Kathleen Thompson Anniversary – Still no family access to files

Following the most recent denial by the PSNI of access to the RUC investigation file which they claim to hold, the Thompson family remain more convinced than ever that the only 'investigation' ever carried out into their mother's death was the four statements taken from soldiers in the hours after their mother's death. This means that the only investigation into her death was an internal army investigation, carried out by other soldiers, which lasted just two hours.

It has already been revealed that, in direct contradiction of domestic and international law, it was accepted practice at the time for the RUC not to investigate killings by the army, but to leave this to other soldiers. The existence of a "gentleman's agreement" to this effect has already emerged at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in a statement from a British officer. That same officer, known only as Inq 3, gave evidence to the Inquiry on Monday, and revealed even more about the nature of these internal army investigations. During cross-examination by a QC for the Bloody Sunday families it was revealed that:

• It was not the SIB investigator's job to challenge or cross-examine a soldier about his account, but simply take a note of what he was saying;
• The soldier was treated as a witness, not as a suspect;
• The SIB investigators would not be trying to obtain an admission of criminal responsibility;
• That even if a soldier volunteered such an admission, it would not be accepted until confirmed by a superior officer
• That there was nothing to discourage a soldier from lying about his actions, and that in fact it could be interpreted from guidelines that a soldier was positively encouraged to lie;
• That it was accepted that soldiers would 'close ranks' to protect each other when being questioned about possible criminal acts, and that this loyalty extended throughout all ranks of the army

This new evidence provides further confirmation that between July 1970 and March 1972, British soldiers, who killed Kathleen Thompson and 66 others, enjoyed complete immunity from prosecution. With the RUC completely abrogating their legal obligation to investigate all suspicious deaths, and an army 'investigation' totally weighted in the soldier's favour, there was no possibility that any soldier would ever be prosecuted. The British army killed 67 civilians between July 1970 and March 1972. Not one soldier was convicted. .

Speaking after this latest evidence emerged, Minty Thompson said:

"It's thirty one years now since my mother was killed, and we are still being kept in the dark. The PSNI are still refusing us access to their supposed investigation files, just like the RUC did for the previous thirty years, and everything we hear now about how army investigations were carried out at the time shows they were nothing more than a formality, with no prosecutions intended or expected. Our pain is the same as that of every other family who have lost a loved one, so why are we being treated differently? Why were we denied the right to a proper investigation into our mother's death? We do not accept this, and will never accept it. We demand now, on the anniversary of our mother's death, that it be properly investigated and that we, her family, be finally told why our mother was killed, and why nothing was done about it."