Forensic advances bring chance of new prosecutions for 1970s IRA bombings

Irish Times

15 hours ago

The blue and white Bedford bus carrying
British soldiers
and their families was nearly torn in two by the
IRA
bomb that exploded in the luggage compartment shortly after midnight on February 4th, 1974.
The explosion, as they travelled on the M62 near Batley, West Yorkshire, to Catterick, left nine soldiers dead, including 31-year-old Gunnery Sergeant Major Clifford Haughton, whose 23-year-old wife Linda and their sons Lee, aged five, and Robert, aged two, were also killed.
In November that year, in Preston Crown Court, Judith Ward was wrongfully convicted of the bombing, on the back of her own confused, contradictory statements, but, mostly, by forensic evidence.
The evidence offered by the later discredited scientist Frank Skuse claimed that traces of explosives had been found on her hands and belongings, including nitroglycerine and PETN residues.
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However, the Griess and thin-layer chromatography tests used by Skuse and colleagues were – as also seen in the Birmingham Six case – highly prone to contamination and false positives if carried out incorrectly.
Following 17 years in jail, Ward was released in 1992 when the court of appeal in London quashed her conviction, finding that evidence that pointed to her innocence had been suppressed by Skuse.
More than 50 years on from the M62 bombing, however, samples gathered that night could yet play a key role in bringing justice for those killed, and left bereaved, due to huge advances in forensic technology.
Judith Ward was convicted of the Catterick bombing only to have her conviction overturned due to disproven forensic evidence. Photograph: Central Press/The common construction methods used by individuals to make the IRA bombs for the 1970s campaign in Britain is at the heart of the investigation now under way by the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
The investigation by the commission, which has been subjected to strong criticism since its foundation, was prompted by approaches from family members of the bereaved left by a succession of 1970s IRA attacks in Britain.
Several prime suspects for the M62 bombing and other attacks between 1974 and 1976, including the Guildford pub attacks, have been identified, according to investigators.
Now in their 70s and 80s, the suspects have been linked by results from new forensic tests on decades-old samples ordered by the ICRIR made possible by striking advances in technology in recent years.
'Due to very significant advances in forensic science since these atrocities half a century ago, we have developed some highly significant leads,' said the ICRIR's deputy commissioner, Keith Surtees.
There is 'the real prospect of finally bringing' IRA members who were involved in some 70 bombings and shootings to justice, the former
Metropolitan Police
commander told The Irish Times.
The IRA attack near Warrenpoint on August 27th, 1979 killed 18 British soldiers. Photograph: Sunday Mirror/ Mirrorpix/ Mirrorpix via Getty Images
The aftermath of the August 1979 bombing in Warrenpoint. Photograph: Pacemaker
Following requests from family members, the ICRIR is also investigating the August 1979 ambush that killed 18 British army soldiers close to Narrow Water Castle near Warrenpoint, when IRA bombs were detonated from the southern side of the Border.
The ICRIR wants the Irish Government to strengthen the co-operation offered by Dublin to its work. Investigators involved in Operation Kenova, which reported on the activities of the British army spy known as Stakeknife who operated at the heart of the IRA during the Troubles, were unhappy with the help offered previously.
Separately, liaison rules to govern contacts with the Garda and judicial authorities in the Republic to expedite requests for evidence and information held by the Garda, military intelligence in Dublin or other quarters are now sought.
'If you want to fully investigate cases like
Narrow Water
, a joint framework with the Irish government is needed,' one official closely involved in the situation told The Irish Times, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Both Narrow Water bombs were deliberately set off half an hour apart using radio control by IRA men 200 yards across the lough on its southern bank. A British tourist was also killed on the shore in Co Louth by army gunfire.
Surtees was the chief investigator for Operation Kenova, which established that Stakeknife – taken to be Freddie Scappaticci – was linked to 13 murders and 15 abductions of suspected fellow agents and informers.
Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four, who were wrongly convicted for a bombing in Guildford, after his release from the Old Bailey, London in October 1989. Photograph: Peter Thursfield
The ICRIR is also investigating the two no-warning pub bombings in Guildford, Surrey five days before the October 1974 British general election, which killed five people, including four soldiers, in the Horse and Groom pub.
The bomb had been left by a man and women posing as a courting couple. Thirty minutes later, a second bomb exploded at the Seven Stars pub, but injuries were limited to the landlord and his wife because it had been otherwise evacuated.
Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill, Paddy Armstrong, and Carole Richardson – known as the 'Guildford Four' – were convicted for these attacks, spending 15 years in jail before their convictions were overturned.
Declining to offer further detail for 'operational reasons', Surtees emphasised that he was 'confident' that some investigations will result in arrests, along with offering the bereaved long-sought information about their loved ones' deaths.
Under the
Legacy Act
, only relatives can trigger an ICRIR investigation. The fact that the latest chapter of its work is focusing on some of the most high-profile IRA attacks of the Troubles, and not just on the actions of British soldiers, will be keenly noted.
The ICRIR was established under the Conservative government's controversial 2023 Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act in a bid, Conservative ministers said, to 'draw a line' under legacy cases.
Universally unpopular in Northern Ireland, the Act closed all outstanding Troubles-related inquests and initially offered amnesties in return for accurate information before that was rejected by judges.
Under the Act, the ICRIR is the only agency permitted to investigate the several hundred unresolved conflict-related deaths that require investigation complying with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
However, the Belfast legacy body does not have sufficient powers to investigate to that standard and has been strongly criticised by nationalists for that, and its perceived lack of lack of operational independence from the British state.
Northern Secretary
Hilary Benn
has promised to 'strengthen the commission's independence and accountability' through primary legislation, though he has yet to flesh out details.
Despite the complaints about its independence, more than 220 people have so far contacted the ICRIR seeking information about the killings of their loved ones, sources close to the body say.
The ICRIR has itself proposed an amendment to Benn that would guarantee that criminal investigations would only be carried by former detectives who served in police forces in Britain, and not by anyone who served in the RUC.
Instead, ex-RUC officers employed by the ICRIR would be restricted to recovering information from files about a death for relatives who seek it, or helping to gather information from former members of paramilitary groups who might offer it.
The legitimacy of some of the complaints levelled against the ICRIR is acknowledged by senior Whitehall sources, especially its inability to consistently conduct Article 2-compliant investigations.
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn. Photograph:The Legacy Act gives ICRIR investigators fewer powers than a police force, even fewer than local authorities in some cases. It does not have powers to direct surveillance, retrieve telephone billing data or to force a suspect to provide a DNA sample.
The challenge facing the Northern Ireland Secretary is whether he grants extra powers to the ICRIR, which has 90 live investigations under way into 157 overall deaths. Its number of cases will rise to over 300 by next summer.
'There is a need for significant reform' said one Whitehall official 'both for confidence building and as a matter of sheer practicality'. Currently, the option of giving powers similar to Operation Kenova is favoured.
While Kenova was not without its critics, it published significant new information about Stakeknife's criminality after securing access to MI5 files and a secret ministry of defence computer system that had been inaccessible to three earlier investigations.
A final report is expected later this year.
The Commission has been pushing Benn for Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA)-type powers that would allow it to carry out surveillance, subject to warrants and court orders.
It wants powers, too, to appeal decisions by the Northern Ireland Secretary barring the publication of sensitive information, typically the role of British agents in Northern Ireland, on the grounds of national security.
The UK supreme court is considering an appeal by Benn to retain the veto over what constitutes a threat to national security instead of the PSNI Chief Constable exercising his discretion over intelligence held by him.