THE family of a North Belfast man shot outside an Ardoyne social club in 1972 have been granted leave by the High Court in Belfast to challenge the Attorney General’s decision not to grant a fresh inquest.
Thomas Burns was shot by a British soldier as he left the Glenpark Social Club on July 12, 1972. He died the following day.
He had served with the Royal Navy in Singapore and Scotland before returning to Belfast to settle with his wife and four young children.
The first stage of the judicial review challenge was heard by the Court in Belfast in February 2022. High Court judge Mr Justice Humphreys, who is also the Presiding Coroner for Belfast, has now granted a full hearing into the case.
The Attorney General has now asked the Court for time to consider the leave judgement and the case is listed for a review in early April 2022.
Lawyers acting for Patricia Burns, daughter of Thomas, applied to the Attorney General for Northern Ireland for a fresh inquest in 2015.
Further submissions were made by Mrs Burns' lawyers in 2019 in relation to the verdict of misadventure found by inquest jury in April 1973.
In his response in 2019 the then Attorney General, Mr John Larkin QC, accepted that Thomas Burns was an innocent victim, and that the verdict of misadventure was wrong in both fact and law. However, he refused the family a fresh inquest on the basis that there was no usefulness to an inquest 47 years after their father was killed.
The family sought leave of the High Court by way of judicial review procedure to challenge the negative decision of the Attorney General.
Previously in 2013 the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) identified and liased with new witnesses, some of whom were British soldiers on duty in Glenpark Street and Louisa Street at the time Thomas Burns was killed.
One of those soldiers witnessed the shooting. That witness confirmed to the HET that the statement, which was purported to be his, which was submitted to the 1973 inquest, was not in fact his evidence. He also reported that his recollection of the events and his location at the time Thomas Burns was shot were different from the information contained in the statements of other soldiers.
This new evidence called into doubt the veracity and validity of the statements provided by other soldiers at the time of the original inquest.
Both the HET and the Attorney General accepted that Thomas Burns was an entirely innocent victim of the Troubles.
Patricia Burns said: “The family are delighted to have been granted leave for a full hearing by the High Court Judge.
JUSTICE FIGHT: Patricia Burns, daughter of Thomas Burns
"We retain our faith that the courts in Northern Ireland will not let people be treated as second class citizens. We need to re-write history for myself, my family, and my children, and most importantly for my daddy.”
Nichola Harte, of Harte Coyle Collins, Solicitors and Advocates added: “The 1973 inquest verdict of misadventure regarding Mr Burns' killing is incorrect in fact and in law.
"The Attorney General accepted this in correspondence. The previous Attorney General maintained that there is no usefulness in a fresh inquest.
"Given the new evidence contained in the HET Review, this cannot be either correct or appropriate.
"The shooting of Thomas Burns was a mindless assassination, not an accident or a reaction. The rule of law must apply and be upheld.”
