Date: Mon, 03 Nov 1997 20:58:15
From: IRSP <irsp-AT-netwizards.net>
Subject: M-NEWS: Shoot to kill operations still being covered up in Ireland


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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 12th, 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
irsp-AT-netwiz.net
http://irsm.pair.com/irsm/irscna/