SAS SHOOTING OF IRA THREE WAS ‘JUSTIFIED’
»»Soldiers’ ‘reasonable’ force in 1991 ambush, coroner finds »»He slams Army over video destruction and RUC probe
SAS soldiers were justified shooting dead three IRA men in an ambush in 1991, a coroner ruled yesterday.
Mr Justice Michael Humphreys said he was satisfied the troops had used “reasonable” force at Coagh, Co Tyrone.
Delivering his provisional findings at the inquest he said in each case the soldiers had “an honest belief it was necessary to prevent loss of life”.
However, the coroner also concluded the operation was not planned in a manner that minimised the need for recourse to lethal force.
The inquest into the deaths of Peter Ryan, Tony Doris and Lawrence Mcnally opened in 2022.
The three men were intercepted by the SAS as they drove through Coagh in a stolen car.
They were suspected of planning to murder a member of the security forces. All three were shot dead in a hail of gunfire. The inquest was told that up to 150 rounds were fired.
Delivering his verdict in the legacy case, Mr Justice Humphreys said Mcnally died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head and heart, Doris as a result of gunshot wounds to the head and Ryan by a gunshot wound to the chest.
He also ruled Mcnally and Ryan were shot by Soldier G, while Doris was shot and killed by Soldier B.
The coroner said the three men were members of the East Tyrone brigade of IRA and were on “active service” when they were shot.
INTELLIGENCE
He said the background to the case was a “surge of activity” in the area by the East Tyrone IRA.
Mr Justice Humpreys said: “This bloody recent history provides the backdrop to the events at Coagh.”
Setting out the events, the coroner said the security forces had received intelligence that the East Tyrone IRA intended to murder a former member of the UDR at a public car park in the village.
A specialist military unit was tasked to mount a “hard arrest”.
This included a “reaction group” to effect the arrests and a “cover group” hidden in a modified flatbed truck to provide protection. The coroner told the court when the stolen car came to a halt at the car park entrance, the rear passenger door opened and a man wearing a balaclava and armed with a rifle started to get out, pointing the weapon in the direction of Soldier L.
After an order was given, the side of the lorry was lowered and shots were fired.
The man with the rifle fell back into the car, which travelled on and crashed into another car around 30ms away. Further shots were then fired. Mr Justice Humphreys was highly critical of actions by soldiers to destroy a video of the events from a surveillance location. He said: “There could scarcely have been more
probative and significant evidence of the events which unfolded at Coagh than a video taken from close range showing the arrival of the vehicle and the engagement of the soldiers with its occupants.
“If this had been available, it would have rendered the task of the inquest on many of the issues straightforward.
It would also, of course, have been of central importance to the RUC whose role it was to assess whether any crime had been committed by the soldiers.”
He said the soldiers who gave evidence to the inquest about the destruction of the video “demonstrated a clear and unequivocal willingness to subvert the rule of law”. The coroner added: “Rather than condemning them, the response of senior officers in the British Army has been to excuse, justify and support such reprehensible conduct.”
Mr Justice Humphreys also said the RUC probe into the shootings was woefully inadequate.
And he concluded, on the balance of probabilities, that no IRA member discharged his weapon.
Outside the High Court at Belfast’s Laganside Peter Ryan’s brother Donal said there were “at least two opportunities to arrest these men”.
He added: “They brought them into the kill zone... there was no way these men were ever going to survive.”
They showed a clear and unequivocal willingness to subvert rule of law JUSTICE HUMPHREYS COURT YESTERDAY