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{"id":37783,"date":"2022-10-11T16:16:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T16:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/?p=37783"},"modified":"2024-05-07T15:41:49","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T15:41:49","slug":"mod-accused-of-deliberately-delaying-fresh-inquest-into-1978-shooting-of-patrick-duffy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/mod-accused-of-deliberately-delaying-fresh-inquest-into-1978-shooting-of-patrick-duffy\/","title":{"rendered":"MoD Accused of “deliberately delaying” fresh inquest into 1978 Shooting of Patrick Duffy"},"content":{"rendered":"

MoD accused of \u2018deliberately delaying’ fresh inquest into 1978 Derry shooting of Patrick Duffy<\/h1>\n
$\"\"$ <\/figure>\n
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Rebecca Black, PA<\/span><\/div>\n
05 October, 2022 16:39<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe Ministry of Defence has been accused of \u201cdeliberately delaying\u201d a fresh inquest into the death of a man in Derry in 1978 ahead of new legislation which would stop court cases around Northern Ireland\u2019s past.<\/p>\nHowever, a barrister for the MoD told Belfast Coroner\u2019s Court that they are currently stretched with finite resources serving a number of legacy inquests.<\/p>\nFresh inquests into the killing of three IRA men in Coagh, Co Tyrone in 1991, Francis Bradley in Co Derry in 1986 and the shooting of five civilians in Springhill in west Belfast in 1972 are among inquests to be heard in 2023.<\/p>\nPatrick Duffy, 50, was shot dead in November 1978 at a house in the Brandywell area of Derry by British soldiers.<\/p>\nThe Duffy family have campaigned for a fresh inquest to examine the circumstances of the incident.<\/p>\n<div class=\"teads-adCall\"><\/div>\nIn 2019, Attorney General John Larkin directed that a fresh inquest should take place.<\/p>\nA preliminary hearing at Belfast Coroner\u2019s Court today heard that soldiers involved have not yet been identified and work is ongoing by the MoD, PSNI and Northern Ireland Office to identify and supply any relevant material.<\/p>\nBarrister Stephen Toal, acting for the Duffy family, contended that with government legislation going through Parliament which would see court cases to do with the Troubles stopped, the MoD is attempting to delay this inquest so it may never be heard.<\/p>\n\u201cThe Ministry of Defence has displayed a questionable attitude towards the administration of justice and other inquests and civil claims,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"banner-container text-center\"><\/div>\n\u201cBut they seem to have taken it to another level in this particular inquest.<\/p>\n\u201cNot only have they not bothered to try and ascertain the identity of these soldiers, but they\u2019re also saying that they have limited resources so nothing will be done urgently or at all in certain circumstances and this is all in the context of the legislation which is impending, and it seems to us, from our perspective, that this is a deliberate tactic of delay, in order to frustrate the holding of this inquest at any point.\u201d<\/p>\nResponding, Martin Wolfe KC, acting for the MoD, said they are \u201cservicing a significant number of inquests\u201d.<\/p>\nHe referred to a five-year plan announced in 2019 to deal with outstanding legacy inquests being \u201cto a large extent set aside\u201d.<\/p>\nHe said a \u201ccompression of cases in recent times doesn\u2019t make life particularly easy for state parties to these proceedings\u201d, adding \u201cparticularly when they have finite resources\u201d.<\/p>\n\u201cThe MoD are doing all they can to respond \u2026 but really it\u2019s not appropriate my learned friend would make the remarks he has without appreciating the demands on the MoD to meet a large number of other inquests, four or five of which have been listed for early next year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\u201cIt is not a case of the state participants doing nothing, they are continually working through these inquests with finite resources, therefore we have to look carefully at where this inquest, if it is listed, would sit alongside other inquests which have been listed.\u201d<\/p>\nCoroner Fiona Bagnall said she understands the frustration of the Duffy family, but added: \u201cI have to work within the world that I\u2019m in\u201d.<\/p>\n\u201cIf we do have dates which the MoD have signed up to, I would be inclined to work with those dates at this point in time because it\u2019s more important that we do get the progress made than setting time frames that are not met,\u201d she said.<\/p>\nShe said she fully expects the dates set by the MoD to be met.<\/p>\nMeanwhile, the court heard the Duffy family had previously requested that the inquest be heard in Derry.<\/p>\nMr Toal urged the coroner to adopt an approach used in some other inquests that sections of evidence are heard in modules to allow the inquest be open sooner, even if it has to adjourn for periods before the next module.<\/p>\n\u201cThat would be a huge milestone for this particular family who have waited decades to have the truth of this matter investigated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nIn terms of venue, he said the family would like the conclusions to be delivered in Derry even if rest is heard elsewhere.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s an important matter for them, it not only affects them but it affects the local community in which they grew up in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s their preference that it all be heard in Derry but if that is not possible their primary submission is that the inquest is opened as soon as possible in order to receive the civilian witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\nMs Bagnall said she would \u201cpark\u201d looking at the dates and models for the inquest until she has had a \u201cfeel for the papers\u201d in the case.<\/p>\n\u201cWe will revisit this issues probably in the next preliminary hearing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\nAnother preliminary hearing is to take place on December 14.<\/p>\nSource – The Belfast Telegraph, 5th October 2022<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MoD accused of \u2018deliberately delaying’ fresh inquest into 1978 Derry shooting of Patrick Duffy Rebecca Black, PA 05 October, 2022 16:39 The Ministry of Defence has been accused of \u201cdeliberately delaying\u201d a fresh inquest into the death of a man in Derry in 1978 ahead of new legislation which would stop court cases around Northern…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inquests-inquiries","category-latest-news","category-100","category-69","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37784,"href":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37783\/revisions\/37784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hcclawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}