Ian Phoenix

Ian Phoenix was one of a number of senior RUC officers killed in the 1994 Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash. He was "based at headquarters, with responsibility for Special Branch supervisory and liaison duties."Sally Weale and Owen Boycott, CHINOOK DISASTER: COUNTING THE COST OF THE SENIOR FIGURES IN BATTLE AGAINST TERRORISM, Guardian, 4 June 1994.
Phoenix was born in 1943 in Granville, Co Tyrone.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.13.
==Parachute Regiment==
He joined the Parachute Regiment in 1961.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.20. He took part in the Borneo campaign in 1966 and had some contact with the SAS at its Jungle School in Brunei.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.30. Among the officers he served with was Peter Chiswell.
==RUC==
Phoenix joined the RUC in 1970.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.51 . During his training, Phoenix saved a colleague, Ronnie Flanagan from dismissal after a fistfight, by organising a group to send the other party to Coventry until he explained the circumstances to his superiors.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.56.
He initally served in B Division in West Belfast.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.60. Because of his army experience, Phoenix was given responsibility for liasing with the army, including his old unit, 3 Para under Peter Chiswell, which was in Belfast in 1971.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, pp.64-65. In May 1971, he was caught in a bomb attack which killed a Para colleague, Sergeant Mick Willetts.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.65 . he was transferred to North Belfast in 1973.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.87. In 1975, he was posted as a training instructor in Carrickfergus.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.98. Three years later he was posted to Tennent Street station on the Shankill Road for a year.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.103.
===Special Branch===
Phoenix was posted to RUC Special Branch as a Detective Inspector in January 1979, and underwent training in covert operations in London and Harrogate, before deployment in April.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.108. He became team leader in the E4A surveillance unit.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.114.
In around November 1979, he was given responsibility for re-organising the whole E4A unit.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.116.
His first operation was Operation HAWK, involving surveillance of the man believed to be the intelligence officer for the IRA's Belfast Brigade.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.124. He was also involved in Operation MISTRAL, which uncovered an IRA informant inside the police.Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows - The Secret War Against terrorism in Northern Ireland, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996, p.126.
According to Statewatch, he was the head of the E1 Division within Special Branch at the time of his death in 1994.Statewatch Bulletin, Vol 4, No 4, August 1994.
==Notes==
Phoenix, Ian
Phoenix, Ian
Phoenix, Ian