An inquest into the death of a British soldier from a mainly nationalist area of Co Armagh who was killed in Kenya has opened in an English city with close links to the SAS.
Tullysaran native, Major Kevin McCool, died on November 29 after being shot.
It has been reported that Mr McCool was jumped by armed men while riding a motorcycle at a local mountain.
Unusually, the British Ministry of Defence has refused to confirm what regiment Mr McCool belonged to at the time of his death.
The Irish News revealed last month that the 32-year-old had been a member of the Parachute Regiment.
It has now emerged that the former soldier was posted to the British High Commission in Nairobi, the Kenyan capitol, as a “regional military advisor”.
Fresh details about Mr McCool’s military record recently came to light in response to parliamentary questions tabled by Alba Party MP Kenny MacAskill.
It has also emerged that an inquest into his death opened on December 18 in Hereford, which is close to where the SAS are based at Stirling Lines, a British army garrison in the village of Credenhill.
Last month’s inquest hearing was told that Mr McCool was based at Stirling Lines.
It is understood his remains have been brought back to Herefordshire for his funeral, although it is not known if that has taken place yet.
Because Mr McCool’s remains have been returned to the area, the coroner in Herefordshire has jurisdiction over the inquest.
The SAS headquarters is located in an area with a strong military history and Hereford Cathedral has a stained-glass window in honour of the unit.
During the Troubles the controversial regiment was linked to multiple shoot-to-kill controversies in the north.
While it is not unusual for people from nationalist districts to join the British army, the Parachute Regiment tends to be avoided because of its actions on Bloody Sunday and the Ballymurphy Massacre.
Public records show Mr McCool was commissioned from Sandhurst in 2014 as a second lieutenant and three years later was made a captain in the Parachute Regiment.
He was later promoted to the rank of major and has been deployed to Europe, the Middle East, the Falklands and Africa.
A former pupil at the Integrated College Dungannon, he was a successful athlete and musician.
His father Joseph described his son as “really special”.
He also revealed that his eldest son Fergal and wife Joan travelled to Kenya before his son died.
“He had three days left on that tour of duty,” he said.
“He decided to go out on his scrambler motorbike for one last ride up a local mountain.
“He went up a road and two guys jumped out at him with a gun.
“It seems that he thought the gun was a dummy, he didn’t think it was real.
“He made the mistaken assumption that the gun was artificial and they shot him.”
The British army has a long and controversial history in Kenya, a former colony, and has a permanent training support unit based in Nanyuki, around 200km north of Nairobi.
While little is known about the role of the SAS in Kenya it has been reported that members of the regiment have been involved in training local commandos via the British embassy in Nairobi.
During a 2019 attack on a hotel there by Islamist militant group al-Shabaab an armed off-duty SAS sergeant, Christian Craighead, was pictured helping Kenyan authorities.
The MoD has been successful in blocking the former SAS man from publishing a book about his time in the African nation.