‘It’s been retraumatising’: Families of six men shot dead by British soldiers seek truth 50 years on.

New Lodge: There has never been a proper investigation in 1973 killings; now families want Irish Government to intervene

A British soldier on patrol in the New Lodge district of North Belfast in January 1972. Photograph: Alex Bowie/Getty Images 

 

          Friday February 3rd, 2023. 

Ambrose Hardy had to get home. Trapped in a bar in the New Lodge area of north Belfast by the shooting that was going on outside, he was afraid his mother would be worried and come looking for him.

“He thought, ‘I want to get home to assure her I’m okay,’” says his great-nephew, Gary Duffy. “He stuck his head out the door with a white petticoat, or a white slip, and he was shot then.

“At that point [the British army] had just got night sights, and we always maintained they must have seen him quite clearly – he had a white flag, essentially.”

The 26-year-old was one of six men shot dead in the same part of the New Lodge on the night of February 3rd/4th 1973, a Saturday. They had either been out socialising or had gone to help the injured when they were killed.

Jim Sloan and Jim McCann were the first to die, hit by shots fired from a car at about 11pm. Shortly afterwards, soldiers are believed to have opened fire from the top of a nearby block of flats, killing Hardy and three others – Tony Campbell, Brendan Maguire and John Loughran.

In the 50 years since their deaths, there has never been a proper investigation into the killings. Now, as their relatives and neighbours prepare to mark the anniversary with a candlelight procession tonight and other events this weekend, their fear is that there never will be.

A fresh inquest granted in 2021 raised hopes which have been dashed by the UK government’s controversial legacy legislation, which aims to “draw a line” under the Troubles by ending all civil and criminal cases and inquests and offering a conditional amnesty for perpetrators.

The case of the New Lodge Six is one of 23 such inquests, involving 34 deaths, which are now unlikely to proceed given the Bill, which is currently making its way through the House of Lords; there are also as unknown number of cases which have not yet reached this stage, plus hundreds of civil cases.

“We felt like we’d finally got our breakthrough a year or two ago with the granting of the fresh inquest, but now the families feel it’s been taken away from them with this Bill,” says Duffy, who is also a solicitor with Belfast-based firm KRW Law and represents some of the New Lodge families, including his own.

“It’s been retraumatising, it’s almost worse in some ways that they got some hope… that finally, for the first time in nearly 50 years, that someone was going to look at it, someone was actually going to investigate it, they were actually going to get their day in court to challenge the narrative that had existed.

“To then have that taken away from them, their one chance, has obviously been very emotional and very hurtful.”

The New Lodge is a working-class Catholic, nationalist area of Belfast. It was disproportionately affected by the Troubles; in a booklet produced to mark the 50th anniversary of the killings, victims and survivors group Relatives for Justice (RFJ) records “several hundred killed” in a one-mile radius.

There have been, it noted, “too many killings, Requiem Masses to St Patrick’s Chapel, funeral corteges and graveyard processions to mention for one small area”.

The six men shot dead in the New Lodge area of north Belfast on February 3rd/4th, 1973 (from left): John Loughran, James Sloan, Jim McCann, Brendan Maguire, Ambrose Hardy and Tony Campbell. Photographs: Alex Bowie/Getty Images/Relatives For Justice 

On the Monday morning after the New Lodge shootings, the front page of The Irish Times described it as “one of Belfast’s bloodiest weekends ever”; it also reflected the already-disputed accounts of what happened, writing that the British Army claimed “they had killed all six men because they were gunmen who opened fire at troops”, while local witnesses and the IRA said “the first two men to died were hit from a passing car as they stood outside a bar and that the other four were innocent, unarmed civilians”.

Three of the victims were members of the IRA – Sloan, McCann and Campbell – but none was on “active service” on the night of their deaths.

“In terms of just understanding what happened during the conflict,” says Mike Ritchie, casework manager with RFJ who works with the families of the New Lodge Six, “you have a small community in north Belfast and over one night six of them are shot dead, it’s believed by the British army, undercover and regular.

“We need to get to the bottom of it and the families need to know precisely what happened and what the thinking was.”

The new legislation – expected to become law later this year despite widespread opposition – will replace current means of investigation with a new truth recovery body, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

Announcing minor amendments last month, the Northern Secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, said the changes reflected the “extensive engagement that has taken place” and said the UK government remained “absolutely committed to delivering better outcomes for those most impacted by the Troubles”.

Gary Duffy says: “They [the British government] have talked about this new body they’re going to set up, but anybody I’ve spoken to, not just the New Lodge Six but any of my clients, have no faith in it.”

“What they do trust, as much as they can trust any part of this process, is things like inquests.

“An inquest is actually having legal representatives and a judge and your day in court. This body that’s being set up, it just feels like it’s the state investigating itself, and it’ll achieve nothing.”

Two years ago, an inquest – the longest-running in the North’s history – officially acknowledged the innocence of the 11 victims of the Ballymurphy massacre in west Belfast in 1971; under this new law, it simply could not have taken place.

The expectation is that there will be further legal battles ahead. “What will happen with this case, and many others, is if the Bill comes in and blocks it, there’s just going to be litigation for years to try and overturn aspects of the legislation,” says Ritchie.

RFJ is calling for the Irish government to intervene. “Everybody’s opposed to it on the island, the international human rights community is opposed to it, saying it’s illegal and against international obligations.

“The Irish Government has to step up to the mark and take an interstate case to Europe,” he says.

Duffy’s worry is that “once the legislation is passed, the damage is done – it’s the end of civil actions, the end of inquests”.

“Obviously I never met my great-uncle, but I saw the impact, particularly on my granny, Ambrose’s sister, losing him, and then the empty chair at Christmas tables or family parties.

[ EU urged to 'stand up' to UK on Troubles legacy bill by campaigners]

“Every year, when it comes to February, you would see the emotional impact, the hurt and the anger not just at what happened, but also the lies put out afterwards, that he was a gunman and it was a gun battle.”

The time to challenge the change in the law, he says, is time ageing relatives simply do not have. “It would be another couple of years of family members passing away, of information disappearing, of witnesses, of perpetrators passing away, and even if further down the road something is put in place it will be too late.

“At the bare minimum, if you have been granted an inquest, your inquest should continue. If you’ve launched civil proceedings, they should be allowed to continue. Don’t take that away.”

With many thanks to the: Irish Times and Freya McClements for the original story. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: The families of the New Lodge Six are held in the highest regard.

EU urged to 'stand up' to UK on Troubles legacy bill by campaigners

‘It’s been retraumatising’: Families of six men shot dead by British soldiers seek truth 50 years

Neil Mackay: If Afghan death-squad claims are proven the SAS must be disbanded and those guilty jailed for life for war crimes

                   14th July, 2022. 

HOW long have we been learning of such atrocities? Since I was a child in the 1970s? Since my parents were children in the 1950s? Since my grandparents were children in the 1900s?

Britain’s armed forces have a long, shameful and rarely-discussed history of perpetrating war crimes with impunity. Let’s limit our time-frame, and go back only as far as Britain’s Boer War concentration camps, where thousands of women and children perished. But that was the 19th century, surely, the flag-waving uniform-worshipping exceptionalists cry.

Okay, let’s start in the 1920s with Britain’s state-sanctioned brutality during the Irish War of Independence. There’s the original Bloody Sunday, where armed forces, including the infamous Black and Tans, opened fire on civilians during a Gaelic football match at Dublin’s Croke Park, killing 14 people. Later in 1920, soldiers and Black and Tans burned Cork in a barbarous act of reprisal.

Read more:

Maybe that’s still too far back for some. Let’s move to the 1950s and Kenya’s Mau Mau Rebellion, where British soldiers routinely tortured and sexual assaulted prisoners. Victims had their ears sliced off, holes bored in their eardrums; they were flogged to death, set alight. Eric Griffith-Jones, the attorney-general of the British administration in Kenya, described the treatment of detainees as “distressingly reminiscent of conditions in Nazi Germany”.

   Thomas Burns murdered by the British                           Army 1972. 

Still too far back? Then head over to Northern Ireland from the 1970s to the 1990s. Nobody, surely, needs reminded about the other ‘Bloody Sunday’ where paratroopers shot innocent people in the streets of Derry. There was internment without trial, torture, and perhaps most appallingly of all, the use of terrorist death squads as proxy assassins for the British state. The list goes on, but the stomach weakens at recording such acts of inhumanity by uniformed representatives of the British people, who disgrace the very notion of democracy and freedom.

Yet today there’s surprise and disbelief that British special forces are accused of running murder gangs in Afghanistan. The claims are horribly familiar to anyone with a grasp of history. SAS soldiers repeatedly killed detainees and unarmed civilians during security operations – that’s the long and short of the allegations.

One unit may have ‘unlawfully killed’ 54 people in just six months. There are claims that the former head of special forces, General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, was briefed about allegations but didn’t pass evidence to the Royal Military Police – even after murder investigations began. Carleton-Smith went on to become head of the army. He stepped down last month.

Individuals who served with the SAS unit say they witnessed unarmed people being killed. They also claim that “drop weapons” were used. That’s AK-47s planted to justify killings. The BBC’s investigation ‘SAS Death Squads Exposed: A British War Crime?’ raises fundamental questions about the nature of our democracy.

How can we call ourselves a democracy if our military carries out atrocities? Aren’t we committed to human rights, liberty and the rule of law? Apparently not if some of our most elite soldiers are a hallmark of Britain. And the armed forces do represent the nation. We’re told repeatedly the military represents the “best” of Britain; well the military clearly, and often, also represents the worst of Britain.

The former head of the British armed forces, General Lord Richards, says if he were still in charge he’d “order a thorough investigation”. The Ministry of Defence, however, says no new evidence has been presented, and accuses the BBC of jumping to “unjustified conclusions”. Sir Howard Morrison, a former judge at the International Criminal Court, says: “at the very least a judge-led inquiry should be established”. A judge-led inquiry investigated similar allegations against Australian special forces.

Read more:

If allegations against the SAS are proven, the only just course of action must be the instant disbandment of the regiment, and life sentences for anyone found guilty of war crimes. Any other organisation found responsible for such offences would cease to exist, so the same goes for the SAS.

.   Tobias Molloy murdered by the British                             Army 1972 

Like police officers, soldiers carry ultimate power and authority. To breach that is to debase the nation. In truth, the army – like police officers, politicians and the judiciary – must be held to higher account than the rest of us. If ordinary civilians carry out grave crimes, we don’t do so while representing the British state, we don’t do so with the power of the British state behind us.

However, the British government has been trying its damnedest to make sure that the armed forces are, indeed, held to a lesser standard of accountability than ordinary civilians. There was fury in Northern Ireland when it emerged Boris Johnson’s government wanted to ban prosecutions of British army veterans for crimes committed during “The Troubles”. And isn’t “The Troubles” a very British understated way of describing an ethnic civil war in which the UK played such a gruesome, dark role?

The Johnson government also wanted to exempt British soldiers from prosecution for crimes including torture and genocide. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, an ex-soldier, said the bill would end “vexatious hounding of veterans and our armed forces by ambulance-chasing lawyers motivated not by the search for justice but by their own crude financial enrichment”. The assault on decency and justice is profound.

Amnesty described the British government’s “Troubles” legacy bill as giving “murderers and those responsible for torture a free pass”.

A uniform isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. Those who put on a uniform to represent this country must, like police officers, be of the highest calibre; they must be the best amongst us. But, like the police, the army is disgraced by too many who serve within its ranks.

For generations, the army and its government masters have sought to sweep crime after crime under the carpet – all the while pushing false narratives, riddled with glib and ugly patriotism, that the military is beyond reproach and above criticism.

That’s a lie. If there’s anything decent left to be salvaged from the wreckage of Britain today, then let’s start with our sense of justice and ensure those in uniform are held publicly to account.

No more cover-up for the boys in camouflage.

With many thanks to the: Herald Scotland and Neil Mackay Writer at large for the original publication. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: No UK Troops Above the Law, claims the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after claims about SAS

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Óglach Tobias Molloy murdered by the British Army 1972 - still no justice for Molly family '50 years on'

A Killing Aforethought

Neil Mackay: If Afghan death-squad claims are proven the SAS must be disbanded and those guilty jailed for life for war crimes

A Killing Aforethought

Thomas Burns was shot by a British soldier as he tried to leave a social club after an evening out with his friends. RICHARD RUDKIN has the harrowing story of what followed 

     Thomas Burns was murdered by the                             British Army 

UNLESS you are a family fighting for truth and justice, it's impossible to understand just how emotional it must be to have it finally confirmed in court for all the world to see, that your loved one, murdered and labeled as a terrorist by agencies of the British government during the Troubles, was, in fact, an innocent unarmed civilian. 

However, like a factory conveyor belt, as one act of injustice is acknowledged by the British government, another family comes to the fore. 

On Wednesday July 12th 1972, 32-year-old Thomas Burns was enjoying a drink with his friends in the Glenpark social club in Belfast. 

At about 1am, as the sound of sporadic gunfire heard earlier appeared to have ceased, the friends decided to make their way home to their families. 

    Tobias Molloy murdered by the British                              Army 1972 

A British army base British located close to the social club used an arc searchlight during the hours of darkness.

However, due to incidents of loyalist gunmen taking shots at patrons leaving the club, soldiers at the base were well accustomed to turning off the light when requested to allow them to exit the premises under cover of darkness. 

As the friends prepared to leave, Burns was first to the door and shouted down to the soldiers to turn off the light. 

With no sign of the light going off, Burns shouted down a second time. 

Still, the light remained on. After another few minutes waiting, he leaned out from the relative safety of cover to ask again. 

As he did so, a British soldier fired two shots, hitting Burns in the chest. 

Bleeding heavily from his wounds, he was dragged back into the club by his friends. 

Seconds later, one of them, Malachy Fanning, went outside to call for an ambulance and a priest. By now, the arc light was off. 

No ambulance ever came. Instead, British soldiers arrived in an armoured vehicle and ordered the friends to hand Burns over to them. 

As Burns's condition was deteriorating, the British soldiers were encouraged to take him to the Mater Hospital, situated no more than three minutes away. 

The vehicle set off down the Oldpark Road where the vehicle broke down and came under fire. Eventually, the vehicle slowly moved off down towards a British army checkpoint. 

Witnesses who had been allowed to travel with Burns state that at this checkpoint, they felt threatened and intimidated when two members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA loyalist paramilitaries) appeared on the scene. 

It was only when Fanning produced his ID card confirming he was a serving member of the British Royal Navy and showed it to the Royal Marines that he intervened. 

The Butchers Apron 

When the military ambulance finally arrived, only two people, Jim McLaughlin and one other were permitted to accompany Burns to the hospital. 

Despite previously being advised of the hospital only minutes away, Burns instead was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, which was further away, where he was admitted at 1.55am, almost one hour after being shot. 

Sadly, at 7.35am Thomas Burns lost his fight for life. However for his family, like many other families in the North of Ireland, the fight for the truth of why Burns was shot was just beginning. 

As in many cases, the pain of losing a loved one in such a needless fashion is made worse when the finger of blame for their premature death, instead of being placed where it should be - on the person who pulled the trigger - is pointed at the victim. This case would be no different. 

              MP: Royal Military Police 

In the early days of the Troubles, investigating incidents involving British soldiers was the responsibility of the military police. 

In essence, one branch of the British army investigated another branch of the British army. 

The problems with this are numerous. For instance, the time from when the incident occurred to when the statements were taken could be hours or days. 

Moreover, not all statements were taken face to face. The statements were not detailed, cross-referenced and scrutinised for inconsistencies by the Military police. 

Nor were statements assessed against the location, to see if what the soldiers claimed to have witnessed could be seen from where they claimed to have been positioned. 

However, again, like others incidents of this nature, while the military police were obtaining statements, in another branch of the British army, a press report was released to the media, implying that their soldiers had returned fire and killed a gunman.

 

The justification by the security forces for taking the life of Thomas Burns had begun. 

Although Burns had no association with any republican movement, his wife Kathleen received a notification from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) regarding the funeral arrangements. 

It stipulated the route the funeral cortege must take and warned that displaying the tricolour flag was prohibited. 

The reason for this was, of course, to reinforce the media story that had portrayed Burns as a republican gunman. 

However, the British army account began to unravel in 1977, when Kathleen Burns was awarded criminal injuries compensation. 

  British Bill of Rights - RIP Victims Rights     - RIP Human Rights - RIP Truth - RIP                             Accountability! 

This was confirmation that Thomas had died of a criminal injury, and therefore had been "unlawfully killed" and his death was not "misadventure" which was the verdict of the jury returned in the coroner's court in 1973.

When the historical enquiries team (HET) completed its investigation into the death of Burns before being disbanded in 2013, one paragraph appertaining to the results of the firearm residue swabs from both Burns and his friend Jim McLoughlin stated: "No lead was detected on the hand swabs and nothing of evidential value was found following an examination of Tommy's clothing. 

"No trace of firearms was found at the scene and there was no forensic evidence to connect Tommy or Jim to a firearm." 

The HET also identified inconsistencies within the British soldiers' statements. 

One former soldier who the HET was able to interview recalled the event. However, his recollections significantly differ from the statements gathered by the military police. 

Confirmation of Burns innocence is there for all to see in the conclusion reached by the HET: "Tommy's death was a tragedy which should not have happened. 

"He was not a gunman and he did not pose any threat to the security forces."

Yet despite all this, the family of Thomas Burns has continued to be denied truth and justice, beginning with a fresh inquest followed by a full investigation into his death. 

This case, like many others, highlights the lack of thorough investigations which have left families fighting and struggling for decades to clear the names of their loved ones. 

It is also why, when military vetreans, commentators and politicians speak out in defence of former British soldiers facing questioning over historic shootings, their statements must be challenged and where necessary corrected with facts. 

Moreover, the case of Thomas Burns, like many others, some yet to be highlighted, demolishes any suggestion that reinvestigating cases of this nature is pointless because they were all investigated at the time. 

For anyone to make such a suggestion insulting to the families and an attempt to deny the innocent victims justice. This must not be allowed to happen. 

With many thanks to the: morningstaronline.co.uk and Richard Red Star for the original publication. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: Óglach Tobias Molloy murdered by the British Army 1972 - still no justice for Molly family '50 years on'

Daughter of Thomas Burns shot dead by soldier in Belfast, clears first stage of challenge to denial of a fresh inquest

Report Finding: British Government's legacy bill is in breach of the Good Friday Agreement

A PANEL of experts and academics has found that the British government's proposed legacy bill is in breach of the Good Friday Agreement and international human rights law. 

    PROTESTERS: outside Downing Street          in London protesting against the              controversial *orthern Ireland Legacy        Bill, which has been found to breach                the terms of the Good Friday                                     Agreement. 

The Model Bill Team published its response to the controversial bill as relatives of people murdered during the Troubles held protests in London, Dublin and Derry. The team includes experts Professor Kieran McEvoy, Dr Ann Bryson and Professor Louise Mallinder, who are all based at the School of Law at Queen's University Belfast. 

Human rights campaigners Daniel Holder, Gemma McKeown and Brian Gormally, of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, were also involved in drafting the report. Under the *orthern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill (NITLRB) civil legal cases can no longer be brought and some inquests will not be heard. 

     Brandon Lewis NI Secretary of State           needs to get his own house in order          before lecturing us on British law and       shifting the goalposts on who is victim          of British injustices in the North of                                    Ireland. 

Some of those who took part in the Troubles will be eligible for immunity from prosecution. 

The publication of the report coincided with the second reading debate on the bill at Westminster yesterday. 

Opponents of the planned legislation, which has been branded 'the bill of shame' by campaigners, say it will deny grieving families access to truth and justice via courts and inquests. A panel of experts found the bill breaches the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and is not workable. "Given that significant commitment in both time and energy in trying to help implement agreed mechanism to finally address the legacy of the past in *orthern Ireland, it is with profound regret that we have concluded that the *orthern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill is unworkable," they wrote. 

   Legacy Bill breaches International Law,               Belfast Agreement - report. 

Those who wrote the bill added that it is "in breach of the Good Friday Agreement and binding international law and that it will not deliver for victims and survivors, many of whom have waited for decades for truth and justice". The report authors say the "existing mechanisms for dealing with the past have been weakened largely through government refusal to implement the judgments (Never Trust A Tory) of the European Court of Human Rights and refusal and delays in the provision of information by state agencies". 

"However, given the structure of the NITLRB, we ask whether part of the reason for introducing it is because existing mechanisms are working too well in exposing past human rights abuses." Daniel Holder (pictured above), of the Committee on the Administration of Justice said he is alarmed by the British government approach. 

"The bill is unworkable, unfixable and unlawful," he said. 

"It is deeply alarming the British government wish to ram it through Westminster without scrutiny." 

A British government spokesperson told the Irish News it was "confident the bill is consistent with the Good Friday Agreement, which itself recognised the need for difficult compromises in order to address challenging issues." 

The spokesperson added: "The Government is also confident that the bill is legally robust and complies with our international legal obligations." 

With many thanks to: The Irish News and Connla Young for the original publication. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story and more on the NI Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill: When even the Attorney General flouts the law what hope does Britain have - Suella Braverman.

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Report Finding: British Government's legacy bill is in breach of the Good Friday Agreement