'I didn't go out that night to shoot anybody': ​RUC officer who shot IRA commander Colum Marks in Downpatrick in 1991 breaks silence following exoneration

Officer B had been involved in the close observation of an IRA team preparing a mortar attack at St Patrick's Avenue when, in response to the deployment of a uniformed HMSU (Headquarters Mobile Support Unit) reaction team, Marks ran across an adjacent field in his direction.

In the poor light, and unable to see if Marks was carrying a weapon, Officer B said he fired two warning shots as well as shouting for Marks to stop. When Marks continued in his direction, Officer B fired five single shots.

Following the shooting the officer, who was not in uniform, was frogmarched out of the field towards a nearby police vehicle (maintaining his cover by giving the impression he was under arrest).

This episode led to a civilian witness raising the prospect that Colum Marks had been escorted out of the field alive and then shot dead by police.

However, all of the credible evidence indicated that the shots were fired in the field by Officer B, and that Marks had been carried to a different police vehicle on the other side of the field before being driven by police to hospital.

In April 2016, just ahead of the 25th anniversary of the shooting, the Marks family said an independent examination of clothing suggested the possibility that Marks was shot in the back, and that a new witness was found who claimed he also saw a man, believed to be Marks, being led out of the field.

These claims sparked a fresh criminal investigation which only ended in May this year, with the PPS concluding that the original evidence – including the post-mortem findings – showed that Mr Marks was shot in the front of the chest, and that it was Officer B who was seen being led from the field.

The ex-officer is angry that this alleged new evidence was not evaluated and dismissed back in 2016.

“This was all based on the strength of a witness saying something 25 years after the event, that was discredited at the time (1991). There was no reason to start this new investigation,” the former officer said.

“For seven years I have been under investigation for something that I was exonerated for at the time. And there was no fresh information. The police ombudsman wasted a lot of money investigating something that was investigated at the time.”

Officer B said: “I didn't go out that night to shoot anybody. If Marks had stopped when he was given two warnings then he would have been arrested. The reason he is dead is his own actions, because he went out that night to murder someone with no warning.”

Announcing the 'no prosecution' decision in May, the deputy DPP Michael Agnew said the new forensic evidence suggesting that Marks could have been shot in the back was “inconsistent with examinations of Mr Marks’ body at the time which had identified the relevant wounds in his back as exit wounds”.

Officer B said repeated claims that Marks and the other IRA members involved could have been arrested that afternoon are nonsensical.

He said a “lot of nonsense” is talked about why Marks wasn't arrested sooner and added: “As soon as he entered that field he was committing an offence because he was in possession of a Mk12 mortar.

“You cannot arrest somebody on suspicion. That is intelligence, it's not evidence. I didn't know where he was – I didn't know where the Mk12 mortar was – until about nine o'clock that night.”

A spokesperson for the Police Ombudsman NI said: “The issue regarding the value of evidence is a matter for the PPS and was addressed by the PPS when issuing its decision not to prosecute a former police officer in relation to Mr Marks’ death.”

PONI also said it is “considering if the publication of a public statement in respect of the case is possible in the context of our continued limited investigative resources and the impact of the NI (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, which if enacted as currently drafted, will cause all Police Ombudsman historical investigations to cease”.

The family of Colum Marks has requested a review of the 'no prosecution' decision.

The PPS said: “This process will be carried out In line with the procedure set out in the PPS Code for Prosecutors. It would be inappropriate to comment any further given that a review of the decision is to be conducted.”

Colum Marks is believed to have been responsible for a number of murders in the south Down area in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

His name was repeatedly linked to the landmine attack in April 1990 that claimed the lives of four UDR soldiers on patrol between Ballykinlar and Downpatrick.

The 1,000lb improvised device, which was placed in a culvert beneath the Ballydugan Road, blew the soldiers’ Land Rover 30ft into the air and left a 15ft deep crater.

Referring to the incident in the House of Commons in 2017, DUP MP Jim Shannon said Marks “was the IRA commander for south Down” when he was shot.

“It is no coincidence that when he was shot the activity of the IRA in south Down stopped immediately. That is obviously an indication that he was the person not only pulling the strings and dictating, but taking part in action that was completely unacceptable.”

Mr Shannon his reason for raising the issue in the Commons “is about justice for those who served in uniform … and the importance of that,” and added: “Colum Marks is the man who pushed the button and blew the four UDR men to smithereens. He was also the IRA commander involved in the murder of John Moreland … who was a coal merchant on the Flying Horse estate in Downpatrick. As he did his last delivery, he was attacked by two men and shot dead.”

Mr Shannon’s DUP colleague Sir Jeffrey Donaldson responded to the comments, saying: “We have come to a sorry place when it is the men and women who put on uniforms and defended and protected the community and, in the case of Colum Marks, those who shot a commander in the IRA and saved countless lives as a result, who today are the people waiting on the knock at the door and wondering whether someone will come looking for them to haul them before a court and make them answer for what they did, which was within the law and was about protecting and defending the community.”

Sir Jeffrey added: “We want the government to do more to protect the integrity of the men and women who served in Northern Ireland on Operation Banner and in other theatres of conflict. They deserve that support.”

See also:

Fallout from Colum Marks fatal shooting left officer with PTSD; 'I felt disappointed and let down – abandoned by the police'