Rita Bonner, sister of a victim John Laverty, arrives to listen to the findings of the report into the fatal shootings of 10 people in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast in 1971 that involved the British Army, at an inquest held at the International Conference Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, May 11, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
BELFAST (Reuters) -British soldiers unjustifiably shot or used disproportionate force in the deaths of nine of the 10 innocent people killed in a 1971 incident in Belfast that sparked an upsurge of violence during Northern Ireland s Troubles, a judge-led inquiry found.
A Catholic priest and a mother of eight who served soldiers tea were among the victims in an event Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney described on Tuesday as one of the most tragic days of Northern Ireland s three decades of bloodshed.
United KingdomBritish Army killed innocent civilians in Belfast in 1971 -inquiry
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Family members of Frank Quinn arrive to listen to the findings of the report into the fatal shootings of 10 people in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast in 1971 that involved the British Army, at an inquest held at the International Conference Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, May 11, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
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British soldiers unjustifiably shot or used disproportionate force in the deaths of nine of the 10 innocent people killed in a 1971 incident in Belfast that sparked an upsurge of violence during Northern Ireland s Troubles, a judge-led inquiry found.
A Catholic priest and a mother of eight who served soldiers tea were among the victims in an event Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney described on Tuesday as one of the most tragic days of Northern Ireland s three decades of bloodshed.
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Ballymurphy inquests: Use of lethal force by British Army in 1971 shootings not justified , coroner rules
The shooting of 10 people over three days in west Belfast in 1971 has become known as the Ballymurphy Massacre. By Press Association Tuesday 11 May 2021, 2:40 PM Tue 2:02 PM 36,748 Views 28 Comments
Families arriving at the the International Convention Centre in Belfast.
Image: PA Images
Image: PA Images
Updated Tue 2:40 PM
AN INQUEST INTO the shooting dead of 10 people in west Belfast almost 50 years has found that the people killed were “entirely innocent”.
The events over three days in August 1971 have become known as the Ballymurphy Massacre.
Coroner Mrs Justice Siobhan Keegan attributed nine of the ten shootings to the British Army and said the use of lethal force by soldiers was not justified.
A Northern Ireland inquest found that British soldiers killed unarmed innocent civilians in a massacre in Belfast during three chaotic days in 1971, foreshadowing the horrors of Bloody Sunday six months later.
Relatives of victims arrive for the inquest into the Ballymurphy shooting in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
(CN) A Northern Irish high court judge on Tuesday declared that British soldiers fatally shot innocent civilians, among them a mother of eight and a Catholic priest, nearly 50 years ago in a West Belfast massacre that foreshadowed the infamous Bloody Sunday killings that helped ignite a decades-long sectarian conflict known as the Troubles.
Ten people killed in west Belfast 50 years ago in disputed shootings involving British soldiers were “entirely innocent”, a coroner has ruled.
The Army has been found to be responsible for nine of the 10 deaths in August 1971, which included a mother-of-eight and a Catholic priest.
Presiding Coroner Mrs Justice Keegan said there was not enough evidence for her to determine where the shot that killed the 10th victim, John McKerr, came from, but branded it “shocking” that there was no adequate investigation of the killing afterwards.
The coroner acknowledged it was a chaotic time in Northern Ireland but ruled that the use of force by soldiers had been “disproportionate” in the nine deaths the Army was found as responsible for.