A Somalian named Mohamed Ishmail calmly walked into the 'House' drew a revolver and discharged all six rounds into the customers as they sat around enjoying New Years Day 1960.
Three died almost instantly and two more were seriously injured, one, Donald McFarland was crippled for life. The Somali was caught hiding in the toilets and upon his arrest , stated that he wanted to kill himself but his religious beliefs forbade him from doing so. He thought being that we, the British, would hang him for the crime of murder, therefore fulfilling his desire to die.
,...Mohamed Ismail, aged 30, a Somali labourer. of Spital Hill. Sheffield. was found at Sheffield Assizes yesterday to plead to charges of triple capital murder. He was ordered to be detained until the Queen's pleasure be made known
Ismail, was charged with the murder by shooting of three men. When the committal proceedings were heard before Sheffield magistrates. the prosecution stated the men were singing in a public house during an extension of licensed hours on New Year's Day shortly after 10.30 p.m. Ismail, took a revolver from his pocket and fired at the men one after another.
When I first saw these reports I was amazed at the dearth of information that they contained. There was no reference to the name of the public house where the murders occurred or even the district where the pub was located. No information was given about the victims of the attack or about the aftermath of the incident. Given that three men were killed and two others injured and the assailant faced the death penalty for triple murder, I would have thought that the case would have featured prominently in the national press.
The public house where the massacre occurred was the East House on Spital Hill, Sheffield. The photograph below was taken twenty years later in 1980
