An SAS team which shot dead four IRA men in an ambush in Co Tyrone used lethal force which was not justified, a coroner has ruled.
Kevin O’Donnell (21), Patrick Vincent (20), Sean O’Farrell (22) and Peter Clancy (21) were shot dead after attacking Coalisland RUC Station on February 16 1992.
The men were killed in the grounds of St Patrick’s Church, Clonoe.
Soldiers opened fire as the gang dumped a lorry used in the machine-gun attack.
The SAS unit fired more than 500 rounds without warning as the men arrived in the hijacked lorry with a heavy machine gun still welded to its tailgate.
The IRA admitted the four were members of its east Tyrone brigade and on “active service” at the time of their deaths.
The scene of a shoot-out in Clonoe, near Coalisland, County Tyrone, where four IRA men were killed by the SAS.
An inquest into the case opened in 2023.
Delivering his findings this morning, Mr Justice Humphreys, presiding as coroner, found that in each case, the use of lethal force was not justified.
The coroner found the men died as a result of gunshots fired by members of a Specialist Military Unit, a unit within the Army.
He said the soldiers did not have an honest belief that it was necessary in order to prevent loss of life, and the use of force by the soldiers was not reasonable.
The coroner also found that the operation was not planned and controlled to minimise the need for lethal force.
All four men who died were from the east Tyrone area.
The inquest found O’Donnell died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head and chest.
Vincent died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head.
Clancy died as a result of a gunshot wounds to the head and trunk.
O’Farrell died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head and trunk.
In his findings, Mr Justice Humphreys rejected the soldiers’ claims that the IRA members opened fire in the car park, saying they were “demonstrably untrue”.
He said that reports created by the police force in the aftermath, including those provided to government ministers, referred to simultaneous firing and a firefight.
He said these statements were “demonstrably untrue and must have been known to be untrue”.
“The reasons for putting forward such false justifications for the actions of the soldiers are obvious,” he added.
“This, coupled with any lack of proper challenge of their accounts by the RUC investigators ensured there would be no actual accountability.”
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News Catch Up – Wednesday 5 February