PFC meeting with Secretary of State, Karen Bradley
27th March 2018 | 27 March 2018
Yesterday PFC met with the Secretary of State, Karen Bradley, at her request at our Belfast offices. We raised a number of issues with her and her officials:
STORMONT HOUSE CONSULTATION
o PFC impressed the frustration felt by families awaiting the consultation to begin and mechanisms to be established;
o Families have been told for over three years that the consultation is imminent, but it has yet to materialise;
o UK government continue to be in breach of their Article 2 ECHR obligations;
o Families are suffering. They are getting older and dying. This is unacceptable. For example in the Glenanne series of murders, eleven families members have passed away since the judicial review begun in 2015;
o SoS said her government is committed to putting in place the legacy institutions;
o Wants to meet with stakeholders to see what our concerns are about the process and what should be included pre-consultation;
o Wants to consult ‘sooner rather than later’ but would not give a definitive time-scale;
o PFC reiterated that this is also unacceptable and there is a danger that SHA could be derailed if action not taken to start the process asap.
- KILLINGS BY THE RUC
- PFC asked if those killed by the RUC would be included for investigation by the HIU. SoS confirmed that ALL outstanding legacy cases are covered by the institutions of the SHA, including RUC killings. To date these cases have been excluded from legacy processes. PFC is not convinced that this is the case, and SoS has committed to come back to us on this issue;
- OUTSTANDING CASES
- PFC argued that there are a number of cases where families may have received reports from the HET, however they were clearly & demonstrably flawed and/ or the family was not adequately supported through the engagement. It is our view that in these cases the HIU director must have discretion to order re-examination.
- STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
- Not agreed by parties & two governments under Stormont House;
- Amnesty for Armed Forces only would be unlawful.
- LEGACY INQUEST FUNDING
- Need for British Government to make the funding available immediately for the outstanding legacy inquests;
- SoS said they are considering the judgement in the Hughes case last week.
- CONTINUED DETENTION OF TONY TAYLOR
- Detrimental effect that Tony’s detention is having on his family and wider community in general;
- His detention is undermining public confidence in policing, criminal justice system and government institutions;
- Asked SoS to consider the case and the decisions of her predecessor in reversing Tony’s licence and release him.