Solicitors acting for the families of two men murdered in Belfast five years ago have written to the Public Prosecution Service to ask for a meeting with its new director Barra McGrory. The families of murder victims Eddie Burns and Joe Jones want to raise concerns with the new director about the way the men’s cases have been handled to date.
Ardoyne man Eddie Burns was shot dead by members of the CIRA at Milltown off the Falls Road in the early hours of March 12 2007. Hours later Joe Jones was lured to a house in Ardoyne by the gang before being viciously beaten and then murdered with a spade in an entry at Elmfield St.
The CIRA gang behind the attacks had been drinking heavily and had taken drugs in the run-up to the murders.
On the fifth anniversary of the murders the families spoke out about failures in the efforts to bring the men’s killers to justice and said they felt let down by the system.
“Five years on from these particularly horrific murders no one has yet been brought to justice,” said Joe Jones’ brother Peter.
“It’s our view that there have been failures in the investigation and we intend to challenge both the police and the Public Prosecution Services both north and south.
“We are concerned that the police may have been prevented from doing their job by the intelligence services.”
Kathleen Burns, mother of Eddie, said that the families are determined to get justice. “There is now a new director of the Public Prosecution Service. We are calling on Barra McGrory to review the evidence and to look afresh at the police investigations. This is only the beginning of our campaign to bring to justice those who carried out these brutal murders and those who covered them up.
“We have instructed our solicitor Joe Rice to ask the PPS for this fresh meeting and we will raise a number of concerns we have about the case to date.”
