Collusion: Family of woman murdered by UDA to sue British government

ON THE 20^th anniversary of the murder of Theresa Clinton by a loyalist gang, her family have lodged writs against the British government and the PSNI over what they have described as "clear evidence" of collusion in her killing.

South Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey says the British government should come clean about its role in the killing of the mother-of-two rather than put her family through the ordeal of going to the courts.

"For 20 years now Theresa Clinton's family has been denied the truth surrounding her killing," he said.

"Collusion was a system of repression and terror employed by the British state in an attempt to break the will of the nationalist community."

Theresa Clinton became the 20^th person connected to Sinn Féin or related to a party member to have been killed by loyalists within five years, when she was gunned down at her home on 14 April 1994.

The mother-of-two was sitting in the front room of her Balfour Avenue home when her killers threw a brick through the window and then fired a sustained burst of automatic gunfire at their defenceless victim. She was shot 14 times.

The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) claimed responsibility for the murder. Theresa's home was targeted because her husband Jim had previously stood as a Sinn Féin candidate.

An Phoblacht's editorial at the time noted the deep suspicion of British state collusion in the killing:

"No longer do they [the RUC] accompany loyalist mobs on rampages against nationalists. Now they covertly supply weapons and precise information to the death squads while denying nationalists any means of defence."

When the RUC arrived at the scene they were "triumphalist" in their demeanour. An RUC officer grabbed Theresa's husband Jim by the throat and pushed him up against his car when he attempted to make his way back home to where his wife's body still lay. This incensed the local community and there were scuffles on the street.

Theresa's funeral four days later saw mourners taunted and jeered at by a crowd of loyalists who gathered at Donegall Pass.

Just hours before Theresa Clinton was murdered, An Phoblacht went to print with the front page headline 'Multiple Murder bids' as loyalists ramped up their sectarian attacks on nationalist areas in Belfast.

Four days earlier the UDA had attempted to murder two families in Belfast in separate bomb attacks in Poleglass and Mid-Falls, leaving seven children injured or suffering from shock - including an 8-month old baby girl.