Reports into alleged security force “shoot to kill” deaths in Northern Ireland should be released to the victims’ families, the High Court in Belfast ruled today.
Police chief constable Matt Baggott was ordered to disclose the whole of the Stalker and Sampson reports with sensitive areas being potentially omitted. The judgment was delivered by Mr Justice John Gillen in Belfast today.
The chief constable had taken a legal challenge to prevent the disclosure of secret reports into alleged shoot-to-kill cases in Northern Ireland.
Delayed inquests dating back almost 30 years are now one step closer to proceeding.
Mr Justice Gillen said: “If inquests are to maintain public confidence, put minds at rest and answer the questions of the families who are bereaved, it is vital to ensure that the interested parties/next of kin can participate in an informed, open and transparent fashion on an equal footing with all other parties throughout the various stages of the inquest including, at the outset of the process, the very scope of the inquest.
“This can only be achieved where appropriate disclosure has been made of potentially relevant material.”
The inquests include the November 1982 deaths of IRA men Sean Burns, Eugene Toman and Gervaise McKerr near Lurgan, Co Armagh. Police fired 109 bullets into the car they were travelling after they claimed it crashed through a checkpoint.
It later emerged the three were suspected of involvement in the killings of three Royal Ulster Constabulary officers in a bomb a fortnight earlier and had been under observation.
The coroner also plans inquests into the death of Catholic teenager Michael Tighe, shot dead by police at a hay shed near Craigavon, Co Armagh, in November 1982, and suspected Irish National Liberation Army men Roddy Carroll and Seamus Grew, shot dead near Armagh in December 1982.
The government has always denied any “shoot-to-kill” policy existed and has resisted calls from families to look again at what happened.
Former deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester Police Sir John Stalker was brought in to investigate. He was later replaced by Colin Sampson, chief constable of West Yorkshire Police.
Police took today’s judicial review to the High Court.
Mr Justice Gillen called for a “generous” approach to disclosure.
Mr Carroll’s brother Tommy said: “We families welcome today’s strong judgment by Justice Gillen supporting families’ right to truth.”
He added: “We will now have access to the reports which tell us the truth about how our loved ones were killed. And tell us the truth of how their killings were planned and covered up. All we have ever wanted was the truth.”
PA