Legacy Inquests

The establishment of an independent Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) outside of the PSNI risks turning Northern Ireland into a "police state", two senior lawyers have claimed. Writing in the News Letter, Belfast solicitor Neil Faris and Peter Smith CBE QC, who served on the Patten Commission, sa

Legacy inquests set to begin this year will be delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the presiding coroner has said. In a statement issued yesterday, Mrs Justice Siobhan Keegan said the "full impact of the pandemic and the associated containment measures on legacy inquests are not yet kno

Controversial proposals to limit legacy investigations in order to protect former British soldiers from "vexatious claims" are set to be examined by a Westminster committee. The House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry to examine the extent to which the UK governme

Proposals to limit legacy investigations in order to protect former British soldiers from "vexatious claims" are incompatible with the UK's human rights obligations, a new report has warned. Professor Kieran McEvoy of Queen's University Belfast School of Law has led work by a team of legal experts t

The PSNI needs to carry out a "full audit" of its historical records to establish what material it may hold in relation to Troubles-related cases, a watchdog has said. The chief inspector of criminal justice in Northern Ireland, Jacqui Durkin, has called on the PSNI and the Office of the Police Ombu

Christopher Stanley, litigation consultant at KRW LAW LLP, examines the UK government's recent proposals for dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. On Wednesday 18th March 2020, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland published a statement on the British government’s proposal for Deali

The UK government has come under sharp criticism after unilaterally announcing a new approach to legacy investigations which would "protect veterans from vexatious claims". Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis today set out the government's proposals following a six-month consultation in 2018, w

A shortage of "judicial manpower" has led to a backlog of 30 legacy judicial review cases pending in the High Court, a judge has said. Lord Justice McCloskey, speaking in the court yesterday, said legacy cases awaiting determination currently make up a fifth of all pending judicial reviews in Northe

The family of a man who was fatally shot by a British soldier in 1972 has sought leave from the High Court to challenge the original inquest verdict of "misadventure". Thomas Burns, a father-of-four, was shot as he left the Glenpark Social Club in north Belfast on 12 July 1972 and he died from the g

Former Bedfordshire chief constable Jon Boutcher has been appointed to lead an independent police team investigating alleged collusion between the security forces and the so-called "Glenanne gang". The Court of Appeal ruled in July that the brother of 13-year-old Patrick Barnard, who was murdered in

The PSNI has been granted permission to appeal a landmark ruling on legacy investigations to the UK Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled in March that the Chief Constable of the PSNI had not demonstrated the independence of the PSNI's Legacy Investigation Branch, which is necessary fo

The presiding coroner for Northern Ireland has identified the 10 inquests which will take place from April 2020 to April 2021 under the Lord Chief Justice's five-year plan for dealing with legacy inquests. Mrs Justice Siobhan Keegan held 41 preliminary hearings over a three-week period in Septe

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has won an appeal against a £7,500 damages award over delays in progressing the inquest of the death of Pearse Jordan. The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Declan Morgan, found that the trial judge had failed to differentiate between the period of delay for

Landmark legislation to allow coroners in Northern Ireland to access relevant Garda testimony has been brought into force. The Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 2019, which was passed by the Oireachtas this summer as part of the Government's obligations under the 2014 Stormont House

Sitting as a Coroner in the inquest on the death of a 19-year-old man in Derry in 1972, Judge Patrick Kinney has found that the soldier who shot and killed Seamus Bradley was not justified in opening fire and that the investigation into his death was flawed and inadequate. Finding that the use of fo