The Public Prosecution Service will issue a decision on Friday 26th April 2024 regarding whether they will prosecute army personnel for the shootings of brothers Gerry and John Conway on the Ballymurphy Road on the 15th April 1972.
The brothers were on their way to work walking on the Ballymurphy Road at 7.30am on the 15th April 1972 when they were both shot and injured by an undercover army patrol in an unmarked vehicle. The members of the undercover army unit were dressed in civilian clothes. The incident was the subject of an investigation and report by the Association of Legal Justice (ALJ) published in May 1972. In initial press reports the RUC and MOD refused to acknowledge army involvement. Later press reports confirmed the involvement of an army unit.
The Belfast based archive research expert NGO Papertrail recently uncovered a handwritten Watchkeepers Log from a regimental archive which confirmed that the shootings were carried out by an undercover army unit and confirmed the identities of the soldiers and police officer involved in the incident. The handwritten Watchkeeper Log also suggests that the army mistook for other individuals including Jim Bryson who had escaped from the Maidstone prison boat earlier at the beginning of 1972.
Civil cases against the MOD and Chief Constable were settled on a no liability basis in December 2020 for significant amounts of compensation.
The undercover military unit shot Gerry Conway several times including shots to both legs leaving him with long term physical health problems. John Conway sustained one gunshot wound but endured the long term psychological consequences of the incident. Gerry Conway was questioned about his identity by armed soldiers on his arrival at the hospital.
John Conway, despite being shot, was taken by the army and police to Springfield Road RUC Station where he was subjected to a lengthy interrogation. Neither he nor his brother was charged with any offence in relation to the incident.
In May 1972 the Association of Legal Justice (ALJ) published the report on the shooting incident which included interviews with the Conway brothers and civilian eye-witnesses at the scene at the time of the shooting and in the immediate aftermath. The Report concluded that the 2 brothers were innocent unarmed civilians who were shot without justification by a secret armed military unit.
The families of John and Gerry Conway now await the prosecution decision from the PPS which is due on Friday 26th April 2024 just 4 days before the guillotine date of 1st May imposed by the Legacy Act 2023.
