The family of a Derry teenager shot dead by British troops in 1972 has been granted leave in the High Court in Belfast today to judicially review the decision not to prosecute the soldiers involved. 15 year old Manus Deery was shot dead by a sniper firing the city walls on May 19 1972. The then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ruled that no crime had been committed with the result that the ‘legality’ of the killing was never tested in court. Following an historic ruling of the European Court of Human Rights last year the Pat Finucane Centre and nine Derry families wrote letters to the DPP challenging him to abide by the judgement which held that families must be informed of the reasons why no prosecutions were undertaken.
The DPP refused to provide reasons and it was announced at a PFC press conference in January that a number of legal test cases would now go ahead. The case taken by Helen Deery, sister of the victim, is the first to be granted leave for a judicial review.
Commenting on today’s development Helen Deery said, " we have waited a long time for today. The killing of a dog would have treated with more seriousness. Manus was just an ordinary working class Catholic child from the Bogside. He was murdered and his murderers were never even questioned by the RUC."
Paul O’Connor of the PFC "welcomed the fact that the office of the DPP will now find itself in the dock. In each of these cases of non-investigation and failure to comply with domestic and international guidelines the fingerprints of the office of the DPP are all over the crime scene. This test case will have major implications for many other families in Derry and throughout the North." Judicial Review will also be sought this week on behalf of the family of Kathleen Thompson, the 47 year old mother of six shot dead in her back garden by soldiers in 1971. The UTV Insight programme on Thursday night at 10.30pm will focus on the Kathleen Thompson case.