Disappeared IRA victim Danny McIlhone was shot a number of times before being buried in a secret grave, an inquest into his death heard today.
A jury took just minutes to return a verdict of unlawful killing by a person or persons unknown.
The partial remains of the west Belfast man, who was 21 when he was abducted in May 1981, were uncovered from a remote bog-land site in the Wicklow mountains last year.
Geoff Knupfer, an investigative scientist leading the search for the bodies of the Disappeared, told the hearing the IRA had admitted shooting Mr McIlhone.
“I’m absolutely satisfied from information we received from direct sources in the Republican Movement that he was shot.”
The so-called "disappeared" were abducted and killed by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles.
Five of the "Disappeared" have now been found. Searches continue for the bodies of Séamus Wright, Kevin McKee, Columba McVeigh and Brendan Megraw - whose murders have been admitted by the IRA - and for Gerry Evans, Charles Armstrong, Robert Nairac and Séamus Ruddy.
PA