New inquests are to be held into the deaths of a civilian and eight IRA men who were killed in the SAS ambush at Loughgall in Co Armagh in 1987, the Advocate General for Northern Ireland Jeremy Wright QC has announced.
Previous attempts to prompt a fresh inquest into the Loughgall killings had failed but now Mr Wright has ruled there is justification for a new inquest.
“Following careful consideration of a huge amount of material I have come to the decision that new inquests into the Loughgall deaths are justified,” said Mr Wright on Wednesday.
“The new inquests will establish who has died, and how, when and where the death occurred. The Coroners Service for Northern Ireland will now take this forward,” he added.
Mr Wright has informed the families, the coroner’s office and the Northern Attorney General John Larkin, QC, of his decision.
The Northern Secretary Ms Villiers, who previously had blocked new inquests on the grounds of British national security, had asked Mr Wright to rule on fresh inquests.
The IRA suffered its worst single blow in terms of loss of life in the May 1987 SAS shootings. The eight IRA members killed were all members of its east Tyrone brigade, viewed as one of the most ruthless of the organisation’s units.
The IRA was planning to bomb the Loughgall RUC station. They drove into the town with a hijacked digger carrying a 200lb bomb and a blue Toyota van. A total of 24 SAS British army soldiers, who had intelligence on the attack, were primed and lying in wait. Some 600 shots were fired and all the IRA members died at the scene.
A 36-year-old civilian, Anthony Hughes, who was driving his car into Loughgall at the time, was also killed by the SAS in the shooting. His brother, who was in the vehicle with him, was hit 14 times but survived.
The British government later apologised to the Hughes family and confirmed Mr Hughes was “wholly innocent of any wrongdoing”.
