Ballymurphy Inquest: Coroner finds 10 victims were innocent

Ten people killed in west Belfast almost 50 years ago in the wake of an Army operation were "entirely innocent", an inquest has found.

The inquest, which began in November 2018, examined the deaths in and around the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast in August 1971.

The shootings happened after an operation in which paramilitary suspects were detained without trial.

Victims included a priest trying to help the wounded and a mother of eight.

Nine of the 10 victims were killed by the Army, the coroner said.

The coroner could not definitively say who shot the tenth victim, John McKerr.

Mrs Justice Keegan, who delivered her findings over the course of more than two hours, said the deaths took place during Northern Ireland's Troubles in a "highly charged and difficult environment".

But she concluded: "What is very clear, is that all of the deceased in the series of inquests were entirely innocent of wrongdoing on the day in question."

The killings happened over three days immediately following the introduction of internment - the arrest and detention of paramilitary suspects without trial.

Mrs Justice Keegan said that the effect of the killings on the families of the 10 victims have been "stark".

Inquests were held into the deaths in 1972, but they were separate and returned open verdicts.

The new inquests, which began in November 2018, have been held together.

The conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles lasted almost 30 years from the late 1960s, and cost the lives of more than 3,500 people.

But the origin of the Troubles goes back much further, to when the island of Ireland was divided in 1921.

Northern Ireland was created and remained part of the UK, while the rest of Ireland became an independent state.

This created a split in the population between the unionists - who were mainly Protestants and were happy to stay in the UK - and nationalists, who were predominantly Catholics and wanted to join the new Irish state.

Many Catholics faced discrimination in jobs and housing and in the late 1960s began protests which were met with a crackdown from the Northern Ireland government, and led to the UK government to sending over troops in 1969.

They were largely welcomed, but later armed groups from both sides, like the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA) began carrying out bombings and shootings.

Peace talks started in the early 1990s, and culminated in the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which ended the worst of the violence.

The court heard almost 100 days of evidence from more than 150 witnesses.

These included more than 60 former soldiers, more than 30 civilians and experts in ballistics, pathology and engineering.

Justice Minister Naomi Long tweeted that the families have "had to battle too hard and too long" to hear Tuesday's verdict.

Father Hugh Mullan, 38 and Francis Quinn, 19

The coroner found that both men were shot by the Army on 9 August 1971, although neither was armed.

She said there was no evidence that Mr Quinn had a gun or was in close proximity to someone who had a gun.

She said she was quite convinced that Fr Mullan was a "peace-maker" and that he was carrying a white object at the time that he was shot.

Mrs Justice Keegan said there was enough evidence that both men were trying to render help to someone injured at the time.

She concluded, in the case of both men, that "the use of force was clearly disproportionate".

Joan Connolly, 44; Daniel Teggart, 44; Noel Phillips, 19; Joseph Murphy, 41

Mrs Justice Keegan found that there was "no doubt" that the four were shot by the Army in August 1971.

She acknowledged that the Army was coming under fire from gunmen in the area, at the time, but she concluded that the use of force against the deceased was "clearly disproportionate".

She said they were innocent, unarmed and were "posing no risk."

The coroner said it was clear that the environment was difficult at the time with many people, including children, out on the streets but she said the state had failed to establish that the shootings were justified.

Ruling on a claim by a soldier that 33 rounds of ammunition were found in a pocket on clothes worn by Daniel Taggert, she said if this was the case it was "quite an amount of ammunition" yet it was not mentioned by other soldiers.

She concluded that she is not satisfied that "this fact is proven."