Censorship bid ‘won’t stop’ inquest on Kingsmill

THE resumption of a stalled inquest into the Kingsmill murders will not be derailed by a late bid to censor additional state papers, a coroner has vowed.

Brian Sherrard told relatives of some of those killed in the 1976 gun attack that the need to carry out a security vetting exercise on newly-presented documents would not disrupt his timetable.

The new inquest into the murders of 10 Protestant workmen outside the south Armagh village of Kingsmill was dramatically halted last year to allow police to investigate a partial palm print found on a van believed to have been used by the gunmen.

With no prosecution resulting from the police probe, the coroner’s proceedings are due to restart on May 15.

At a preliminary hearing in Belfast, which was attended by a number of relatives, Mr Sherrard revealed that a “small” number of papers had emerged that would likely require the scheduling of a further hearing to examine a state request for some of their contents to be redacted.

The coroner held a behindclosed-doors Public Interest Immunity (PII) hearing on other relevant documents yesterday.

He said that while another PII hearing would now be required, he insisted he was sticking to the new start date.

Mr Sherrard said that throughout the PII process he was trying to ensure the inquest was as “transparent as it can be”, notwithstanding the security issues raised by the state.

Last week, the Irish government moved to dispel any suggestion that its co-operation would not be forthcoming.