Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘Rifle changed to fire Army issue ammo’
UVF Ballymurphy killings claim
A RIFLE allegedly used to carry out some of the Ballymurphy killings was modified to fire the same type of bullets as British Army-issue guns, it has been claimed.
The UVF said the weapon had been purchased in a Belfast gunsmith and recovered by police more than a decade after the August 1971 shootings.
A source close to the information process said details have been passed to the Coroner’s Office ahead of an inquest into the deaths. Ten people were shot dead during three days of gunfire involving soldiers in the West Belfast neighbourhood. Another man later died of heart failure.
The UVF has claimed it was responsible for some of the shootings and named the late Tommy West, from the Shankill area of Belfast, as the sniper.
An interlocutor referred to as Witness X, who approached a lawyer to have the claims supplied to the coroner and police, has provided further information. It includes claims:
The Mauser-type rifle fired by West was purchased from a Belfast gunsmith sometime before the shootings
The weapon had distinguishing features and some damage which would help enable its identification
It had been modified to fire 7.62mm rounds – the same calibre used in Armyissue self-loading rifles, and
The gun was recovered by the RUC in West Belfast in 1983.
The source said the UVF has also indicated the Mauser-type rifle was used in other shootings.
The claims have been passed to the Coroner’s Office by solicitor John Graham Greer, who is representing Witness X. He said: “Further information has been provided to the coroner, but I’m not prepared to go into details at this stage.”