A coroner’s ruling the SAS was unjustified in shooting dead four IRA men in Tyrone has been very controversial with unionist politicians and British Army veterans.
Mr Justice Michael Humphreys ruled the SAS did not have an honest belief that lethal force was necessary and that their actions were not reasonable.
Sinn Féin welcomed the ruling into what the party described as “executions”.
Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie said it was “ludicrous to say that the shooting of four heavily armed terrorists” was unjustified. The DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the “judgement beggars belief”.
The four IRA men were shot dead in the grounds of church near Clonoe in 1992, minutes after attacking Coalisland RUC Station.
Soldiers fired more than 500 rounds as they attempting to remove a heavy machine gun from a hijacked lorry.
All four were members of the IRA’s East Tyrone brigade – one of the organisations most active during the Troubles.
But it was also one which lost many of its own members at the hands of the security forces, and particularly the SAS.
Ciarán Dunbar is joined by author of ‘Death in the Fields: The IRA and East Tyrone’ Jon Trigg, who served in east Tyrone as a British Army officer.
The East Tyrone IRA, Loughgall, Clonoe, and the SAS
