PFC Response to HET report into the death of William Mc Greanery

"This case is remarkable in many ways insofar as the RUC actually recommended prosecution of Soldier A who shot Billy Mc Greanery. The response of the Attorney General and the Chief Crown Solicitor beggars belief. The AGs claim that a soldier should not be charged with murder because he was on duty, regardless of the actual facts of the case, has no basis in law. This was in fact a political not a legal opinion and set a highly dangerous precedent in giving British soldiers free rein to kill civilians with impunity and this from the highest legal authority in the land.

Only one week before this death 14 year old Annette Mc Gavigan was shot dead by British soldiers close to this location and mother of six Kathleen Thompson was shot dead by soldiers in her garden in the Creggan Estate several weeks later. Had RUC Superintendent Frank Lagan’s advice been acted upon it is entirely probable that other lives would have been saved including that of Mrs Thompson since soldiers and the MoD would have aware that wrongful deaths were likely to result in prosecution. Indeed it is not an exaggeration to suggest that the MoD may not have sent the Parachute Regiment to Derry just one month after this advice had they understood that the rule of law also applied to the actions of their soldiers.

The then Attorney General, Sir Basil Kelly, was an Ulster Unionist MP and member of the then Unionist Cabinet at Stormont. His opinion in the Mc Greanery case in many ways defined the relationship between the criminal justice system and the security forces. A culture of impunity existed. Many people died as a result.

The nature of RMP investigations following civilian deaths further encouraged this culture of immunity since soldiers were aware that the RMP were not seeking to investigate criminal wrongdoing. We welcome the fact that the HET has described RMP investigations as negating "any possibility of independence." The HET has stated that the killing of Mr Mc Greanery and others by the British Army were not properly investigated.

We will be asking Mark Durkan MP to ensure that the findings of this HET report are read into the Hansard parliamentary record in order to correct the 39 year old lie that Billy Mc Greanery posed a threat to the soldier who shot him. We are calling on the MoD to respond officially to the report and acknowledge the findings.

Later today Mark Durkan MP will hand a copy of the report to the Taoiseach at a meeting in Dublin."