Effort to open Britain’s archive of secrets

Posted by Jim on October 13, 2018

 

The widow of a man shot dead by a British soldier in Belfast 47 years
ago has begun a High Court bid to obtain access to documents stored in
secret English vaults.

Lawyers representing Isobel Copeland are seeking an order for production
of material held at an enormous warehouse operated by contractors in
Derbyshire as part of her legal action against the British Ministry of
Defence.

She is suing for the alleged unlawful killing of her husband, John
Copeland, in October 1971.

Mr Copeland was shot close to his Ardoyne home in the north of the city
by a British solder. He died days later. At the time, the soldier
claimed Mr Copeland was armed and had opened fire on an army patrol.

But a draft report by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) obtained by
his family casts doubt over that version of events. The report also
criticises the RUC (now PSNI) police for failing to properly investigate
the killing. The HET was told the soldier who fired the shots could not
be questioned because he is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder.

The proceedings are expected to be heard in full next year. In a
preliminary step, Mrs Copeland’s legal team have started attempts to
ensure the preservation of files connected to the case.

They are among 66,000 files which remain classified at the Swadlincote
warehouse in Derbyshire and have not been released to the British
National Archive, in breach of the usual 30-year rule for
declassification.

The hidden archive includes what is described as “hundreds and hundreds
of boxes”, each containing about 10 files, that were sent to the
warehouse from the north of Ireland four years ago.

One MoD archivist describes it as looking like “the final scene from
Raiders of the Lost Ark”, in which box after box can be seen stretching
into the distance.

The application to have the British MoD compelled to produce the
relevant material for the Copeland family was adjourned at the High
Court.

Lawyer Kevin Winters, representing Mrs Copeland, explained the wider
significance of the push.

“This is important for the family because it will provide additional
information to assist in the civil action which is pending next year,”
he said. “Not only that, but it’s relevant to all military killings
during the conflict.”