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‘Shoot-to-kill’ cases of two men set for European court
14 August 2009 --
THE families of two unarmed IRA men shot dead by the SAS nearly 20 years ago are
to take their case to Europe claiming there was no proper police investigation
into their killings.
Martin McCaughey (23) and Dessie Grew (37) were shot dead by SAS soldiers at a
farm building near Loughgall, Co Armagh, in October 1990.
Although three AK47s were recovered close to the shed, the two republicans were
unarmed when they were killed.
Postmortem examinations revealed that Grew had been shot 48 times and McCaughey
12 times.
The shootings became part of a series of unarmed security force killings known
as ‘shoot to kill’ after it emerged that the shed had been under surveillance
and that police had prior intelligence that the two IRA men were due to visit.
Since the early 1990s the Grew and McCaughey families have mounted a series of
legal challenges over the RUC investigation into the killings and the failure to
hand over intelligence documents to allow inquests to be held into the deaths.
In May 2001 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered the British
government to pay £10,000 each to the families of 10 IRA men shot dead by the
security forces after the court ruled that police had not properly investigated
their deaths.
In November 2007 the ECHR ruled that the RUC had also failed to properly
investigate allegations of security force collusion in the killing of eight Co
Armagh men.
One month later the House of Lords ruled that all police intelligence files
relating to the Grew and McCaughey killings should be disclosed to the coroner
to allow full inquests to take place.
However, it remains the longest outstanding inquest in Northern Ireland’s legal
history.
While a preliminary hearing is scheduled to take place next month, the families
say they have no confidence that full inquests will be allowed to take place any
time in the near future.
It has now emerged that Martin McCaughey’s mother Brigid and Dessie Grew’s
father Patrick have now launched a legal challenge at the ECHR, claiming that
there was no proper police investigation.
Confirming that legal papers had been lodged with the ECHR, Fearghal Shiels of
Madden & Finucane Solicitors, said: “The families contend that the state has
clearly breached its legal obligations to conduct an effective official
investigation into the deaths of Martin McCaughey and Dessie Grew.
“The RUC officers who investigated the killings lacked the requisite degree of
independence from the undercover soldiers involved in the shooting.
“No attempt was made to seriously challenge the excessive force used, involving
the firing of at least 72 rounds, and in circumstances where one of the men was
shot twice on the ground as he was dying or already dead.
“There was clearly no meaningful attempt made by the RUC to explore the
credibility of the accounts provided, failing even to re-interview the soldiers
in light of significant discrepancies in their accounts.”
A PSNI spokesman said it would be inappropriate to comment on the case while
legal proceedings were ongoing.
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