New Lodge community marks 49th anniversary of British Army killings

Relatives of the six men killed by the British Army in 1973 in the New Lodge Road area of North Belfast gathered last Thursday 3 February to mark the 49^th anniversary of the killings.

Despite the heavy rain the families, supported by the wider community gathered for a wreath laying ceremony near the area's Garden of Remembrance at Donore Court and in the shadow of the mural highlighting the events of that fateful night.

Sinn Féin MLA Carál Ní Chuilin addressed the crowd and commended the families for their tireless efforts down through the decades to ensure that the memories of the dead would not be forgotten nor allow the British to sweep the killings under the carpet.

• The North Belfast MLA joined the crowd and families on the New Lodge Road area to mark the 49th anniversary of the killings

This year's anniversary was however held with a glimmer of hope that with the North's Attorney General ordering a fresh inquest in to the killing of the six unarmed men that the families would at last get to the truth of what happened.

Known as the New Lodge 6 the men were gunned down in a series of shootings that had all the hallmarks of a combined 'dirty tricks' operation.

In the initial shooting, around 11pm on Saturday 3 February, IRA Volunteers Jim Sloan and Jim McCann were shot dead from a passing car, most likely by members of the British army's undercover MRF (Military Reaction Force), at the junction of the New Lodge and Antrim Roads.

• Family members and public representatives gather outside a mural commemorating the New Lodge killings that took place in February 1973

As locals came on to the streets British army snipers opened fire from the top of the New Lodge Flats and Duncairn Gardens.

Four men IRA Volunteer Tony 'TC' Campbell, Brendan Maguire, John Loughran and Ambrose Hardy lost their lives, while Charlie Carson was severely wounded. None of the Volunteers who died that night were on active service and were unarmed when killed. As per their opus operandi the British branded the dead as “gunmen”.

With the news that Attorney General Brenda King has ordered a new inquest comes the hope that the families and survivors will get answers to the many questions pertaining to that night not least that the British army operation was a planned ambush involving the MRF and those regular British soldiers stationed on the high-rise flats.

In the 49 years since the killings locals have maintained that the first shootings, outside Lynch's bar, were carried by the British army's covert MRF unit as a rouse to draw the IRA onto the streets and so presenting themselves as targets for British snipers deployed on the flats who for the first time in the North would be using newly developed infra-red night sights.

Were this scenario to be substantiated in any way it would expose the tactics of the British army at the time to foment sectarianism in the North using death squads such as the MRF.

In 2017, Ms King's predecessor as Attorney General John Larkin refused to order a fresh inquest and referred the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions to ask the PSNI to investigate the case, the implication being that AG Larkin believed a 'criminal' investigation was warranted.

However, the DPP refused to investigate resulting in it going back to Ms King's office who has reopened the case.

Significantly this sets the original inquests aside and means the new hearing will take place under the Article 2 Right to Life compliant rules set out by the European Court of Human Rights.

Essentially this means that the coroner can examine all the circumstances around the killings which could happen under the old regime where only the deceased could be identified and the date, place and cause of death dealt with.

While Ms King's decision to order a fresh inquest provides the families with some hope there is now the fear that with the British government's intention to enact legacy legislation to prevent any inquiries into the actions of its forces in the North. The families hopes will be dashed and the full facts of what happened in the New Lodge Road will forever be buried and the families of those killed will never see justice.