It took decades of campaigning, months of hearings, delays due to the coronavirus pandemic and more than two hours of findings, but 50 years on from the shooting of 10 people in west Belfast, their loved ones say their fight to clear their names has been won.
The longest running inquest in Northern Ireland’s history finally concluded at Belfast Coroner’s Court on Tuesday afternoon with applause.
The British Army were found to have fired the fatal shots which killed nine of the 10, with not enough evidence around the final death to determine the likely gunman.
Bereaved families walked to the court holding pictures of their mothers, fathers and siblings aloft as they had done for 100 sitting days of the inquests.
Relatives of 10 people killed in west Belfast in shootings involving British soldiers 50 years ago have welcomed a ruling that their loved ones were “entirely innocent”.
There were jubilant scenes outside Belfast Coroner’s Court as the families of those shot in Ballymurphy in August 1971 emerged to cheers from supporters.
John Teggart, whose father Danny was among those killed, welcomed the “historic verdict”.
“After 50 years they have finally had their names cleared,” he said.
The daughter of Joseph Corr, another of those killed, said the inquest verdict had gone further than she had hoped.
Eileen McKeown said: “I was expecting them just to say they were innocent.
Statement from the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on the findings of the Ballymurphy inquest
Statement from the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on the findings of the Ballymurphy inquest.
From:
11 May 2021
I want to acknowledge the terrible hurt that has been caused to the families of Francis Quinn, Father Hugh Mullan, Noel Phillips, Joan Connolly, Daniel Teggart, Joseph Murphy, Edward Doherty, John Laverty, Joseph Corr, and John McKerr. I pay tribute to the great patience with which their families have conducted themselves during their determined campaign, which has lasted almost 50 years. They should not have had to wait this long for details about the events that unfolded between 9 – 11 August 1971.
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Ten people killed in a 1971 British Army operation in Belfast were innocent, an inquest set up to examine one of the bloodiest days in Northern Ireland’s three decades of unrest found on Tuesday.
The inquest, which began in November 2018, examined the deaths in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast.
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The shootings occurred during the era known as the Troubles, when armed troops patrolled streets of the British-ruled province riven by sectarian conflict.
The victims included a Catholic priest and a mother-of-eight who served tea to soldiers. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Tuesday it was “one of the most tragic days” of the conflict.
Relatives of 10 people killed in west Belfast in shootings involving British soldiers 50 years ago have welcomed a ruling that their loved ones were “entirely innocent”.
There were jubilant scenes outside Belfast Coroner’s Court as the families of those shot in Ballymurphy in August 1971 emerged to cheers from supporters.
John Teggart, whose father Danny was among those killed, welcomed the “historic verdict”.
“After 50 years they have finally had their names cleared,” he said.
The daughter of Joseph Corr, another of those killed, said the inquest verdict had gone further than she had hoped.
Eileen McKeown said: “I was expecting them just to say they were innocent.