This document, which examines the role of the Director of Public Prosecutions, is based on a premise which the Pat Finucane Centre holds regarding the events of the past thirty years. The premise is that one of the fundamental causes of conflict on this island has been the failure to uphold Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
"All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law."
The failure to uphold this principle, which should form the very bedrock of a democratic state, is, we would argue, the root cause of the alienation which drove thousands to decide that the state itself was illegitimate and that violence was, therefore, a legitimate response. While the structural violence of discrimination brought a whole generation onto the streets in peaceful protest it was the traumatic realisation that state violence could be inflicted with impunity which caused ordinary people to turn their backs on peaceful protest. Where to turn if the lawmakers were the lawbreakers?
The tragedy which befell the family of Charles and Gary English is a microcosm of the dilemma posed when the state, whose duty it is to uphold the law, instead violates the law repeatedly with no sanction. On 6 August 1985 Charles English, an IRA volunteer, died when a home made grenade launcher exploded in his hands in the William St area of Derry. He was 21. Understanding why he had waited to ambush and presumably kill members of an RUC patrol is central to understanding this document on the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. What drove him to do what he did? The explanation is to be found four years earlier only several hundred yards from the spot where he died. On Easter Sunday 1981 there was sporadic rioting in the Bogside. A crowd, including Gary English, brother of the later IRA volunteer, had gathered to watch. Two British Army landrovers came driving down Creggan Hill at speed. Gary and another young boy called Jim Brown (18) turned to run. Jim Brown was struck by the leading landrover and thrown some 60 feet into the air. His death would have been instantaneous. Gary English was also struck by the landrover though it remains unclear whether this was the cause of death. The patrol leader, Colour Sergeant Smith, dismounted from the vehicle, established that Brown was dead and then proceeded to reverse back over Gary English’s body. Witnesses were adamant that the landrovers had deliberately ‘aimed’ at the crowd and that the crew of the landrover had a clear vision of the seriously injured boy on the roadway as they reversed. Despite evidence which should have prompted the DPP to charge the driver with murder or manslaughter the DPP chose to treat the incident as a traffic offence. The driver was charged with reckless driving and acquitted. Bishop Daly said he was disgusted at the verdict. The justice system had completely failed the family of Gary English. Mickey English, father of the victim, campaigned for justice for many years without success. Charles made his own decision. It would eventually lead to his death. His father commented, "It is my conviction that I would not have lost a second son had justice operated for us in the first place over the death of […Gary]." Would Charles English have joined the IRA had he lived in a democratic state where all were equal before the law and entitled to equal protection?
It was stated above and will be argued in this document that the state repeatedly violated the law without sanction. It was the statutory duty of the DPP to apply the sanction. The office of the DPP failed to do so, repeatedly.Part I of the document outlines in some detail the historical and statutory background to the office of the DPP. As such it provides a framework for Part II, the more controversial section, which critically analyses the performance of the DPP. Part III offers proposals for reform.
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