Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has rejected a legal bid by the sister of an IRA man killed by the SAS in 1991 to challenge the findings of an inquest.
Tony Doris had planned to kill former Ulster Defence Regiment soldier in Coagh, Co Tyrone, on June 3rd, 1991, but was killed along with Lawrence McNally and Michael Ryan when they were ambushed.
An inquest previously found the use of lethal force by the soldiers was justified, although some elements of the planning and control of the operation were criticised.
Following the inquest, Doris’s sister, Roisin Nugent, challenged the findings made by the coroner about the actions of one of soldiers involved, identified only as Soldier B.
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In April 2024, the coroner, Judge Michael Humphreys, found the soldiers’ use of lethal force was “reasonable and proportionate” because they had “an honest belief that it was necessary” to save the lives of others.
On Thursday the Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled “no arguable legal error” had emerged in the hearing that would offer “a reasonable prospect of success” if a challenge were allowed.
Humphreys had, the Court of Appeal found, applied the correct legal texts and reached “a rational well-reasoned decision” compliant with article two of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The case made by Doris’s sister would have been “dismissed on its merits” if permission had been granted to challenge the findings, the Court of Appeal found.
Her challenge “really amounted to a disagreement with the coroner’s findings”, which is not the purpose of judicial reviews, it said.
The three IRA men intended to kill a local factory worker and former UDR soldier, Allister Harkness, which led to an SAS unit being deployed by the British Army.
Harkness was warned and his family were temporarily moved. One SAS soldier dressed up as him, even dyeing his hair, and he drove Harkness’s gold Austin Maestro on its usual morning route.
The soldier then sat on a wall by public toilets, ostensibly reading a newspaper. Shortly afterwards, the IRA men appeared driving a red Vauxhall Cavalier stolen shortly before from a family in a local village.
One of the IRA men appeared from the car, carrying an AK-47, but retreated back into it on suspecting a trap, before the three were fired upon by SAS soldiers who had hidden in a parked Bedford lorry.
During the inquest, the soldiers told the IRA men’s families there had been no time for a verbal warning.
Retired British army generals Peter Wall and Nick Parker have welcomed the Court of Appeal judgment, but said such cases were causing “unnecessary distress” to veterans.
Legacy legislation that would allow new Troubles cases to be taken, which is strongly opposed by British veterans, has not yet been given a date to return to the House of Commons for final debate.
The legislation, the retired generals said, must be changed to ensure “a clear legal threshold” that would block new cases against soldiers unless there was new independently certified evidence.
There must be “a definitive end point; this cycle will continue. If the government cannot deliver that, the Bill should be dropped”, the retired generals said.
