Compensation payout for families of IRA men gunned down by SAS

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have agreed to reach a settlement with the families of two IRA men killed by the SAS in 1983. The attack was likely an execution raid by the special forces unit, carried out against 23-year-old Colm McGirr and 19-year-old Brian Campbell as they left their car to check an IRA arms cache.

In 2013, the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) produced an expert report which found that McGirr was probably kneeling when shot. The investigation concluded Campbell had only been shot from behind. The HET was a PSNI unit tasked with investigating unsolved murders from ‘The Troubles’. Yet another casualty of Tory austerity policies, it ceased to operate in 2014.

Following the HET findings, the families launched legal proceedings against the MoD and PSNI in 2016. They alleged the operation of an illegal ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy. Such an instruction would have mandated that security forces gun down suspected republican paramilitaries, even when they posed no immediate threat.

Britain’s criminal shoot-to-kill policies in Ireland

Specialist units of the PSNI’s predecessor, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), operated under shoot-to-kill ‘rules’ in the early 1980s. This resulted in the killings of six men in three incidents in 1982. As Declassified UK reported last year, the deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester Police concluded that, despite there being no written policy, RUC units had a:

…clear understanding… that that was what was expected of them.

Stalker was never able to complete his investigation into the killings, due to:

…bogus allegations against Stalker arising in Manchester [that] led to his removal from the investigation in May 1986 before he could finalise his report.

These were concocted by “senior police officials” along with “MI5 and probably senior politicians”. An additional inquest that began in 1984 and recommenced briefly in 1985 was “a charade” in the words of solicitor Paddy Duffy. The SAS men involved were able to avoid appearing before it.

The MoD and police are clearly keen once again for the full details not to emerge, hence the decision to pay out damages to the families. The terms of the settlement are confidential. Solicitor for the families Pádraig Ó Muirigh said:

I can confirm that my clients are satisfied with the outcome of this litigation (and) will now be making a donation to charity.

He continued:

They have always maintained that the British Army operated a ‘shoot to kill’ policy during the conflict.

The search of the arms dump appears to have been intelligence-led and the families have always questioned why the deceased were not apprehended at the scene.

The brother of Brian Campbell, Michael, said:

It’s been a long struggle, they’ve never been out of our thoughts. That particular day is like yesterday.

Unionist politician endorses lawless warfare methods

The Ulster Unionist Party’s (UUP) justice spokesman Doug Beattie took a different tack, saying:

Featured image via BBC