Crisis over Secretary of State's bid to block information on conflict killings by British forces

‘This has wider political implications for the democratic process whereby the decision of an elected minister and the devolved Executive’s legal adviser are being challenged in such a ludicrous way concerning public documents’ – Mark Thompson, Relatives for Justice

AS THIS STORY was being posted, news came in that the Belfast High Court will resume its hearing on Thursday morning.

Lawyers for Relatives for Justice have asked for a full transcript of Friday night's emergency injunction hearing.

The RFJ has accused the Secretary of State, the PSNI Chief Constable and Justice Minister David Ford of seeking a gagging order.

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A CRISIS over the powers of elected ministers at Stormont is centre-stage in the High Court in Belfast on Monday in a peculiar case that has many implications for the truth about conflict-related deaths involving the British forces and pro-British death squads.

The independence of ministers has been threatened by a late-night injunction by the High Court in Belfast in an emergency sitting requested by the British Secretary of State and the PSNI Chief Constable preventing information given to relatives in three conflict-related killings being shared.

The injunction was taken out against campaign group Relatives for Justice and the families’ solicitors, KRW. The Belfast High Court continued to hear representations on the case on Monday.

Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy said on Monday:

“Sinn Féin is concerned at any efforts by the NIO to interfere with the responsibilities of a devolved minister in serving the rights of local citizens.

“The irony is that these are public records about public inquest and court hearings, which have already been heard and reported in public.  Yet the NIO now wants to prevent access to them.

“Sinn Féin will continue to support relatives and survivors in their quest for full disclosure and truth from the state.”

Early on Friday evening, Relatives for Justice Chairperson Clara Reilly and Relatives for Justice Director Mark Thompson met with Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister Carál Ní Chuilín, who personally handed them copies of inquest papers and a trial transcript concerning three conflict-related murders to which RFJ had previously provided Freedom of Information requests on behalf of families.

The files relate to:

● North Belfast man and IRA Volunteer Patrick McAdorey, shot dead by the British Army in Ardoyne on the night of the raids enforcing internment without trial, 9 August 1971;

● Michael Donnelly (20), killed by a British Army plastic bullet on 9 August 1980; and

● 44-year-old mother of two, Sarah Ann Larmour, shot dead by the UVF at her home in west Belfast in October 1979.

Minster Ní Chuilín advised RFJ that the delay in providing the papers was due to a number of public interest tests and that she had been satisfied having conducted these that the bereaved  families’ requests should be met.

Minister Ní Chuilín informed the RFJ Chair and Director that she had sought the legal advice of the Attorney General who supported the view that she should release these papers to the families.

The resistance to release came from the PSNI, the Historical Enquiries Team and the NIO. On receiving the papers on Friday evening, RFJ’s director visited the three families concerned, passing on the information they had requested.

RFJ learned on Saturday that the British Secretary of State and the PSNI Chief Constable had sought an injunction preventing the copying or disseminating of the papers.

Commenting on this, RFJ Director Mark Thompson issued the following statement

“The inquest documents and trial transcripts are already matters of public record having been heard in public courts and reported in the media.

“RFJ and the families cannot understand why a British Secretary of State and a Chief Constable would attempt to put an injunction on materials already public.

“Over the past decade, when supporting families, it has been standard practice for RFJ to make requests such as this. We have never encountered any problems like this

“We view this as a method of harassment and intimidation of families bereaved seeking basic information concerning the killings of their loved ones.

“We also view this as interference in the process of truth recovery and families’ right to know what happened to their loved ones.

“This too has wider political implications for the democratic process whereby the decision of an elected minister and the devolved Executive’s legal adviser are being challenged in such a ludicrous way concerning public documents.

“This approach, however, by the Secretary of State and Chief Constable is consistent with the British Government’s position of denying families the truth.

“That the Chief Constable would be involved in such a process in such a way given the recent HMIC [police inspectorate]  report into the HET which found the HET policy and practice of preferential treatment to British solders involved in killings, shielding them from accountability, adds insult to injury.”

Josephine Larmour, daughter of Sarah Larmour, concluded the statement by saying:

“I am absolutely appalled that the organisation that supports me and the solicitor working for families would be brought to court when the people who murdered my mother and those within the British security forces who colluded with the killers should be the ones before a court.”