A former MP and Veterans Minister has claimed a ruling that excessive force was used in the shooting of four IRA men in Co Tyrone in 1992 is “absurd to everyone outside Northern Ireland”.
Mr Justice Humphreys, presiding as coroner, delivered his verdict and findings into an incident in 1992 during which four members of the PIRA’s east Tyrone brigade were killed.
Kevin Barry O’Donnell (21), Patrick Vincent (20), Peter Clancy (21) and Sean O’Farrell (22) died as a result of gunshots fired by members of the SAS at a chapel car park in Clonoe on February 16.
The four men had been on their way back from an operation in which they had hijacked a lorry in nearby Coalisland, attached a Russian made DShK machine gun to it and fired 60 rounds at the town’s RUC station.
Mr Humphrey’s ruling found that in the case of all four men, the use of lethal force was not justified.
“There is no physical way possible that that coroner can question their honest belief.” – Johnny Mercer
He said the soldiers did not have an honest belief that force was necessary to prevent the loss of life and that its use was not reasonable. The coroner also found the operation was not planned and controlled in a way that would have minimised the need for lethal force.
Former MP Johnny Mercer, who served as Minister for Veterans Affairs in both Boris Johnson’s and Liz Truss’ governments, said Mr Humphreys’ ruling would be deemed “absurd” outside the jurisdiction.
“I completely reject his ruling; it is his view, based on a balance of probabilities with soldiers giving no evidence,” he told the Belfast Telegraph.
Patrick Vincent (left), Sean O’Farrell, Kevin O’Donnell (top right) and Peter Clancy (bottom right)
“I’ve sat through these court cases. This way of attempting to rewrite history looks absolutely absurd to everybody outside Northern Ireland.
“I’m not interested in the sectarian sides of the divide or any of that. There is no way you can have a safe conviction 33 years later when it’s already been investigated by the police.
“All that is happening is you are ruining veterans’ lives and you are getting no answers whatsoever for families.”
Ronan McCourt, a solicitor for the family of Peter Clancy, rejected Mr Mercer’s comments.
“I think it’s very important that people that are speculating on what has been said or the findings of Mr Justice Humphrey, Google the judiciary NI website… do actually read the facts, read the rationale… because it most certainly isn’t a farce,” he told the BBC.
“It is not the opposite of fairness. It does not make the judicial system look ridiculous in any way, shape or form.”
Mr Humphreys’ ruling noted that seven of the soldiers involved had admitted to police that they shot at “vehicles exiting the car park and/or persons fleeing the scene”.
The coroner also found a number of soldiers admitted during interview that they had shot Peter Clancy when he was on the ground.
He also said that “on the balance of probability”, the head shot that killed Kevin Barry O’Donnell had been inflicted while he was on the ground.
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The report also noted that army intelligence suggesting the PIRA unit would use the chapel car park to disperse and disassemble the weapon had not been passed onto the soldiers who were on the ground.
The judge said this marked a “serious flaw” in the planning of the operation.
Mr Mercer said it was wrong to “second-guess” the soldiers who took part in the operation.
“Whether they were dismantling it or putting it together, it’s irrelevant,” he said.
“They’d fired this weapon already, they had shown their intent to cause mass murder with what is for all intents and purposes an anti-aircraft gun. I’ve been ambushed by a DhsK machine gun in Afghanistan and it’s horrific.
The scene of the incident in Clonoe in 1992
“Those individuals, those operators who were protecting civilian life were in the process of doing that upholding the law.
“To second-guess them in this way sets a terrible precedent.
“There is no physical way possible that that coroner can question their honest belief.
“It’s absolutely horrific for these veterans who are now in their 70s and 80s and should be living in their twilight years, proud of their service, to be thrown to the wolves like this.
“That said, there was a police investigation into this at the time.
“It is not right to persistently look at incidents from 30 years ago through the lens of 2025.”
Earlier on Friday, Mr Mercer told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster that the ruling was a “farce”, a view rejected by Mark Thompson from campaign group Relatives for Justice.
“The story is here that the UK Government who was condemning the actions of the republicans and other organisations was engaging for itself in the very actions that it was condemning”, he said.
“It [the UK Government] was engaging in a pre-planned, premeditated ambush and assassination with impunity and that is despicable.”