Northern Ireland police apologise for delay in disclosing ‘shoot-to-kill’ files
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Version 0 of 1. Police deeply regret a seven year delay in disclosing top secret files on deaths linked to an alleged shoot-to-kill policy by security forces in Northern Ireland, a coroner’s court has heard. Drew Harris, who was appointed as deputy chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) last week, was summoned to Belfast’s royal courts of justice to explain why it had taken so long to hand over state files linked to nine deaths during the early 1980s. “It is a matter of regret,” he said. “It is a matter of great regret that this has taken as long as it has … We are conscious of family members, and the service we wish to supply in terms of supporting the coroner in this.” The cases involve six people, including IRA members and a Catholic teenager, whom the security forces shot dead around Lurgan and Armagh in 1982, prompting claims there was deliberate intent to kill them. The senior coroner, John Leckey, is also examining the deaths of three Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers who died in a bomb blast in Lurgan weeks earlier, an attack allegedly carried out by the IRA men who were subsequently killed - and therefore seen as a potential motivation for the claimed shoot-to-kill policy. Leckey has repeatedly expressed concern at the long delay and said that the inquests may not be able to proceed if there is insufficient disclosure of state files. In a strongly worded letter to the Northern Ireland secretary, Theresa Villiers, he also cautioned the government that a continued failure to adequately resource inquests into killings during the Troubles could put it in breach of international law. The delay has been blamed on the requirement to vet top secret investigations into the killings that were carried out by the Greater Manchester police deputy chief constable John Stalker and Sir Colin Sampson of West Yorkshire Police in the 1980s, but were never published. More than 80 boxes of classified informationare held at a PSNI facility in Seapark, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim. Access to the documents, which include press cuttings and publications, is fiercely restricted. Frank O’Donoghue QC, counsel for the coroner’s service said labelling all of the information top secret had made the system cumbersome and slowed things down dramatically. Giving evidence from the witness box, Harris said the PSNI had vastly underestimated the scale and complexity of the disclosure process, but insisted that timelines had been given in good faith. “We have entered into this in good faith and are happy to co-operate and resolve all these points,” he said. He told the court that police were committed to finishing disclosure by the end of December and said despite budget cuts of more £135m last year and a further £50m this year, resources dedicated to legacy inquests would be protected. “We are committed to the December 2014 deadline and the resources which have been working with the legacy support branch will continue,” he said. Redaction of material is carried out if there is a risk to someone’s life or a threat of serious injury should their identity be made public. The process is usually applied to police informants, undercover detectives, members of the security services and military personnel. The court heard how three former RUC special branch officers had been recruited to the legacy support unit to carry out the vetting process. It was claimed they held the necessary expertise for trawling through historical files. “There are nuances within them which they can see that others cannot,” Harris said. He rejected claims that there could be a conflict of interest, insisting that the rigorous checks and balances that run from PSNI’s senior legal adviser, to the chief constable and the justice minister ensured the integrity of the system. Harris also rejected claims that the PSNI had deliberately hushed the matter up. “I refute that we’ve been in any way found out on this,” he said. |