Michael Stone: Widow of one of loyalist killer's victims may be legally barred from challenging any refusal to hold inquest, court told

Thomas McErlean was among three mourners murdered by Stone in his infamous gun and grenade attack on an IRA funeral at Milltown Cemetery, west Belfast in March 1988.

His wife, Anne Marie, wants an inquest to examine suspicions about potential security force collusion.

Mrs McErlean has already been granted leave to seek a judicial review of the coroner’s decision not to set up a tribunal under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, any retrospective investigative obligation is restricted to an established 12-year period before the Human Rights Act came into force in October 2000.

In court today lawyers indicated that the challenge is not covered by the legislative cutoff date.

Philip Henry KC, for the coroner, said: “The key issue is the applicability of Article 2 and how far it stretches back. This case falls outside the 12-year limit.”

Stone, 69, received a life sentence for waging a sectarian murder campaign at the height of the Troubles,

Three of his victims were killed when he launched a grenade strike on the funeral of IRA members shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar.

Thomas McErlean, 20, John Murray, 26, and Kevin Brady, 30, all died in the cemetery attack. Stone was also the gunman in another three separate killings.

Milkman Patrick Brady was murdered in south Belfast in November 1984, 12 months before joiner Kevin McPolin was shot in the head in Lisburn, Co Antrim.

In May 1987 Dermott Hackett, a bread server, was found dead in his van between Drumquin and Omagh. He had been shot up to 16 times with a submachine gun.

Originally freed early in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, Stone was returned to jail six years later after trying to enter Parliament Buildings at Stormont, armed with explosives, knives and an axe.

He was found guilty of attempting to murder Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness - despite claiming it had been a piece of performance art.

Despite a series of legal battles by relatives of his victims, the ex-UDA man was released again on parole in January 2021.

By that stage Mrs McErlean had commenced legal proceedings over the denial of her request for an inquest.

The decision was based on a criminal trial having already been held, along with the potential for a Police Ombudsman investigation into a complaint by the widow and her family to offer a better remedy.

The west Belfast woman has previously spoken of her suspicions that Stone did not act alone. She explained that the bid for an inquest was about getting answers to questions on whether he received any assistance from police or state agents.

Mrs McErlean’s barrister, Ronan Lavery KC, acknowledged today that a Supreme Court ruling on the outer limits of the Article 2 procedural obligation could pose a problem for her challenge.

“(Events) have taken a number of turns which are not helpful to the applicant,” Mr Lavery said.

Adjourning the case to next month, Mr Justice McAlinden suggested a resolution could be reached by that stage.