Ex-Marine’s legal threat to police over Ulster probe
A CHELSEA Pensioner who is still being hounded over a shooting during the Troubles 47 years ago has threatened to take the police to court for ‘blackening’ his name.
Former Royal Marine David Griffin was told just weeks ago that Northern Ireland detectives are still ‘committed to reviewing’ the incident in July 1972.
A detective chief inspector told him in a letter that she could not be ‘definitive’ about the timeline for the investigation – despite the probe now being in its seventh year.
Mr Griffin, 78, said he has waited for so long that he is now at the stage where he is desperate to be questioned in a court of law to protest his innocence.
He said: ‘This has put a black mark over the training methods of the Royal Marines, the finest troops we have produced in this country. I’ve asked them to face me in court but they continue to kick the can down the road and consistently ignore me.
‘If I keeled over and dropped dead and people speak about me ten years later, I want to know that my good name is cleared.’
Mr Griffin is calling for a judicial review into his case and how it has been handled, to be paid for by the Ministry of Defence. He said: ‘My case has been hopping from one in-tray to another over the years.’
The pensioner served in the Army for six years before joining the Marines, which is why he was allowed to move into the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, which is typically for ex- soldiers.
In 2012 he was quizzed by police over the death of an IRA terrorist in an ambush in July 1972. The former Marine fired his weapon in the heat of the battle to save his comrades. He has no idea whether it was his bullet that led to the man’s death. He has since sent numerous letters asking