Members of a specialist British military unit who shot dead four IRA men in an ambush in Co Tyrone in 1992 used lethal force which was not justified, a coroner has ruled.
Northern Ireland’s presiding coroner, Mr Justice Michael Humphreys, found that the SAS soldiers did not have an honest belief in the necessity of using lethal force and that it was unjustified and not reasonable.
Four Provisional IRA members – Kevin Barry O’Donnell, 21, Sean O’Farrell, 23, Peter Clancy, 19, and Daniel Vincent, 20 – were shot dead by the soldiers minutes after they had carried out a gun attack on Coalisland RUC station.
The special forces opened fire as the men arrived at St Patrick’s Church car park in a stolen lorry they had used in the police station attack.
An inquest into the circumstances of the killings opened in 2023.
In his findings, Mr Justice Humphreys, who is also a High Court judge, said that the use of force in the ambush was not justified and that the soldiers did not have an honest belief that it was necessary in order to prevent loss of life.
He also said the use of force by the soldiers was, in the circumstances they believed them to be, “not reasonable”.
The judge was also critical of the operation, saying it was not planned and controlled in a way to minimise to the “greatest extent possible” the need to use lethal force.
He also rejected the soldiers’ claims that the IRA members opened fire in the car park, saying they were “demonstrably untrue”.
Mr Justice Humphreys went on to say that reports created by the police force in the aftermath, including those provided to government ministers, referred to simultaneous firing and a firefight.
He said these statements were “demonstrably untrue and must have been known to be untrue”.
“The reasons for putting forward such false justifications for the actions of the soldiers are obvious,” he added.
“This, coupled with any lack of proper challenge of their accounts by the RUC investigators ensured there would be no actual accountability.”
