Legacy inquests being \u2018sabotaged\u2019 by lack of resources, lawyer representing Troubles bereaved says<\/h1>\n

Last month, the coroner in the inquest into the death of Patrick Duffy, a 50-year-old father-of-six who was shot dead by an undercover British army unit in Derry in 1978, said the hearing could not be completed by May 1st because the ministry of defence could not provide discovery of sensitive material in time.<\/p>\n

A witness for the ministry told a review hearing that it only had one person dealing with sensitive materials for all Troubles-era inquests involving British army personnel.<\/p>\n

Ms Coyle, who represents the Duffy family, said it was \u201cquite incredible\u201d and \u201cscandalous\u201d that a \u201cstate agency, with access to millions of pounds of resources, appears to be deliberately under-resourcing a particular job\u201d. She said the inquest was granted in 2019 so the ministry had \u201cknown for a very long time this work was required\u201d and there had been \u201cample\u201d time to complete it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a single death, it\u2019s an undercover \u2013 we believe SAS \u2013 unit, and it\u2019s a man who was not armed at the point he was killed\u2026 This is effectively a three-witness case, yet the ministry of defence, with all its resources, cannot complete this before May to allow this inquest to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Duffy family has taken a judicial review challenge against the ministry, which is due to be heard later this month. It has been joined by two other cases where inquests have been granted which are also understood to involve special units of the British army.<\/p>\n

The UK government\u2019s controversial Legacy Act is facing a number of legal challenges, including an inter-state case taken by the Irish Government and cases lodged by bereaved families at the European Court of Human Rights, and a judgment is awaited in a domestic challenge in Belfast.<\/p>\n

The Legacy Act replaces current methods of criminal and civil investigations and inquests with inquiries carried out by the ICRIR and offers conditional amnesties for perpetrators.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the victims and survivors group Ulster Human Rights Watch said it would ask the ICRIR to investigate the killing of eight Protestant workmen when the van they were travelling in was blown up by the IRA in Teebane, Co Tyrone, in 1992.<\/p>\n

In its statement on Wednesday, the UK government said the ICRIR was \u201csupported by a legislative requirement of full disclosure by state bodies, and the power to compel witnesses to comply with its reviews.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will also be able to make findings \u2013 made public via a report \u2013 in a manner similar to an inquest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Act contains provisions allowing a coroner to request a review of a death by the independent commission, led by Sir Declan Morgan as chief commissioner, if the inquest has not been concluded via the coronial process by May 1st, 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is now working at pace to become fully operational, and in November 2023 published a paper regarding ideas for how it could approach investigations linked to advanced-stage inquests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source Irish Times 15.2.2024<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legacy inquests being \u2018sabotaged\u2019 by lack of resources, lawyer representing Troubles bereaved says Patricia Coyle says it is \u2018scandalous\u2019 UK ministry of defence appears to be \u2018deliberately under-resourcing a particular job\u2019 Expand Mark Thompson, of Relatives for Justice, speaks during a protest against the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill outside the Northern Ireland…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-legacy-cases","category-69","category-73","description-off"],"yoast_head":"\n