Prosecutors will look further into the killing of three IRA members shot dead by the SAS in 1991, the solicitor for the families of the two of the men said.
Peter Ryan, Tony Doris and Lawrence McNally were shot dead in Coagh in June, 1991. In his provisional findings, Mr Justice Michael Humphreys said he was satisfied the use of force was “reasonable” as the soldiers had an honest belief that it was necessary in order to prevent loss of life.
However, the coroner criticised the police investigation as “woefully inadequate” and also highlighted the destruction by soldiers of a British Army video and other documentation linked to the incident.
Mr Justice Humphreys said he was satisfied the use of force was “reasonable and proportionate”. This was because the soldiers “had an honest belief that it was necessary in order to prevent loss of life”.
He said: “The use of force by the soldiers was, in the circumstances they believed them to be, reasonable.”
But the coroner added that “the operation was not planned in a manner which minimised to the greatest extent possible the need for recourse to lethal force”.
The inquest into the deaths of the three IRA men opened in 2022.
They were intercepted as they drove in a stolen car through Coagh by SAS soldiers who suspected they were intending to murder a member of the security forces.
All three were members of the East Tyrone Brigade of the IRA and were on “active service” when they were shot.
The Ryan and Doris families welcome the decision to make a report to the Director of Public Prosecutions under the Justice (NI) Act 2002 “on the basis that criminal offences may have been committed in relation to the planning of the operation”, the solicitor for the families of two of the individuals said.
Under the act, a coroner can refer a matter to the director of public prosecutions if it appears “to disclose that an offence may have been committed”.
Pádraig Ó'Muirigh, the solicitor for the Ryan and Doris families, said this is linked to “the conduct of Soldiers M, N, E and F...in relation to the planning of the operation”.
“He has also decided to exercise his discretion to refer the conduct of Soldiers E and U to the PPS in respect of the destruction of a video recording of the incident,” Mr Ó'Muirigh said.
“The Ryan and Doris families have always maintained that the military were operating a shoot-to-kill policy at this time and effectively set up a kill zone in Coagh on the 3rd June 1991.”
The solicitor noted that in his provisional findings the coroner concluded “this operation was not planned in such a way as to minimise the need to have recourse to the use of lethal force. Rather the plan was conceived in a manner which meant the use of lethal force was highly likely if not, in fact, inevitable”.
Mr Ó'Muirigh added that Mr Justice Humphreys said: “The attitude of the soldiers who gave evidence to the inquest in relation to the destruction of the video demonstrated a clear and unequivocal willingness to subvert the rule of law.”
