Joe Bratty - Death

Death

Bratty was first targeted in late 1991 by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) when they decided to adopt the tactic of focusing on prominent loyalists rather than the British Army, a strategy similar to that employed by the Irish People's Liberation Organisation. Bratty's Annadale Flats home was attacked on 13 November, but Bratty was not at home and no one was hurt. Some time after this attack Bratty moved from the Annadale flats to live in Greenwood Lodge on the Upper Newtownards Road in east Belfast.

However, Bratty and Raymond Elder were killed by the PIRA on 31 July 1994 in an act seen as one of a number of "revenge attacks" immediately prior to the PIRA ceasefire. The pair had been drinking in a loyalist band hall unaware that two gunmen were waiting outside in a van, and both died at the scene of the attack. The gunmen were armed with AK-47 assault rifles. The van was pursued by a Royal Ulster Constabulary vehicle that was in the area but the chase stopped when the police vehicle was impeded by a crowd of republicans. Bratty was 33 years old at the time of his death. He left behind a widow and a son. His son was given honorary membership of the Paisley Imperial Blues flute band, the leading UDA-aligned flute band in Scotland, immediately following his father's death.