Michael Mansfield QC accuses British Government over Ballymurphy inquest delays

» Peadar Whelan

‘Justice delayed is justice denied,’ says internationally-renowned human rights lawyer

WORLD-RENOWNED English barrister and human rights advocate Michael Mansfield QC has criticised the British Government for the delays in legacy inquests in the North of Ireland.

His comments come after a coroner refused to set a date for the much-delayed inquests into 11 civilians shot dead by British Army paratroopers in the Ballymurphy Massacre of August 1971.

Coroner Justice Adrian Colton told the families who attended the Belfast High Court last week expecting a date to be set for the inquests that he could not schedule a hearing because he did not know how much money the coroners’ service would have.

Colton was alluding to the ongoing dispute with the British Government’s refusal to release additional funding of £10million to the coroners’ service to free up the log-jam of 50 conflict-related inquests into the deaths of almost 100 people.

“I am not going to set a date and then disappoint people because I can’t deliver it,” Justice Colton told the preliminary hearing last Wednesday. “It would be unfair. I don’t want to make a commitment I cannot keep.”

In February of this year, the North’s leading law officer, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, proposed that a specialist unit be set up that could deal with the cases within five years. His proposal, however, has been stymied by DUP leader and First Minister Arlene Foster’s refusal to allow it on to the Executive’s agenda, arguing that there must be consensus reached on all aspects of the legacy package.

● Michael Mansfield talks with families of the victims of the Ballymurphy Massacre at the Belfast High Court

Speaking outside the Belfast High Court last week, Michael Mansfield, who is representing the Ballymurphy families, said:

“I think personally that long before now the British Government should have stepped in to ensure that there isn’t a log-jam here, that there isn’t a blockage.”

The celebrated civil liberties lawyer, who recently represented most of the families of the 96 victims of the Hillsborough soccer stadium disaster, said:

“I am someone who always says justice delayed is justice denied.”

The problem, he pointed out, is outside the court process and in the political arena.

A Catholic priest and a mother of eight were among 11 people gunned down during three days of shooting involving members of the Parachute Regiment in Ballymurphy in August 1971.

John Teggart, whose father Danny was killed in the British Army killing spree, said the families are angry that money is being blocked by politicians at Westminster.

“The families are absolutely devastated,” he said. “Progress can be made, it’s just a lack of funding.”