Loughgall SAS ambush inquest blocked by minister ‘in interests of national security’

BRITISH Secretary of State Theresa Villiers has blocked the inquest into the killing of eight IRA Volunteers at Loughgall in 1987 in a move that has been slammed by the Committee on the Administration of Justice and the North’s Attorney General.

Villiers issued a certificate under Section 42(2) of the Coroner’s Act stopping the inquest on the grounds that information that might be disclosed “may be against the interests of national security”.

Committee on the Administration of Justice Director Brian Gormally described Villiers’s move as part of “a relentless campaign, led by the UK Government and supported by some elements in Northern Ireland to suppress the truth about the activities of state agents”.

Attorney General John Larkin described the move as “profoundly wrong”.

It is believed this is the first time a British government has intervened to go over the head of the Attorney General. It comes in the wake of Larkin ordering a number of conflict-related inquests to be heard, including the Ballymurphy and Loughgall killings.

Mairead Kelly, whose brother Patrick was shot dead at Loughgall, said:

“The truth is going to be damaging or they would let the inquest go ahead.”

Fermanagh & South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew said:

"Cabinet ministers in London are once again showing complete disregard for families and instead are focusing on protecting their own interests. 

"Once again this exposes the lie that the British Government was not a protagonist in the conflict. 

"The British Government is denying the families of those killed at Loughgall their basic human rights by blocking access to the truth.

"It also underscores the need for a genuine and meaningful way of dealing with the past. The British Government had an opportunity to engage in that process by endorsing the Haass proposals and failed to do so."