‘Shameful’ Legacy Act bringing curtain down on legal actions

A number of legal processes are facing a critical time ahead of an overarching British shutdown of inquests, investigations and other legal processes related to the conflict on May 1.

SEAMUS DILLON

A coroner has said that an inquest into the loyalist murder of a Catholic man working as a doorman is “highly unlikely” to be completed before the cut-off date.

Seamus Dillon, a former republican prisoner, was shot dead by the LVF as he worked at the Glengannon Hotel, near Dungannon, in December 1997. Collusion is suspected in the murder.

It was previously thought that the father-of-three was targeted in revenge for the INLA killing of LVF founder Billy Wright inside Long Kesh prison hours earlier.

However, at an inquest hearing last month it emerged that Crown Force intelligence documents indicate the attack at the hotel was pre-planned.

Mr Dillon’s widow, Martina, believes the state holds more information relating to the murder.

“We always knew that the state had more material regarding the role of agents and informers in our inquest,” he said.

“I am calling on the PSNI to urgently make this material available to the coroner so that he can provide this to us before the May 1.”

Ms Dillon said her family will not give up.

“The news today is further upset in a long running saga of deny, disrupt, and delay that the state has used so effectively on me and other legacy families,” she said.

“We are not giving up and neither should the coroner.

“This material should be disclosed.”

Gavin Booth, of Phoenix Law, said that although the inquest has been ongoing “quite a large volume of materials remain unknown to the family of Seamus Dillon”.

“We understand that much of this material relates to the role of agents and informers,” he said.

“It’s clear from the suspects we already know about that many of those involved worked for and provided information to the state whilst carrying out a campaign of murder and mayhem on innocent people.

“It’s time now for the state to stop hiding behind NCND (a policy of neither confirming or denying allegations) and started providing families with the truth.”

CLONOE

The Clonoe inquest has reached the final stage before the guillotine date.

The evidence in the inquest concluded on Wednesday of this week with the remote attendance of Soldier F and Colonel A, two of the key military witnesses responsible for the deaths of the four young men at Clonoe Chapel in County Tyrone on February 16, 1992.

Evidence heard during the inquest provides hope that some truth will soon be uncovered for the relatives of Kevin Barry O’Donnell, Peter Clancy, Patrick Vincent and Sean O’Farrell, as well as the wider public.

It is the first-ever investigation into the case conducted in compliance with international human rights standards.

However, former British military personnel who were involved in the ambush and attended the inquest repeatedly invoked the privilege against self-incrimination instead of trying to justify their actions.

The failure of the former soldier alleged to have twice shot Kevin Barry O’Donnell to appear at his inquest was also described as “unsatisfactory” by the coroner.

Barrister Frank O’Donoghue, acting for the family of Kevin Barry O’Donnell, said he knew nothing as to why he failed to appear “other than he was agitated in the course of a consultation,” he said.

He said his clients were “extremely unhappy about the situation”.

Campaign group Relatives for Justice said: “Whatever the outcome, the Clonoe families are owed a debt of gratitude for their unwavering commitment to uncovering the truth and achieving justice for their loved ones. After 32 years, we await the findings, hoping they shed light on the fatal incident that occurred on that night in 1992.”

COAGH

But there was dismay for the families of the Coagh massacre victims after a coroner said the shoot-to-kill ambush was “justified” as the British soldiers “had an honest belief that it was necessary in order to prevent loss of life”.

IRA Volunteers Peter Ryan, Tony Doris and Lawrence McNally was gunned down in a preplanned attack by the SAS, an ‘elite’ British Army unit. The coroner’s ruling, combined with the guillotine date for legal action, leaves few options for the families to win justice for their loved ones.

Speaking outside court, lawyer Padraig O Muirigh, who acts for the families of Peter Ryan and Tony Doris, said while they were disappointed at the finding that the force used was justified, but welcomed the coroner’s criticism of the British Army operation.

“The clients that I represent have always maintained there was a shoot-to-kill policy operating at this particular time. What these findings show is that a kill zone was effectively set up,” he said.

“The planning of the operation was deliberate to avoid an arrest situation, and as the coroner said we had an inevitable outcome.

“What we see in the aftermath is a very clear cover-up of that shoot-to-kill policy, both in terms of how the British Army destroyed a crucial video which would have assisted this coroner and important documentation relevant to the inquest, and as he describes it, the woefully inadequate RUC investigation meant that the full facts would never be before this inquest so that cover-up was also a critical part, in my view, of this operation.”

Mr Ryan’s brother Donal pointed out there were “at least two opportunities to arrest these men”.

“They left it to the last which was the impossible situation where there was no other option but to take lethal force … they brought them into the kill zone where there was no way these men were ever going to survive,” he said.

SAM MARSHALL

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) is once again being accused of unreasonable and overzealous application of ‘Public Interest Immunity’ (PII) secrecy orders in the inquest into the death of Sam Marshall, a 31-year-old man from Lurgan whose 1990 murder involves apparent collusion between Crown forces and loyalist paramilitaries.

Sam Marshall, Colin Duffy and Tony McCaughey were leaving the Lurgan RUC station when loyalist paramilitaries opened fire on the trio. Mr McCaughey and Mr Duffy were able to escape, but Mr Marshall was killed within minutes.

This inquest, which opened in March 2023, has faced repeated delays at the hands of the Crown Forces. Proceedings were effectively halted in November when, in an administrative hearing, the MoD informed the court that an issue of utmost secrecy would almost certainly cause significant delays. Redacted briefs have since been provided to lawyers for the Marshall family and for Mr Duffy and Mr McCaughey, but the redactions are inconsistent, heavy-handed, and legally questionable.

Mr Dessie Hutton, barrister for Sam Marshall’s family, criticised the MoD’s inappropriate redactions: ‘If there is evidence of collusion between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries in the 1990s, that’s not raising a national security issue. It’s not national security; it’s a national scandal and should be treated as such.’

Mr Jude Bunting, on behalf of Colin Duffy, noted that ‘collusion is at the heart of the inquest,’ and that ‘[the MoD’s] papers are shot through with clear and compelling evidence of collusion.’

There may also be additional material that the MoD has not handed over, particularly pertaining to the role of State agents and informers in the preparation for, perpetration of, and inadequate investigation into the attack.

Still, the MoD seeks to exclude collusion from the scope of the inquest. In March the MoD used similar tactics to hide the role of State agents and informers in the case of Seamus Dillon, who was killed in 1997 by the same weapon that killed Sam Marshall.

The MoD declined to present any arguments, instead preferring to provide their information in closed hearings which will exclude the public and lawyers for the Marshall family and Mr Duffy and Mr McCaughey.

KINGSMILL

A coroner has found that an attack in 1976 “was mounted because the deceased men were Protestants and for no other reason”.

The attack on a group of workmen travelling through County Armagh came amid as the conflict was descending into civil war and followed two massacres of six Catholic civilians in the area, the Reavey and O’Dowd massacres.

Ten died in the massacre at Kingsmill, which was carried out by the ‘South Armagh Republican Action Force’. The Provisional IRA denied involvement, but that claim which was rejected by Coroner Brian Sherrard, who condemned the IRA for not taking part in the inquest.

The sole survivor of the attack, Alan Black, is now calling for a public inquiry into the murders.

Sinn Fein’s northern leader Michelle O’Neill said the Kingsmill families “deserve truth and justice”. When asked about the outcome of the inquest on Wednesday, Ms O’Neill said she was “sorry for every loss of life”.

“I think when we reflect on last week, it was a very bruising picture in terms of all the legacy cases that came to the fore, whether that be Sean Brown’s family’s inquest or whether it be the Kingsmill inquest on Friday,” she said.

“Let me again be categorical, I am sorry for every loss of life throughout the conflict but my job as a political leader of today is to build towards the future and try to help to heal the wounds of the past.

“Doesn’t the Kingsmill judgment very much underline why we need to deal with the past properly? And why the legislation the British Government have brought forward is riding coach and horses through the desires and needs of all families?

“That includes the Kingsmill families, who deserve truth and justice, who deserve a public inquiry and who deserve answers.”

KATHLEEN THOMPSON

The family of mother-of-six Kathleen Thompson shot dead by a British soldier in 1971 appear to have lost a legal battle aimed at fast-tracking a decision on a potential prosecution for her killing before the deadline.

Mrs Thompson was shot down outside her home as troops withdrew from the Creggan area of Derry.

In June 2022 an inquest held that she had been shot by an unnamed British soldier referred to as Soldier D, ‘in circumstances which were not justified’.

Mrs Thompson’s family was informed last year that any potential prosecution of Soldier D would not be possible until a PSNI investigation had concluded.

Her son, William Thompson, challenged the Crown prosecutor’s decision not to exercise a discretionary power which would require the PSNI to prioritise its investigation into the killing.

But judges in the Court of Appeal claimed this week that prosecutors had acted lawfully.

Urgent Appeal