A FRESH inquest into the killings of six unarmed Catholic men in the New Lodge has been granted by the Attorney General.
James McCann, James Sloan, Anthony Campbell, Ambrose Hardy, John Loughran and Brendan Maguire, known as the New Lodge Six, were killed within hours of each other on 3/4 February 1973 during gun attacks in North Belfast by the British Army and loyalists.
The announcement was made on Friday morning by victims’ group Relatives for Justice (RFJ) who published a letter from Attorney General Brenda King.
Mike Ritchie from RFJ welcomed this as an "important step" in the search for truth about the events in the New Lodge 48 years ago.
The family of John Loughran have welcomed the decision of the Attorney General to direct a fresh inquest into his death.
Families of the New Lodge Six victims at a commemoration
Willie Loughran, the brother of John, said the killings were an unprovoked attack on the New Lodge community that has left a deep trauma and many questions.
“We hope that a new inquest will answer some of the many questions we have as to the intentions and actions of the British army on that awful night," he added.
Pádraig Ó Muirigh, solicitor for the Loughran family, said: “The decision by the Attorney General is a significant step forward for the families’ campaign for the truth about what happened to their loved one.
“There has never been anything approaching a proper police investigation into the incident. Whilst there was civilian evidence and forensic reports to contradict the soldiers' accounts, these accounts were never put to the soldiers and their accounts were simply accepted without question.
There has never been anything approaching a proper police investigation into the incident. Whilst there was civilian evidence and forensic reports to contradict the soldiers' accounts, these accounts were never put to the soldiers and their accounts were simply accepted without question.
“The non-compellibililty of the soldiers to give evidence to the Coroner’s Court in 1975, the lack of pre-inquest disclosure to the families or their legal representatives and the inability of the Coroner’s court to reach ‘findings’ meant that the original inquests into the death of John Loughran and the other New Lodge Six victims were equally flawed.”
North Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Carál Ní Chuilín said: "I welcome the fact that a new inquest has been announced into the killing of six unarmed men in the New Lodge area in February 1973.
"These men were killed by the British army and loyalist gunmen and the relatives of those killed have been campaigning for almost 50 years for the truth about their deaths, particularly around allegations of collusion.
"I pay tribute to the families for the determination and dignity in their long campaign.
"The families of the New Lodge Six, like all relatives bereaved by the conflict are entitled to the truth.
"The British government needs to end its policy of frustrating families' demands for truth and implement the legacy mechanisms of the Stormont House Agreement in a human rights compliant manner."
