UUP queries why no murders by republicans make latest list of nine legacy inquests

The party was speaking yesterday after the Presiding Coroner, Mr Justice Humphreys, announced the latest series of legacy related inquests - nine - which will be progressed by the Legacy Inquest Unit.

But UUP East Antrim MLA John Stewart voiced concern that none of the inquests will look into murders by republicans, despite the fact they make up the majority of Troubles deaths. Republicans were responsible for almost 60% of deaths during the Troubles, by contrast loyalists were responsible for 30% while security forces were responsible for 10%, the majority of which are classed as legitimate actions.

Four of the inquests will examine the killings of terrorists or in one case, a civilian moving arms for them.

Mr Stewart said: “Given that we have just witnessed the 50th anniversary of the Abercorn and the Donegall Street bombings, and are only a few months away from the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Friday and Claudy atrocities, many people will simply not understand why the Legacy Inquest list includes the terrorists involved in what is termed the Clonoe ‘incident’, and in the process, prioritises them over many hundreds of innocent Troubles victims.

Mr Stewart added: “It is also surely worthy of note that all nine of the cases selected appear to relate to killings by either the Army or loyalist terrorists. Clarification and confirmation of this would be welcome. Given that republicans were responsible for 60 percent of Troubles related deaths, it seems curious that their actions do not feature anywhere on this list.”

Massacres such as Enniskillen have not had inquests.

The new inquests are as follows;

1. Four Moy murders; Charles Fox (63) and his wife Theresa (53) were gunned down in their home near Moy in Co Tyrone by a UVF gang in September 1992. Her husband Kevin was also shot dead by the UVF along with his uncle John (Jack) McKearney in the Moy in Co Tyrone eight months earlier. State collusion is alleged in both cases.

2. Patrick Duffy died in November 1978. The 50-year-old Londonderry IRA man was shot by soldiers in controversial circumstances.

3. Francis Bradley died in February 1986. A civilian Catholic, aged 20, he was shot by the SAS while moving guns for the IRA in Magherafelt.

4. Alexander Patterson died in November 1990. An INLA man from Strabane, 31 and married with four children. He was shot by the SAS during an INLA gun attack on the home of a UDR member.

5. The Clonoe incident – Patrick Vincent, Sean O’Farrell, Peter Clancy & Kevin O’Donnell. The four IRA men were killed near St Patrick’s Church Clonoe, near Coalisland by the SAS minutes after using a heavy 12.7mm Russian machine gun to attack Coalisland police station from a hijacked lorry.

6. A double murder: Gerard Slane died in September 1988. A Catholic civilian, 27. He was shot at this Falls Road home by UDA/UFF gunmen. He had served a jail sentence for guns offences in the 1970s but his family and terror groups said he was not involved in politics or terrorism. His family said a picture of him in a UDA magazine had been taken by police five years earlier. Also in this inquest is Terence McDaid, who died in May 1988. A Catholic civilian from North Belfast who was married with two children. He died from gunshot wounds after UDA/UFF gunmen burst into his home off the Antrim Road. In 1989 a corporal in the Royal Scots Regiment and a female member of the UDR admitted passing documents about him to loyalists.

7. Joseph Campbell, who died in February 1977. A Catholic RUC officer, aged 49, he was married with eight children. He was hit by a rifle shot as he locked up Cushendall RUC station. Lost Lives said a Detective Sgt from Special Branch was charged with his murder but acquitted.

8. Raymond McCord, who died in November 1997. A civilian Protestant from north Belfast, aged 22. He was murdered by the UVF.

9. Liam Paul Thompson died in 1994. A civilian Catholic, 25, he was shot in Springfield Park, Belfast by UDA/UFF gunmen who breached a security wall with loyalist Springmartin. A woman reportedly reported a hole to the RUC.

An American judge later chaired an unofficial public inquiry into the murder and was highly critical of the RUC.

However a spokesman for the WAVE victims organisation gave an unqualified welcome for for the nine inquests.

He said the Ballymurphy Massacre inquest “showed how important the inquest process is in addressing legacy issues and any attempt by the Government to interfere with it should be resisted”.

He added: “It is also important to families that they are given as much detail as possible as to the precise timing of inquests into the death of their loved one”.

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