director of public prosecutions document

APPENDIX VIII

Table of Security Force Prosecutions:

Date of trial	Case	Force responsible	Victim(s)	Outcome of trial*	Sentence
1974	R v. Foxford**	British Army	Kevin Heatley	Conviction of manslaughter quashed on appeal
1974	R v. Ross	British Army	Anthony Mitchell	Acquittal
1974	R v. Spencer	British Army	Samuel Martin	Acquittal of manslaughter
1975	R v. Nicholl	British Army	Alex Howell	Acquittal of manslaughter
1975	R v. Jones	British Army	Patrick McElhone	Acquittal
1975	R v. Fury	British Army	Hugh Devine	Acquittal
1976	R v. Scott	British Army	Anthony Gallagher	Acquittal
1977	R v. Williams	British Army	Majella O’Hare	Acquittal
1979	R v. Bohan and Timperley	British Army	John Boyle	Acquittal
1981	R v. Davidson***	British Army	Mary Doherty	Convicted of manslaughter	Suspended sentence
1981	R v. McKeown	RUC	Michael McCartan	Acquittal
1982	R v. Bailey	British Army	Eamonn Bradley	Acquittal
1984	R v. Robinson	RUC	Seamus Grew and Roddie Carroll	Acquittal
1984	R v. Robinson, Montgomery and Brannigan	RUC	Gervaise McKerr, Eugene Toman and Sean Burns	Acquittal
1984	R v. Thain	British Army	Thomas Reilly	Convicted of murder	Life – served 2 years and 3 months
1984	R v. Baird	UDR	Martin Malone	Acquitted of manslaughter
1987	R v. Hegarty	RUC	Sean Downes	Acquitted of manslaughter
1988	R v. Holden	British Army	Aidan McAnespie	Manslaughter charge withdrawn
1993	R v. Clegg, Aindow, Boustead, Oliver, Wood and Tracey	British Army	Karen Reilly and Martin Peake	Clegg convicted of murder of Karen Reilly and attempted wounding of Martin Peake; Aindow’s conviction for attempted murder was commuted to malicious wounding on appeal.****	Life – served 2 years 5 months in jail and 1 year 11 months in army custody. 7 years reduced to 4 years after appeal. Kicked out of army for lying.
1993	R v. Elkington and Callaghan	British Army	Fergal Caraher	Acquittal
1993	R v. Hanley	RUC	Kevin McGovern	Acquittal
1994	R v. Wright and Fisher	British Army	Peter McBride	Both convicted of murder	Life – served 6 years

* All charges were of murder unless otherwise stated.

** This defendant was convicted of manslaughter by Kelly J at first instance but his conviction was overturned on appeal by Lord Lowry CJ.

*** Sentenced to 12 months detention in Young Offenders’ Centre, suspended for 2 years.

**** Clegg’s conviction of murder was, in June 1999, reduced to a conviction of wounding with intent which was dismissed at appeal in January 2000. Boustead was acquitted of attempted murder and three other charges; Oliver, Wood and Tracey were all acquitted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and obstruction.

(Sources: A. Jennings (ed.) (1988) Justice Under Fire p.105; BIRW (1996) Legal Protections and Remedies for the Victims of Abuse of Lethal Force Arising out of the Conflict in Northern Ireland; D. McKittrick et al (1999) Lost Lives; T. Hadden (1993) Legal controls on the Use of Lethal Force Options for Reform p.173)

Further controversy has arisen when these cases have made it to court due to the treatment of the victims by the judiciary. In particular, controversy arose from the statement made by Gibson LJ in his judgement in the case of R v. Montgomery and Others (the case of the killing of McKerr, Toman and Burns) when he commended the RUC officers involved for their ‘courage and determination in bringing the three deceased men to justice; in this case, to the final court of justice.’

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