Documents on soldiers '˜destroyed'

The solicitor representing survivors and relatives of murdered group members said he has been told material on vetting and training Ulster Defence Regiment recruits linked to the atrocity would have been scrapped more than a decade ago .

Michael Flanigan also confirmed both the Ministry of Defence and the PSNI are seeking to stop the disclosure of some intelligence files on Public Interest Immunity grounds.

Victims of the terrorist attack are suing both the MoD and PSNI over alleged collaboration between serving soldiers and the paramilitary killers.

Three members of the band were taken from their tour bus and shot dead in July 1975. A fake army patrol made up of UDR soldiers and UVF members stopped them outside Newry.

An attempt was made to hide a bomb on the bus but the device exploded prematurely, killing some of the would-be bombers.

Their accomplices then opened fire on the band, murdering three members.

In 2011 a report by the Historical Enquiries Team raised collusion concerns around the involvement of an RUC Special Branch agent.

It found that UVF boss Robin ‘The Jackal’ Jackson, who died in 1998, had been linked to one of the murder weapons by fingerprints.

Jackson, a suspected RUC Special Branch agent, went on trial charged with possession of a silencer attached to a pistol used in the murders but was subsequently acquitted. Two serving members of the UDR were eventually convicted for their part in the attack.

Military chiefs allegedly knew about but failed to stop loyalists infiltrating the UDR’s ranks, according to the victims’ case.

They also claim police are liable for vetting carried out on applications to join the army regiment and the use of agents such as Jackson.

Following a hearing at the High Court in Belfast, Mr Flanigan confirmed the defendants have filed affidavits on the issue of disclosing documents.

He said: The MoD affidavit indicates that a large number of documents relating to the vetting and training of UDR members involved in the Miami attack were destroyed in 2005.”

The solicitor added that police and the military are claiming Public Interest Immunity for documents relating to Jackson.