Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘Human error’ led to missed palm print Kingsmill clue
Inquest is told of arrest and release
‘SYSTEM and human error’ were blamed yesterday for the failure to identify a palm print found at the scene of the Kingsmill massacre.
The print was recovered from a van which police believe was used by IRA gunmen in the murder of 10 workmen in January 1976. It was not successfully matched until 2016.
The evidence had been taken from the vehicle by forensic officers, and attempts were made to match it using police database systems in 2010 and 2014 but these were not successful.
Giving evidence to an inquest into the South Armagh atrocity, Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison put this down to “system and human error”.
Mr Harrison told an inquest: “This was subsequently checked and confirmed as a positive match by three officers.”
This sparked a fresh police probe and a 59-year-old man was later arrested in Newry, Co Down.
He was questioned and a file was sent to the PPS.
However, in February last year the PPS announced it would not be pursuing a case against the man due to insufficient evidence. Mr Harrison, who led the new police investigation, read a section of the report he submitted to the PPS to the inquest.
It revealed some difficulty proving whether the van had been used by the gunmen due to a lack of witnesses and a lack of firearms residue inside.
It’s believed the vehicle was likely to have transported 11 heavily-armed Provos, who are thought to have fired more than 100 rounds at the scene.
Mr Harrison added he believes it is “more likely than not” the van was the one used by the terrorists but there are no witness accounts that can place it at the scene.
There is also a lack of certainty over how the palm print came to be in the van.
Mr Harrison explained: “We were not able to discount the palm print had been placed there innocently.”
The man who was arrested, referred to in court as S54, was asked to account for how his palm print was found. He made no comment during police interviews.
Alan Black, the sole survivor of the atrocity, was in the public gallery with a number of the victims’ families. The hearing
continues.