Fresh campaign for justice for Mid-Ulster murders

Relatives of people killed by a loyalist death squad believed to include British soldiers have called for their inquests to be reinstated.

The call comes as campaigners produced a dossier detailing the links between multiple murders across Mid-Ulster around 30 years ago.

Members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) are suspected of involvement in a series of sectarian attacks across the district in the late 80s and early 90’s.

While the killings were claimed by the UVF, it is widely believed that locally-recruited members of the British Army were involved.

In August last year attorney general Brenda King ordered new inquests into five murders, including those of Thomas Armstrong, who was killed during a loyalist gun attack at Boyle’s Bar in Cappagh on in March 1991, which also claimed the life of 17-year-old Dwayne O’Donnell.

Inquests have since been granted in the cases of two other young republicans, Malcolm Nugent and John Quinn, who also lost their lives in the attack.

The other victims to be granted inquests include Phelim McNally, Tommy Casey, and former republican prisoner Sean Anderson.

However, the introduction of the British government’s Legacy Act in May ended all inquests and civil cases.

While the Westminster government has committed to “proposing new measures which allow for previously halted inquests to proceed” it is not clear if this includes inquests granted but not started before the deadline.

UDR members suspected of involvement in some of the killings are thought to have used a small pool of weapons.

Among them was a VZ58 assault rifle, with the serial number R18837, which is believed to have been used in the murder of up to 12 people, including Mr McNally, Mr Casey and the Cappagh victims.

The weapon was part of a loyalist haul smuggled into the north in the late 1980s with the help of British intelligence.

Mr O’Donnell’s sister Séana Quinn said her family and others “deserve the right to finally have our inquest heard”.

“After the Attorney General ordering new inquests to our families last August after being presented with new evidence, it is unfathomable for the British government to impede and thwart families’ access to truth and justice – it is just so wrong,” she said.

“We have an underlying right to the truth, and so long as the British government seeks to take that from us, we will continue to seek to uphold our basic rights.

“We will not give up and will continue and if anything are more invigorated to campaign and expose the truth.”

Her lawyer Gavin Booth, of Phoenix Law, said: “Families here remain resolute in seeing these processes to an end and for these families that means the restoration of their inquests.

“The Secretary of State should immediately restore these inquests.”

Sinn Féin MP Cathal Mallaghan has said the British government must move to reinstate all outstanding inquests immediately to enable families who lost loved ones to achieve truth and justice.

“The British government’s shameful Legacy Act attempted to pull down the shutters on families’ efforts to achieve truth and justice by closing down inquests and other mechanisms,” he said.

“Despite this, families have remained steadfast in their determination to uncover the full extent of what happened to their loved ones, and have courageously not given up.

“The British Labour Party made a pledge to ‘repeal and replace’ the Legacy Act, and I would urge them to now get on with this, including the full reinstatement of all inquests.”

Urgent Appeal