Families reject call to abandon prosecutions

Posted by Jim on May 27, 2018

 

Families who lost loved ones at the hands of unionist paramilitaries
acting in collusion with the state have criticised comments made by a
former Director of Public Prosecutions for an end to conflict-related
prosecutions.

Barra McGrory QC said mechanisms proposed to deal with the legacy of the
conflict will only result in “litigating the past for years to come”.

Mr McGrory said that current legacy proposals are “well meaning” but
“unworkable”. He called for the end to prosecutions in favour of a civil
inquiry.

“The criminal process will significantly inhibit the information process
and to what end?

“Very few convictions will result, people will be as unhappy as they are
now, and the opportunity to have a process which makes people truly
accountable will be lost.”

His comments come amid strenuous efforts by Tories to block prosecutions
of British soldiers over killings in Derry and Belfast dating from the
1970s.

Six families who lost loved ones at the hands of collusion have said
they were “disappointed” at Mr McGrory’s comments.

Their loved ones died in attacks in Moy, Cappagh and Craigavon between
1990 and 1992 carried out by the UVF with the support of members of the
locally-recuited British Army mregiment, the UDR.

In a joint statement the relatives said; “It is with dismay and great
disappointment we read the interview with Barra McGrory.

“It is well known our loved ones were killed by paid state agents and
members of the UDR.

“The murders were never properly investigated at the time and it is our
belief that ample evidence exists to easily secure convictions if proper
investigations were instigated.

“To halt such investigations would only serve to add to our suffering
and deep sense of injustice we already feel.

“It doesn�t matter to us if the perpetrators ‘only’ serve two years in
prison, simply to see them convicted in a court of law and named and
shamed would greatly help the healing process and finally give a sense
of closure.

“It is patently obvious Barra McGrory hasn�t a clue what victims’
families go through and we find it hard to understand why he would
effectively give the state an amnesty for its agent’s deeds.”

McGrory’s attitude to prosecutions has also drawn criticism from legal
figures. His decision not to prosecute a British soldier who shot dead a
15-year-old child in Derry in 1972 was described as �irredeemably
flawed� by High Court judges in February.

That decision was formally quashed by the High Court this week after
Daniel’s sister, Margaret Brady, issued judicial review proceedings
against it.

Outside court the schoolboy’s family called on senior prosecutors to now
being charges over the point-blank shooting of their son.

Mrs Brady said: “I would expect the prosecution service to come back
within three months and say we are now going to prosecute, not drag it
out for another four years. Are they waiting for all of the family to
just die off?”