Bloody Sunday Document Reveals Immunity from Prosecution
PFC02 March 2002
A document, which was revealed on a UTV Insight programme in March into the killing of Derry mother of six Kathleen Thompson, will testify to the fact that a de facto immunity from prosecution existed for members of the security forces here.p
The document was discovered by the Bloody Sunday Inquiry and reveals an agreement between the RUC Chief Constable in 1970 and the British Army GOC to severely limit the scope of any inquiries into killings attributed to the security forces. This document raises the most profound questions regarding the rule of law and the right to life according to the Derry based Pat Finucane Centre.
This ‘gentleman’s agreement’ covers a period between January 1970 and March 1972 when 72 people were killed by the British army and the RUC. In effect none of these deaths could have been properly investigated.
During this 27-month period, the British army killed 68 people and the RUC four. Of these, 68 were from a nationalist background and three from a unionist background. The other was a British national killed by the British Army during the Falls curfew in 1970.
The document relates to the notes of a lecture given by a former major in the Royal Military Police in Chichester in 1973 in which he stated "Back in 1970 a decision was reached between the GOC and the Chief Constable whereby RMP (Royal Military Police) would tend to military witnesses and the RUC to civilian witnesses in the investigation of offences and incidents."
"With both RMP and RUC sympathetic to the soldier, who after all was doing an incredibly difficult job, he was highly unlikely to make a statement incriminating himself…
"It was equally unlikely that RUC would prefer charges against soldiers except in the most extreme circumstances."
This document will now be submitted to Belfast High Court by Madden & Finucane Solicitors in a judicial review taken by the family of Kathleen Thompson. This document was discovered in Bundle G of the documents available through the Inquiry.
The TV documentary on the murder of Kathleen Thompson in 1971 follows the family’s campaign, facilitated by the Pat Finucane Centre, to establish the truth surrounding the death of their 47 year old mother. To date the Chief Constable has claimed that no investigation file can be found. The programme, titled The Thompson File, will reveal new information about this file not previously in the public domain.