The families of two IRA Volunteers shot dead by the SAS in County Tyrone almost 43 years ago have finally secured settlements in their legal actions against the British Ministry of Defence and the PSNI, following a four-decades-long battle for truth and accountability.

Brian Campbell, aged just 19, (pictured, left) and Colm McGirr, 23, (right) were killed in an SAS ambush near Coalisland in December 1983.

The men been under surveillance by British forces for three days. Up to 79 bullet casings fired by British weapons were recovered at the scene.

In 2013, a HET police investigation produced an expert report which found that Colm McGirr was kneeling when shot dead and that Brian Campbell had been shot repeatedly from behind, exposing the British military narrative surrounding the ambush as a lie.

An inquest held in 1985 failed to make any meaningful findings regarding the deaths. For more than four decades since, their families have campaigned against the British state’s notorious “shoot-to-kill” policy of targeted killings during the conflict — a policy still denied by the British establishment despite overwhelming evidence from multiple killings and ambushes that span the decades.

At Belfast High Court this week, it was confirmed that both families had reached confidential settlements in their actions against the British Ministry of Defence and the PSNI. The relatives have also pledged to make a donation to charity following the outcome.

The settlement marks the latest in a series of legal cases connected to allegations of state violence, collusion and extra-judicial killings carried out by British forces during the conflict.

Supporters of the families say the outcome represents another significant challenge to the long-standing British efforts to conceal the consquencs of their war crimes in Irelamd.

However, it also came in the same week as a ruling of the Supreme Cout in London which amounts to an assertion that the Westminster Parliament can legislate as it chooses on human rights, despite the special commitments made as part of the Brexit deals.

There is also a mounting scandal over extreme dysfunction within a supposedly independent body set up iunder new British legislation to deal the legacty of the conflict.

Relatives for Justice paid tribute to the “dignity, resilience and determination” of the Campbell and McGirr families throughout their long search for answers and justice.

They said their efforts “underline the continuing importance of independent legal processes for families, particularly in the context of yesterday’s deeply concerning Dillon judgment and the broader operation of the Legacy Act and ICRIR framework — legislation originally introduced to shut down avenues such as civil actions and inquests.”