was ambushed by at least two gunmen in a quiet country lane near the village of Glasslough.  The terrorists had lay in wait behind a hedge and sprayed his car with more than 20 bullets.  The ambush appeared to be well planned, but no arrests were made.

R/Constable Hazelton was 48 and left a wife and son.  At his funeral the priest said he had been a good neighbour and that he was well respected in the community.  A plaque and rose bowl were later unveiled in his memory at Carland Presbyterian Church near Dungannon.

Memorial plaque to R/Constable Hazelton