Call for Britain to finally admit truth in Thompson murder

The seriously ill brother of a Catholic man murdered by a pro-British death squad has pleaded with the British government to reveal the truth about the killing.

Eugene Thompson, who has terminal cancer and was admitted to hospital in recent days, made the appeal about the murder of his younger brother Paul ‘Topper’ Thompson more than 30 years ago.

The 57-year-old has campaigned tirelessly for more than three decades to establish the circumstances of his only brother’s callous murder.

Paul Thompson was shot dead as he sat in a taxi in April 1994 after a unionist paramilitary murder gang cut a hole in a Belfast peace line fence to gain entry to a nationalist district close to a British army base. He was 25 years of age.

Hours earlier, a neighbour reported a hole in the fence at Springfield Park in west Belfast to both the RUC police and to British officials, but no action was taken.

A so-called murder investigation has always been questioned by Paul’s mother Margaret, who died in 2004, and others.

However, Mr Thompson’s inquest was one of several involving a secrecy order that were halted last year. Former British Direct Ruler Chris Heaton Harris and PSNI Chief Jon Boutcher took legal action to prevent the coroner producing a ‘gist’, or summary of facts, in the case.

Lawyers claimed any summary of information breached the British government’s policy to ‘Neither Confirm Nor Deny’ key facts, including the identity of state agents.

A similar ‘gist’ issued during the inquest of Gaelic sports official official Sean Brown last year revealed that more than 25 people were linked by intelligence to that murder, including several state agents.

The British government has referred the case to the Court of Appeal, where it was thrown out, and now to the Supreme Court in London, where it is currently being heard over two days.

Despite being gravely ill, Mr Thompson has now made a direct appeal for the British government to come clean about his brother’s murder.

“I just don’t want it to go on any longer,” he said.

“I want it to be over with and get justice for my brother.”

Irati Oleaga, from Relatives for Justice, said: “Paul Thompson’s life mattered. So does the truth about his death.

“And so does the courage of those who have never stopped demanding it. We stand with Eugene. With his mum Margaret, whose absence is deeply felt. And with the many other families still denied truth, justice, and acknowledgement. Their persistence in the face of delay, denial, and deliberate obstruction is a testament to the strength of human dignity.

“The Thompson case is a test: will the courts permit British Ministers to override judicial independence in order to conceal evidence of potential state wrongdoing? Will they allow NCND to become a catch-all shield against accountability?”

Speaking to the Irish News, Mr Thompson spoke of the challenges he has faced.

“It’s been really difficult because I was doing it on my own and it’s like you are fighting all these people who are so much more powerful than you and so much more adept,” he said.

“They know what they are doing, I had to learn as I went along.”

Mr Thompson spoke of his frustration over the long delays in his brother’s case.

“It’s like you can see the finishing line but you just can’t get there,” he said.

“They keep moving it further and further away.”

While the current British government claims it intends to repeal and replace the controversial Legacy Act, introduced by the Tories to bring a halt to conflict-related investigations into British war crimes, it has continued to launch legal challenges in many cases.

Mr Thompson has “no doubt” there was collusion in his brother’s case.

“Too many things happened that goes beyond coincidence,” he said.

He has previously met with Labour Direct Ruler Hilary Benn, who has pressed ahead with controversial legacy legal action.

“He seemed like he wanted to move forward and get it over with,” Mr Thompson said.

“But he didn’t.

“I think he went back on his word.”

Mr Thompson has recently been diagnosed with cancer.

“It’s terminal but I’m fighting it, I’m trying to stay as long as I can,” he said.

He said having to pursue his brother’s case while facing his own illness has been challenging.

“It’s been difficult because I am not well and my strength isn’t up to it,” he said

He revealed how he suffers guilt over his brother’s murder and was later diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

“You feel guilt over that you could have done,” he said.

“People say, ‘there’s nothing you could have done’, but it’s still there.”

The truth campaigner believes delays by the British in progressing his brother’s case are calculated.

“They have kept me waiting this long and I think about things now, and I think they thought I would be dead before this and that this wouldn’t still be here – that this case still wouldn’t have been going on,” he said.

Mr Thompson said he remains angry and frustrated despite his recent victories through the courts.

“They keep hitting me back, because this case should be over,” he said.

“The coroner only had a week to go and that would have been the inquest over.

“That would have been the start of something different for me.”

The west Belfast man has no fear of what the future holds for him.

“I don’t fear death, I don’t want to suffer, but I don’t fear it because most of the people that I love are gone anyway,” he said.

“A lot of people, and I know they will be waiting on me.

“But justice for Paul would be a big thing, I’d be happy with that.”

He urged the British government to deliver the truth.

“I would say stop doing this on people, look at what you are doing to people,” he said.

“Please give them their justice.”

Mr Thompson told how being a truth campaigner can have a massive personal impact.

“I have thought a lot about this, 31 years I have had, and I have all these things going around in my head,” he said.

“I don’t want credit for it, I just want justice for Paul, for whoever else out there who is suffering the same as me.

“Because I know what it’s like, it’s not nice and it takes over your life,” he said.

Daniel Holder, from the Committee on the Administration of Justice, said Mr Thompson “has shown remarkable resilience for years battling for truth and justice over Paul’s murder in the face of repeated delay and obstruction”.

“His quest for truth and major legal victories to date have exposed how a whole system has worked to conceal information from families,” he said.

“The court rulings here last year have wide implications and set important precedents that British government ministers cannot just play a ‘national security’ card to overrule coroners and cover up wrongdoing.”

Urgent Appeal