Victims' families welcome McGurk's bar bomb ruling
Families of those killed in the McGurk’s pub bomb have welcomed findings of investigative bias by police, but said the force had more questions to answer.
They maintained there was RUC collusion in the atrocity, but they said reputations of their loved ones had been restored after Ombudsman Al Hutchinson ruled out the security force theory that an IRA "own-goal" inside the north Belfast bar was responsible for the accidental death of 15 people.
More than 16 others were injured in the Ulster Volunteer Force attack at the bar in 1971.
The relatives have campaigned for years to have the police’s handling of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) attack reopened and to clear their loved ones’ names.
Pat Irvine’s mother Kitty Irvine, 53, died in the blast.
Almost choking with emotion at times during a press conference at a Belfast hotel, she said she had waited a long time for this day but more questions needed to be answered by the RUC.
However, she said: “Today is a victory for all the families of all the victims throughout Northern Ireland.”
She said today represented “the truth, exoneration of the victims, the survivors and all of the families – they were completely innocent”.
Her brother Sam Irvine said: “We are not out for revenge or to avenge, we just want the truth.”
The collective family statement said: “They were innocent victims whose memory was besmirched for many years by the slur that they were bombers. We are relieved that today their memories are vindicated.”
Patrick McGurk, son of bar owner Philomena McGurk, said Prime Minister David Cameron should make a Bloody Sunday-style apology to the families.
“There is a long catalogue of examples of bias in the RUC investigation,” he added.
The families believe that disinformation included an RUC duty officers’ report and a briefing from the Army’s director of operations.
There followed statements from former Northern Ireland minister for home affairs John Taylor which suggested republicans were responsible.
Mr Hutchinson recognised that for police officers and other emergency services to come under sustained gun attack in the vicinity of the bombing, which left one man dead and others injured, frustrated the initial work of detectives.
But the victims said the RUC attributed the bombing to the IRA despite eyewitness evidence, forensic evidence and denials from the IRA.
“We believe that all of the above, taken as a whole, amounts to evidence of collusive behaviour by the RUC,” they said.
“It amounted to corrupt practice and obstruction of justice. It is disappointing that the Ombudsman does not agree.”
