Rosemary Nelson (née Magee; 4 September 1958 – 15 March 1999) was an Irish solicitor who was killed with a bomb planted in her car by an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in 1999. A bomb exploded under Nelson's car at her home in Lurgan, Northern Ireland. A loyalist paramilitary group calling itself the Red Hand Defenders claimed responsibility for the murder. Allegations that the British state security forces were involved in her killing led to a public inquiry. It found no evidence that state forces facilitated her murder, but could not exclude the possibility that individual members had helped the perpetrators. It said that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) failed to protect her and that she had been publicly threatened and assaulted by officers, which helped legitimize her as a targ