Paddy Leonard, 20 Mar
A preliminary hearing into the deaths of two Derry men shot dead by the
SAS in the grounds of Gransha Hospital on December 6 1984 has heard
from the barrister representing one of the families that those reacting
documents had 'run away with themselves' and had even redacted the name
of the solicitor who acted for the families.
Karen Quinlivan KC was speaking at a hearing into the deaths of Daniel
Doherty (23) from Creggan and William Fleming (19) from the Waterside
who were shot dead in disputed circumstances in the grounds of Gransha
Hospital.
The hearing had been told that Public Interest Immunity was being
sought on six volumes of material from the PSNI, one volume from the
Ministry of Defence and one volume from the security services.
Counsel for the Coroner, Fiona Doherty KC, said that there were issues
with some of the requests for immunity as the redactions proposed were
'inconsistent' and sometimes duplicated.
She told the hearing that there two main issues for the inquest to
consider.
The first was around the use of force that resulted in the deaths of
the two men and the second was around the 'planning and control of the
operation.'
Ms Quinlivan for the Doherty family said there serious concerns about
some of the proposed redactions.
She said that as well as reacting the name of the family solicitor the
names of some of the relatives of the dead were also redacted.
She described the process as 'slipshod' and added that when it came to
the Ministry of Defence whoever was deciding what should or should not
be disclosed had run away with themselves.
She said this type of thing undermined the process and undermined
public confidence in the process.
She said the redactions went as far as removing the fact that the SAS
were involved in the shooting.
Ms Quinlivan said that the fact of SAS involvement was well known and
quoted the book 'Big Boys Rules' by Mark Urban which covers this
particular incident.
She said according to the author the period of surveillance prior to
the shooting was two weeks.
The barrister said that the proposed redactions even covered
publications which were in the public domain.
The hearing was also told that statements from some military witnesses
should be available by the end of the week.
One witness, Soldier A, who was described as 'pivotal' to the inquest
is currently the subject of a medical report to excuse him from giving
evidence.
Ms Quinlivan said that the next of kin may want to commission their own
report but could not do so until they had sight of the original
report.
A full inquest is due to begin on April 17 in Banbridge and is expected
to last 6 weeks.