Hyde Park families are betrayed again
They’re denied legal aid to sue IRA bomb suspect
‘I believe it was a suggestion from Donald Trump.’ Mac’s Cartoon Year 2016 is available now for £10 + p&p. Order at www.delanceypress.co.uk or phone 020 8525 8800. ‘Another slap in the face’
GRIEVING families whose loved ones were killed in the IRA Hyde Park bombing have been refused legal aid to bring a private prosecution against the chief suspect.
In a ruling that has sparked anger, the Legal Aid Agency threw out the families’ bid for £317,000 of taxpayers’ money to fund their fight for justice.
The agency said it would be a waste of public funds to haul John Downey before the courts.
IRA man Downey, 65, is accused of murdering four soldiers and injuring 31 in the July 1982 blast – one of the terror group’s most notorious mainland atrocities.
The attack killed four members of the Royal Household Cavalry on their way to a Changing of the Guard ceremony.
Seven horses also died but another, Sefton, survived and became a national hero. A nail bomb containing 25lb of explosives was hidden in a car and detonated by remote control as the troopers rode past. Lance Corporal Jeffery Young, 19, Squadron Quartermaster Corporal Roy Bright, 36, Lieutenant Anthony Daly, 23, and Trooper Simon Tipper, 19, were killed.
But the case against Downey collapsed in February 2014 after a catalogue of blunders by police and prosecutors. That forced the appalled families to attempt to bring a private prosecution.
In March, the director of the Legal Aid Agency, Shaun McNally, dealt them a blow by ruling out funding their case against Downey – claiming it was ‘not in the public interest’.
In October a High Court judge ordered a review of that decision, arguing that putting the alleged killer on trial could be a ‘real benefit to the general public’.
But now the agency has rejected stumping up the cash, despite admitting the case had ‘significant’ wider public interest. It said the costs of funding the families’ case was ‘not proportionate to the benefits’ – effectively a waste of money.
Mark Tipper, the brother of Trooper Tipper, said: ‘This just causes further pain. The man we want to stand in court and answer for his actions that day was set free because of mistakes by our Government departments.
‘The fact that another Government agency won’t pick up the baton is another slap in the face to all of us.’
Downey, from Donegal, was due to stand trial at the Old Bailey, but the convicted IRA terrorist was told he would not face prosecution because he mistakenly received a ‘comfort letter’ – nicknamed a ‘get out of jail free card’ – sent to 187 on-the-run paramilitary suspects saying they were not wanted by police.
The letters were issued after a secret deal between members of Tony Blair’s government and IRA leaders under the Good Friday Agreement of 1999. The £317,000 needed to fund a private prosecution is a drop in the ocean compared with the millions the Police Service of Northern Ireland is spending on a ‘witch-hunt’ by investigating up to 1,000 ex-soldiers, now in their 60s and 70s, as part of a reexamination of every British Army killing during the Troubles.
Matthew Jury, of law firm McCue and Partners, which represents the families, said: ‘The state is willing to spend millions to investigate and prosecute UK veterans – many for actions they took combating terrorism.
‘Yet, when it comes to the murder of four British soldiers, the Legal Aid Agency’s position is that there isn’t enough public benefit to warrant the cost of bringing their alleged killer to trial. This begs the question, when it comes to justice, is a soldier’s life worth less?’