Shoot To Kill Operations Still Being Covered Up In Ireland
Arm The Spirit
Shoot To Kill Operations Still Being Covered Up In Ireland
By Siobhan McCann
Irish National Liberation Army Volunteer Alex Patterson was
shot and killed in a British ambush at Victoria Bridge, Co.
Tyrone on November 12, 1990. Seven years later, his family and
comrades have accused the British government of murdering
Patterson in a shoot-to-kill operation instead of bringing him
into custody.
Patterson, from Strabane, was 31 and a father of four when
he was shot in the undercover military operation. On active duty
at the time of his death, he and Gerry McGarrigle, also an INLA
volunteer, were driving in the vicinity of the home of a UDR
soldier when they were attacked by ten British soldiers in a
planned ambush. The security forces claim that Patterson was
involved in a gun battle at the time of his death; yet evidence
suggests that he and his partner had made no attempts to attack
the British soldiers or resist arrest when the British army shot
Patterson. Furthermore, it seems likely that Patterson was
outside of the car, possibly attempting to surrender, when he was
shot by the soldiers.
At an inquest investigating the circumstances surrounding
this killing, held in Derry on October 20-21, 1997, six British
soldiers gave evidence about their involvement. Yet from the
start it was apparent that no justice would come out of this
inquest, as the coroner in charge of the proceedings, Ronnie
O'Doherty, made every effort to protect the soldiers at the
expense of arriving at a fair and true judgment of the incident
in question.
From the very start Patterson's comrades had reason to be
suspicious of the proceedings. The jury would hear only one
version of the events of November 1990, that of the soldiers
whose actions were under scrutiny.
In support of the family and against the shoot-to-kill
policy, the Irish Republican Socialist Party along with
Patterson's two brothers held a protest outside the courthouse,
tying banners to the railings and handing out leaflets.
Inside, the coroner granted a written request from British
Minister for Defence George Robertson to apply a Public Interest
Immunity Certificate to the hearing, which provided for the
soldiers to be seated behind a screen to protect their identities
as they testified. When the screen was placed to hide the
soldiers, several people in the public gallery protested and
after RUC officers drew their batons, a dozen people were removed
from the courthouse. Willie Gallagher, a member of the IRSP Ard
Comhairle (National Executive), was struck several times with a
baton before being handcuffed and taken into custody for his part
in the protest.
Then the inquest commenced, with the testimony of some of
the soldiers involved. "Soldier D", the man who fired the fatal
shot, had a statement which, in Soldier D's absence was read by
the RUC officer who had investigated the shooting, Detective
Superintendent John Middlemass. Martin McCann, barrister for the
Pattersons, asked if the soldier had been informed about the time
and place of the inquiry, and Middlemass confirmed that he had
been. However, the soldier's absence ensured that there would be
no opportunity for Patterson's legal representative to
cross-examine him. Furthermore it emerged that it had taken
Soldier D two years to make his initial statement to officials,
and then he did so only after he had received assurances that no
criminal proceedings would be initiated against him. One has to
wonder what crimes Soldier D has avoided.
According to his statement, Soldier D was one of ten
soldiers who had taken part in a surveillance operation both
inside and outside the house at Victoria Bridge, after having
been briefed by military sources that a 'terrorist' incident was
due to take place. He claimed that shots were fired at the house
from the back of a passing car, and several soldiers returned
fire as they pursued the vehicle.
Soldier D was in a concealed position inside the front
bedroom of the house under surveillance. As part of Soldier D's
statement, he said that he saw a man in the car pointing his arms
at Soldier F who was behind the car. In his statement he said, "I
saw a figure inside the car moving his arms forward. I believed
my life and the lives of my colleagues were in danger, so I fired
a single shot at the figure and saw the figure fall." When the
car crashed he heard another soldier shout "there's a runner" and
as he approached the vehicle he saw someone moving and again
opened fire.
A second soldier, "Soldier A", said that he saw a person
wearing a balaclava fire a machine gun at the bungalow from the
car as it drove by. He said that he saw movement inside the car
and then he heard a soldier fire a single shot. He and other
soldiers returned fire and ran after the car. He admitted that
there was no warning given prior to Soldier D's shot and no
medical help was requested after the soldiers shot Patterson.
Curiously, under the supposed spray of machine gun fire coming
from the car, Soldier A claims his colleague fired only one shot
- one wonders how he was able to distinguish the different
gunfire in this alleged shootout.
Northern Ireland State Pathologist, Dr. Jack Crane, said
that Patterson had died when a high velocity bullet entered his
left nostril and exited behind his left ear. Soldier A confirmed
that he had seen a large exit wound at the back of Patterson's
head. It is worth noting that the description of the injury that
killed Patterson, based on the pathologist's report, does not
match the injuries which would have been sustained from a
distance shot on a passenger in a moving car; instead it implies
that the head wound was inflicted from close quarters in the
coup-de-grace style favored by the SAS in other shoot to kill
operations.
The solicitor representing Patterson's family asked the
coroner to allow a current INLA prisoner, Gerry McGarrigle, to
give evidence at the hearing. McGarrigle was a passenger in the
car that Patterson allegedly was driving, for which he was
arrested and convicted. However, although he could have provided
eye-witness testimony, he was not allowed to participate in the
inquiry. Donna Patterson, Alex's widow, claims that McGarrigle
had told her that Patterson had escaped from the car prior to
receiving the head wound which would have killed him upon impact.
Constable Michael Ewart, a member of an RUC mobile support
unit and the only identified member of the security forces,
revealed that he had been present in the target house to act as
liaison between the RUC and Army during the incident, but
conveniently for the soldiers' defense, Ewart claims that he
remained in a back corridor throughout the duration of the
incident and therefore was not a witness to the events which
occurred.
A woman who lived near the house where the ambush occurred
also testified at the inquest. Mary Carmel Corry said she was at
home talking with her husband when she heard thuds that sounded
like they were coming from her back garden. She then heard
gunfire and immediately turned off the lights in her kitchen as
her husband crawled to the back door and locked it. She heard an
additional "burst of fire" as she called the Strabane police to
alert them of the gunfire. She testified that she then heard
"cross words" outside her home followed by the sounds of a man
crying, although she was unable to pinpoint when she heard the
man crying in relation to the second burst of gunfire.
After the brief series of witness testimonies, the inquest
ended without a decision, the first time a judgment of "no
finding" has been returned in a shoot-to-kill inquest. After two
hours of deliberations the 11 person jury submitted a unanimous
verdict only to have the coroner declare that they were unable to
return a verdict. The coroner discharged the jury after hearing
that some of them felt pressured to reach a finding. The jury's
report, moreover, was withheld from Patterson's family and their
legal representatives.
Attending the coroner's inquiry were representatives of
Amnesty International and the Committee for the Administration of
Justice. Kathleen Cavanaugh, the observer from Amnesty
International, said O'Doherty should have forced Soldier D to
give his evidence in person, and she criticized the coroner's
failure to have McGarrigle available for testimony. She was
particularly critical about the efforts made to protect the
identities of the soldiers involved.
Furthermore, the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry has suggested
that this inquest has left many questions unanswered. Speaking on
behalf of the Centre, Martin Finucane expressed his concern about
the inquest system overall. "It is our view that until there is a
complete and radical overhaul of the inquest system based on the
UN principles on the effective prevention and investigation of
extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions, the inquest system
will always be viewed as fatally flawed." In fact, shoot-to-kill
inquests usually occur only after several years have elapsed and
the British often refuse to release "sensitive" documents or make
other pertinent evidence available in court. Even so, inquests
are the only avenues open to family members of victims shot by
the security forces.
The Patterson family has indicated that they will pursue
this case until justice is served. Gerard Patterson, Alex's
brother, said that his family "have been extremely anxious to
see... the contents of the unanimously-agreed document put before
the coroner and which he refused to record as a finding."
It is now at Coroner O'Doherty's discretion as to whether a
new inquest should be called. Inquest or not, justice will not
come to Alex Patterson's family until several unsettling issues
are explained. First of all, the soldiers' testimony in the
initial inquest was flawed. Because their identities were
protected and the key witness was not even present, it was
difficult to challenge the soldiers' testimony, much less confirm
their role and position in the ambush. The coroner should also
allow further investigation into the soldiers' claim that they
shot at a moving car since this story is inconsistent with the
pathologist's description of the wound that killed Patterson. It
would be worthwhile to discover the truth behind this glaring
inconsistency. Furthermore, because he could have provided
eye-witness testimony that Patterson was outside of the car when
he was shot, McGarrigle should be allowed to participate in a new
inquiry. Finally, there was no explanation for the presence of
the soldiers at the house and no means by which to confirm their
identity as regular soldiers. This information needs to be
provided in a new inquiry.
Although great pains were taken to shield the identities and
affiliation of the soldiers involved, there is no doubt that
Patterson's death is reminiscent of previous SAS execution-style
killings. The SAS has been involved in many covert activities in
the North of Ireland, including planting weapons and explosives
on suspects as well as nearly 50 shoot-to-kill attempts since
1969. As in the case of Alex Patterson, the elite British unit
has planned ambushes, where the soldiers, acting with impunity,
lure their victims into the vicinity only to kill them with
close-range gunshots to the head instead of allowing them to
stand trial.
And Patterson's death was only one of the most recent in a
string of attacks the SAS has perpetuated against members of the
Irish Republican Socialist Movement. Documented cases of the SAS
shoot-to-kill include the following: In December 1977, INLA
volunteer Colm McNutt was shot dead in Derry and became one of
the first SAS shoot-to-kill victims. In June 1980, Miriam Daly,
member of the National H-Block/Armagh Committee's leadership and
the second Chairperson of the IRSP as well as an INLA Volunteer,
was murdered by the SAS. In October of the same year the SAS
raided the home of INLA Director of Operations Ronnie Bunting and
assassinated both Bunting and Noel Lyttle, an INLA Volunteer and
H-Block/Armagh Committee activist. Two years later, in December
1982, INLA volunteers Seamus Grew and Roddy Carroll were shot and
killed by SAS-trained ex-soldier, Constable John Robinson, as
they were driving to Grew's home. Carroll was shot 15 times.
Neither man was armed. And in Derry in February 1983 the SAS
killed unarmed INLA volunteer Neil McMonagle as he was
babysitting.
With so many issues left unsettled, and with indications of
SAS involvement, all Irish people should share in the Patterson
family's outrage and demand a new and fair inquiry. As it stands,
this is another one of the British "dirty tricks" in their war
against Irish republicans and in particular against members of
the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, which has had members
targeted by the security forces in numbers disproportionate to
its size.
North American Coordinator
Irish Republican Socialist Committees
2057 15th Street, Suite B
San Francisco, CA 94114
E-mail: ir...@netwiz.net
WWW: http://irsm.pair.com/irsm/irscna/
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