UK apology over Army’s shootings at Ballymurphy

BORIS Johnson last night ‘apologised unreservedly’ for Army shootings in Ballymurphy 50 years ago which left ten innocent people dead.

The Prime Minister had been under pressure from across Northern Ireland to comment after a coroner concluded that fatal shootings during an operation to intern suspected IRA members were ‘unjustified’.

During a call with First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill, Mr Johnson said ‘the conclusions of the Ballymurphy inquest were deeply sad and the events of August 1971 were tragic’. He ‘apologised unreservedly on behalf of the UK Government for the events that took place in Ballymurphy and the huge anguish that the lengthy pursuit of truth has caused the families of those killed’.

Mr Johnson’s apology is likely to bolster relatives of the dead in pursing prosecutions.

But families were furious the apology came in a phone call, rather than in public. When David Cameron apologised over Bloody Sunday, he did so in the Commons.

Ten people were killed during three days of disorder as Operation Demetrius was launched in the Belfast district. They included a mother of eight and a priest waving a white handkerchief.

This week, after an inquest which began in 2018 and heard from more than 150 witnesses, coroner Mrs Justice Keegan concluded that nine of the ten were killed by the Army.

There was not enough evidence to conclude who killed a tenth man – a former British Army soldier who had served in the Second World War.

A Downing Street spokesman said the Government’s proposals favour a ‘reconciliation’ process, veering away from prosecutions.

He added: ‘[Mr Johnson] stressed the importance of working hard to keep the gains made through the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and of all parties doing their utmost to help the victims’ families find out what happened to their loved ones, so that future generations are not burdened by the past.’

But John Teggart, a spokesman for the families whose father Daniel was killed in the violence, said: ‘What kind of insult is it to families that he couldn’t have the conversation with ourselves?

‘That’s not acceptable to the families and never will be. This is not an apology to us.’

Earlier, Mrs O’Neill, of Sinn Fein, had called on Mr Johnson to apologise as a ‘bare minimum.’

She said: ‘The British Government had been exposed yesterday for covering up for 50 years the fact that they killed Irish citizens on our streets. What these families now deserve is access to justice.’

The Ballymurphy families are already pursuing a civil claim against the Ministry of Defence. They have hit out at Government proposals for an ‘amnesty’ for soldiers and terrorists involved in Troubles incidents.

‘Lengthy pursuit of the truth’