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NI: "Shoot-to-kill" inquest

01 July 1992

An inquest resumed on 5 May into the deaths of three men killed by the RUC Special Branch's undercover surveillance unit E4A on 11 November 1982. The families of two of the men, Eugene Toman and Sean Burns, are refusing to attend the inquest which is being resumed before coroner John Leckey, the fifth coroner to be involved in the inquest to date. The killings formed part of the investigation into shoot-to-kill allegations carried out by John Stalker. In 1984, three police officers were acquitted of murdering Burns, Toman and McKerr by Justice Gibson who praised the police for bringing the three victims to "the final court of justice", a comment which caused outrage at the time. Gibson and his wife were later killed by the IRA on the border at Killeen while returning home from a holiday in France. In 1988, Secretary of State Sir Patrick Mayhew - then Attorney General - ruled that, while there was evidence of attempts to pervert the course of justice, police officers would not be prosecuted on grounds of 'national security'. At the renewed hearing, the coroner has ruled that the Public Interest Immunity Certificate issued by the then Secretary of State Tom King in 1988 to prevent details of the RUC operation being revealed at the inquest, was technically invalid as King had not read any of the relevant documentation. After continuing legal arguments over the release of police documents, the inquest has been adjourned until September.

Coroner Leckey also presided over the inquest into the death of UVF member, Brian Robinson, who was shot dead in 1989 by undercover soldiers belonging to 14 Intelligence Company. The findings of the inquest suggest that Robinson could have been arrested. The DPP has been asked by the Committee on the Administration of Justice to reconsider his decision not to prosecute the soldiers involved.