Shoot to Kill Inquest Reopened

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Shoot to Kill Inquest Reopened

October 10, 2007

By Barry McCaffrey

NORTHERN Ireland’s most senior coroner has warned he will consider taking legal action against Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde if he refuses to hand over sensitive police files relating to the killing of six unarmed men.

On Tuesday coroner John Leckey re-opened the inquests of six unarmed men who were shot dead by an undercover RUC unit in controversial circumstances in north Armagh in late 1982.

IRA men Sean Burns, Eugene Toman and Gervaise McKerr were killed near Lurgan on November 11, 1982 after an RUC unit fired 109 bullets into their car.

Two weeks later 17-year-old teenager Michael Tighe was shot dead at a hayshed near his home at Ballyneery near Craigavon.

IRA explosives had been hidden in the shed, but Michael Tighe was not a member of any paramilitary organization.

A secret MI5 recording of the killing subsequently went missing.

On December 12, 1982 RUC officers opened fire on a car containing INLA men Roddy Carroll and Seamus Grew outside Armagh city. It later emerged that the men had been under police surveillance during the day they were killed.

All six men were shot by the same RUC unit and were unarmed at the time of their deaths.

It later emerged during the trial of one RUC man charged with the killings that officers had been ordered to lie under oath. The admission led to then Deputy Chief Constable of Manchester John Stalker being asked to investigate the killings.

However, Stalker was dramatically suspended from duty shortly before he was due to deliver a damning report. He was later cleared off all charges but never returned to Northern Ireland.

West Yorkshire Deputy Chief Constable Colin Sampson took over the “shoot-to-kill” investigation, however neither man’s report was ever made public.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the inquests into the shoot-to-kill episode were repeatedly tied up in protracted legal wrangling.

As many as five different coroners have been involved in the shoot-to-kill inquests over a 25 year period.

In 1994 coroner John Leckey abandoned the shoot-to-kill inquests after then chief constable Hugh Annesley refused to allow him access to the Stalker or Samson reports.

However, a series of legal victories won by the six men’s families in recent years are understood to have led Leckey to unexpectedly re-opening the inquests this week.

Successful legal challenges by the families mean that police officers can now be compelled to give evidence at an inquest.

The chief constable is also now compelled to allow the coroner access to sensitive police intelligence files relating to the inquests.

In what is being seen as a sign of his increased powers, Leckey said that he saw no reason why the chief constable could not now provide him with the Stalker and Sampson reports.

“I see no reason why I should not now be provided with access to both reports,” he said.

Leckey asked the chief constable’s legal representative Bernard McCluskey to “confirm that I, my team and Stalker and his team will be provided with access to the Stalker report and that I, my team and Sir Colin Sampson will be provided with access to the Sampson report.”

McCluskey replied, “The Chief Constable has not yet made a decision about the need for disclosure.”

However, the coroner warned that any attempt to withhold the Stalker or Sampson reports would be likely to lead to him taking High Court action to force the chief constable to hand over the files.

Speaking outside the court Gervaise McKerr’s son Jonathan called on the chief constable to finally allow Leckey access to the shoot-to-kill reports.

“Hugh Orde now has the opportunity to show that he is prepared to allow policing to be open and transparent,” he said.

Roddy Carroll’s brother Tommy said that the families were satisfied that the coroner now had strong enough powers to compel police officers to give evidence in court.

“If he refuses to allow Mr. Leckey access to Stalker and Sampson you have to ask yourself what is he hiding,” he said.

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