FAMILIES of those killed and injured in the McGurk’s Bar Massacre have initiated legal proceedings against the Office of the Police Ombudsman.

15 people, including two children, were killed in the atrocity at the bar in North Queen Street in December 1971.

Relatives of the victims say they have had no choice other than go down a legal route after a failure by the Office of the Police Ombudsman to deal with, to their satisfaction, a 2015 complaint regarding serious allegations against present policing and its mishandling of the investigation into the massacre.

The legal action also notes the failure to investigate new evidence discovered by the families and refusal to retrieve potentially critical, new information which the families had discovered in redacted and closed files.

Family campaigner, Gerard Keenan, and legal representative, Niall Ó Murchú of Kinnear and Co. Solicitors handed over legal correspondence to the Office of the Police Ombudsman this week. 

Gerard was orphaned when his parents perished in the attack.

The legal action also follows the recent discovery of shocking new evidence by campaigner Ciarán Mac Airt including archival proof that:

  • The British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary knew within hours that the seat of the explosion was in the hallway of McGurk’s Bar and not in the main bar (meaning the bar was attacked as witnesses testified).
  • The McGurk’s Bar lie that blamed the explosion on the innocent civilians in the bar can be traced in British Military files to collusion between the RUC and then Brigadier Frank Kitson.
  • There were British Army units in the vicinity of McGurk’s Bar comprising a covert British military operation and “ambush OP” [Observation Post]. British Security Force presence in the area was denied by successive investigations including the Office of the Police Ombudsman.
  • The British Army recorded suspect cars reported to have been involved in the attack including the bomber’s car leaving the vicinity.
  • There was a high-level, coordinated and sustained plot by senior members of the RUC, British Army and Civil Service to deceive two Parliaments about the true circumstances of the bombing and the perpetrators of the mass murder.

Ciarán MacAirt told belfastmedia.com: “In August 2020, the Police Ombudsman told the media that ‘the public must have confidence that the police provide my Office with all the information it asks for’ and that she and the Chief Constable ‘agree such disclosure is central to confidence in both organisations’.

“I find those statements pathetic considering our families have been forced to find critical evidence of the police cover-up ourselves. In our view, the Police Ombudsman's Office is not fit-for-purpose."

 “These families have been extremely patient with OPONI despite chronic failings in its investigation and its treatment of the families over 15 years," added Niall Ó Murchú. "Since the families raised this serious complaint in October 2015, the Office of the Police Ombudsman promised much and delivered nothing. 

“Action needs to be taken now to stop this ending up before the courts.”