Northern Ireland Troubles legacy inquest: Survivor of Kingsmills Massacre by IRA, Alan Black, is angry he spent his funeral money on legal challenge

Ten of them died immediately, but Alan Black survived, despite being hit 18 times.

A legacy inquest into the massacre has been running since 2014.

It is understood the Coroner has now informed legal representatives that he will deliver his final findings on 12 April - and that he will not name any suspects.

But Mr Black told the News Letter that he was angry at hearing the news.

In 2020 he took a judicial review to press the coroner to name two IRA suspects, one of them already named by BBC Spotlight.

"I used my funeral money to take that judicial review," he said. "It cost me £7000 I didn't have."

In 2020 Mr Justice Scoffield reserved judgment on the challenge and urged Mr Black and the coroner to try to reach a "pragmatic" solution where a decision on naming the suspects would be taken before the inquest is completed.

However Mr Black was taken aback to hear from the News Letter that a decision not to name the dead suspects had apparently been made without his knowledge - and that the inquest will close in less than two weeks.

"I am now questioning why this inquest even happened," he said. "At the opening we were promised openness and transparency. It has been 10 wasted years of my life."

He noted that nine of the ten families walked away in 2020 after it refused to name dead IRA suspects.

The attack was planned in the Republic, the gunmen fled there, and weapons and the getaway vehicle were recovered there.

But Mr Black was scathing about the Garda giving evidence in a secret court hearing in Dublin last year. The Garda only finally gave evidence after nine years of pleading by the families.

However families, their lawyers, and the media were forbidden from attending the hearing. Mr Black only found out it had taken place ten months later.

"Did it even take place?” he asked. “Who witnessed it taking place? Why was our lawyer not there? Why were we not informed? We were only told it had taken place ten months afterwards."

Mr Black says they have been provided with a brief summary of the hearing - not a transcript - but are legally forbidden from publishing it.

The Legacy Inquest Unit responded that they have kept lawyers for the families informed about plans for the final hearing and have heard no objections.

It said that on 9 February the coroner informed the families legal teams that he intended to deliver his findings on 12 April 2024 and heard no objections.

"The Coroner has fully complied with the terms on which the previous Judicial Review proceedings issued by Alan Black were dismissed and has issued his decision on naming deceased suspects to all Properly Interested Persons," the unit added.

The unit said evidence provided by Garda was given in accordance with new legislation specially drafted by the Irish government and that relatives lawyers were provided with “a transcript" of the evidence.

The Coroner has not received any representations from relatives lawyers on any of these issues, it added.

Kenny Donaldson is Director of the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF), which represents some of the families.

"Many of the Kingsmill families are expressing the view that they are almost in a worse position after the inquest than they were when it began," he said.

"The process has failed to secure the confidence of the families and, critically, the lack of transparency on the part of the Irish Government has been staggering, and arguably the most disempowering aspect of the entire process.

"The attitude prevails; we don't need to show you we've done something, we don't need to explain how we've arrived at a position, just accept that it's been done.

"What exactly was the purpose of the Inquest? Where are the outcomes for the bereaved families and the sole survivor Alan Black MBE? Was that ever a priority?"