15 November 2001 Edition
Derry family still waiting for justice
Kathleen Thompson was in the back yard of her Rathlin Drive home on the night of 6 November 1971 when she was shot dead by a member of the Royal Green Jackets who were involved in a raid in the Creggan area.
At the time, Creggan was a 'no go' area for the British Army and on that night 200 British soldiers invaded the area in a search operation.
As the British troops withdrew, moving across fields at Southway and High Park, 'Soldier D' fired eight shots, one of which hit Mrs Thompson in the neck, killing her.
The dead woman was unarmed and was shot dead in the backyard of her home at 129 Rathlin Drive. At the time and despite clear discrepancies in the statements made by four of the British soldiers involved in the incident and which were read out at the inquest, none of the soldiers was ever charged.
Indeed in their statements, the four soldiers involved, A, B C and D, give differing versions of what happened and Soldier D, who fired the fatal shots, is the only soldier to say he heard shots being fired at the raiding party.
He said in his statement that he shot at a gunman who fired at the raiding party as he ran down Southway. It would have been impossible for the soldier to see anything in the backyard as a fence surrounded it and the house was situated higher than the road from where the soldier claims to have fired.
Thirty years on, the Thompson family are still trying to find out the truth behind their mother's death.
The Derry-based Pat Finucane Centre (PFC) has compiled a report on the Thompson killing and has exposed the RUC's failure to carry out any kind of investigation. In a letter dated 1 May 2001, the RUC confirmed that, "no police investigation file" into Thompson's death could be found. Neither the DPP nor the Crown solicitor's office could locate a file into the killing either, according to the letter.
In a second letter to the family, dated 10 October 2001, the RUC claimed that a further search also failed to locate an investigation file despite claims that an investigation had taken place.
In a damning statement, an official from the DPP told the PFC that the RUC "did not routinely carry out investigations into deaths attributed to the 'security forces' during the period leading up to the establishment of the office of the DPP in the spring of 1972".
In reality, the only official response to the killing of the Creggan mother of six was the internal British Army investigation, which lasted two hours and consisted of a corporal in the Army investigation branch - JR Mills - taking statements from soldiers A, B, C and D at half-hour intervals.
Also of concern to the family is the fact that on the night Kathleen was killed an RUC detective removed a vital piece of evidence, a bullet embedded in a wall of the house. Nothing was ever heard of this evidence again.
In June 1980, the family received £84.07p in compensation. They tore up the cheque.
Anyone with information about the death of Kathleen Thompson should contact the Pat Finucane Centre.
At the time, Creggan was a 'no go' area for the British Army and on that night 200 British soldiers invaded the area in a search operation.
As the British troops withdrew, moving across fields at Southway and High Park, 'Soldier D' fired eight shots, one of which hit Mrs Thompson in the neck, killing her.
The dead woman was unarmed and was shot dead in the backyard of her home at 129 Rathlin Drive. At the time and despite clear discrepancies in the statements made by four of the British soldiers involved in the incident and which were read out at the inquest, none of the soldiers was ever charged.
Indeed in their statements, the four soldiers involved, A, B C and D, give differing versions of what happened and Soldier D, who fired the fatal shots, is the only soldier to say he heard shots being fired at the raiding party.
He said in his statement that he shot at a gunman who fired at the raiding party as he ran down Southway. It would have been impossible for the soldier to see anything in the backyard as a fence surrounded it and the house was situated higher than the road from where the soldier claims to have fired.
Thirty years on, the Thompson family are still trying to find out the truth behind their mother's death.
The Derry-based Pat Finucane Centre (PFC) has compiled a report on the Thompson killing and has exposed the RUC's failure to carry out any kind of investigation. In a letter dated 1 May 2001, the RUC confirmed that, "no police investigation file" into Thompson's death could be found. Neither the DPP nor the Crown solicitor's office could locate a file into the killing either, according to the letter.
In a second letter to the family, dated 10 October 2001, the RUC claimed that a further search also failed to locate an investigation file despite claims that an investigation had taken place.
In a damning statement, an official from the DPP told the PFC that the RUC "did not routinely carry out investigations into deaths attributed to the 'security forces' during the period leading up to the establishment of the office of the DPP in the spring of 1972".
In reality, the only official response to the killing of the Creggan mother of six was the internal British Army investigation, which lasted two hours and consisted of a corporal in the Army investigation branch - JR Mills - taking statements from soldiers A, B, C and D at half-hour intervals.
Also of concern to the family is the fact that on the night Kathleen was killed an RUC detective removed a vital piece of evidence, a bullet embedded in a wall of the house. Nothing was ever heard of this evidence again.
In June 1980, the family received £84.07p in compensation. They tore up the cheque.
Anyone with information about the death of Kathleen Thompson should contact the Pat Finucane Centre.