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k back towards the border on their way to the border they were challenged by the security forces when challenged they made movements which led the military personnel operating in support of the gibraltar police to conclude that their own lives and the lives of others were under threat in light of this response they the ira members were shot those killed were subsequently found not to have been carrying arms the parked renault car was subsequently dealt with by a military bomb disposal team it has now been established that it did not contain an explosive device press coverage in the following days after howe s statement that no bomb had been found continued to focus on the act planned by the ira several newspapers reported a search for a fourth member of the team reports of the discovery of the bomb in marbella appeared to vindicate the government s version of events and justify the killings several mps made statements critical of the operation while a group of labour mps tabled a condemnatory motion 35 aftermath edit grave of mairéad farrell daniel mccann and seán savage in milltown cemetery belfast main article march 1988 in the troubles see also milltown cemetery attack and corporals killings the ira notified the mccann savage and farrell families of the deaths on the evening of 6 march 36 and the following day publicly announced that the three were members of the ira 37 a senior member of sinn féin joe austin was tasked with recovering the bodies on 9 march he and terence farrell mairéad farrell s brother travelled to gibraltar to identify the bodies austin negotiated a charter aircraft to collect the corpses from gibraltar and fly them to dublin on 14 march in 2017 it emerged that charles haughey had secretly requested that the royal air force fly the bodies direct to belfast bypassing the republic of which he was taoiseach 38 two thousand people waited to meet the coffins in dublin which were then driven north to belfast 39 at the border the northern irish authorities met the procession with a large number of police and military vehicles and insisted on intervals between the hearses causing tensions between police and members of the procession and leading to accusations that the police rammed savage s hearse 40 41 the animosity continued until the procession split to allow the hearses to travel to the respective family homes british soldiers and police flooded the neighbourhoods to try to prevent public displays of sympathy for the dead later that evening a local ira member kevin mccracken was shot and allegedly then beaten to death by a group of soldiers he had been attempting to shoot at 41 42 the joint funeral of mccann farrell and savage took place on 16 march at milltown cemetery in belfast the royal ulster constabulary ruc agreed to maintain a minimal presence at the funeral in exchange for guarantees from the families that there would be no salute by masked gunmen 43 this agreement was leaked to michael stone who described himself as a freelance loyalist paramilitary 44 during the burial stone threw grenades into the crowd and began shooting with an automatic pistol injuring 60 people several mourners chased stone throwing rocks and shouting abuse stone continued shooting and throwing grenades at his pursuers killing three of them he was eventually captured after being chased onto a road and the pursuers beat him until the ruc arrived to extract and arrest him 45 46 47 48 the funeral of caoimhín mac brádaigh kevin brady the third and last of the milltown attack victims to be buried was scheduled for 19 march 49 as his cortège proceeded along andersontown road a car driven by two undercover british army corporals david howes and derek wood sped past stewards and drove into the path of the cortège the corporals attempted to reverse but were blocked in and a hostile crowd surrounded their car 50 as members of the crowd began to break into the vehicle one of the corporals drew and fired a pistol which momentarily subdued the crowd before both men were dragged from the car beaten and disarmed a local priest intervened to stop the beating but was pulled away when a military identity card was found raising speculation that the corporals were sas members the two were bundled into a taxi driven to waste ground by ira members and beaten further six men were seen leaving the vehicle 51 another ira man arrived with a pistol taken from one of the soldiers with which he repeatedly shot the corporals before handing the weapon to another man who shot the corporals bodies multiple times margaret thatcher described the corporals killings as the single most horrifying event in northern ireland during her premiership 52 the corporals shootings sparked the largest criminal investigation in northern ireland s history which created fresh tension in belfast as republicans saw what they believed was a disparity in the efforts the ruc expended in investigating the corporals murders compared with those of republican civilians over four years more than 200 people were arrested in connection with the killings of whom 41 were charged with a variety of offences the first of the so named casement trials concluded quickly two men were found guilty of murder and given life sentences in the face of overwhelming evidence of the trials that followed many proved much more controversial 53 death on the rock edit main article death on the rock on 28 april 1988 almost two months after the gibraltar shootings itv broadcast an episode of its current affairs series this week titled death on the rock this week sent three journalists to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shootings in spain and gibraltar using eyewitness accounts and with the cooperation of the spanish authorities the documentary reconstructed the events leading up to the shootings the spanish police assisted in the reconstruction of the surveillance operation mounted against the ira members in the weeks before 6 march and the journalists hired a helicopter to film the route 54 55 in gibraltar they located several new eyewitnesses to the shootings who each said they had seen mccann savage and farrell shot without warning or shot after they had fallen to the ground most agreed to be filmed and provided signed statements one witness kenneth asquez provided two near identical statements through intermediaries but refused to meet with the journalists or sign either statement the journalists eventually incorporated his account of seeing savage shot while on the ground into the programme 56 for technical advice the journalists engaged lieutenant colonel george styles a retired british army officer who was regarded as an expert in explosives and ballistics styles believed that it would have been obvious to the authorities that savage s car did not contain a bomb as the weight would have been evident on the vehicle s springs he also believed that a remote detonator could not have reached the car park from the scenes of the shootings given the number of buildings and other obstacles between the locations 57 the government refused to comment on the shootings until the inquest so the documentary concluded by putting its evidence to a leading human rights lawyer who opined that a judicial inquiry was necessary to establish the facts surrounding the shootings 58 two days before the programme was scheduled for broadcast sir geoffrey howe telephoned the chairman of the independent broadcasting authority iba to request that the authority delay the broadcast until after the inquest on the grounds that it risked prejudicing the proceedings after viewing the programme and taking legal advice the iba decided on the morning of 28 april that death on the rock should be broadcast as scheduled howe made further representation that the documentary would be in contempt of the inquest but the iba upheld its decision 59 the programme was broadcast at 9 p m on 28 april and attracted considerable controversy the following morning the british tabloid newspapers lambasted the programme describing it as a slur on the sas and trial by television 60 several criticised the iba for allowing the documentary to be broadcast 61 over the following weeks newspapers repeatedly printed stories about the documentary s witnesses in particular carmen proetta who reported seeing mccann and farrell shot without warning by soldiers who arrived in a gibraltar police car proetta sued several newspapers for libel and won substantial damages 62 63 the sunday times conducted its own investigation and reported that death on the rock had misrepresented the views of its witnesses those involved later complained to other newspapers that the sunday times had distorted their comments 64 inquest edit unusually for gibraltar there was a long delay between the shootings and the setting of a date for the inquest the usual method for investigating sudden or controversial deaths in parts of the united kingdom and its territories eight weeks after the shootings the coroner felix pizzarello announced that the inquest would begin on 27 june 1988 two weeks later unknown to pizzarello margaret thatcher s press secretary announced that the inquest had been indefinitely postponed 65 66 the inquest began on 6 september 67 pizzarello presided over the proceedings while eleven jurors evaluated the evidence representing the gibraltar government was eric thislewaite the gibraltar attorney general the interested parties were represented by john laws qc for the british government michael hucker for the sas personnel and patrick mcgrory for the families of mccann farrell and savage inquests are non adversarial proceedings aimed at investigating the circumstances of a death the investigation is conducted by the coroner while the representatives of interested parties can cross examine witnesses where the death occurred through the deliberate action of another person the jury can return a verdict of lawful killing unlawful killing or an open verdict though inquests cannot apportion blame in the case of a verdict of unlawful killing the authorities will consider whether any prosecutions should be brought 68 69 the soldiers and mi5 officers gave their evidence anonymously and from behind a screen as the inquest began observers including amnesty international expressed concern that mcgrory was at a disadvantage as all of the other lawyers were privy to the evidence of the sas and mi5 personnel before it was given the cost of the transcript for each day s proceedings was increased ten fold the day before the inquest began 68 69 the inquest heard from 79 witnesses including police mi5 and sas soldiers as well as technical experts and eyewitnesses 70 police military and mi5 witnesses edit the first witnesses to testify were gibraltar police officers following them was mr o the senior mi5 officer in charge of operation flavius o told the inquest that in january 1988 belgian authorities found a car being used by ira operatives in brussels in the car were found a quantity of semtex detonators and equipment for a radio detonation device which led mi5 to the conclusion that the ira might use a similar device for the planned attack in gibraltar mi5 believed that the ira had been unlikely to use a blocking car an empty vehicle used to hold a parking space until the bombers bring in the vehicle containing the explosives as this entailed the added risk of multiple border crossings 71 72 o told the coroner that mccann savage and farrell had been observed by spanish authorities arriving at málaga airport but had been lost shortly afterwards and were not detected crossing into gibraltar 70 73 canepa told the inquest that contrary to mcgrory s assertions there had been no conspiracy to kill mccann savage and farrell he stated that upon learning of the ira plot from mi5 he set up an advisory committee consisting of mi5 military and police personnel as events developed the committee decided that the gibraltar police was not adequately equipped to counter the ira threat and canepa requested assistance from london the commissioner gave assurances that he had been in command of the operation against the ira at all times except for the 25 minutes of the military operation note 2 in his cross examination mcgrory queried the level of control the commissioner had over the operation he extracted from canepa that the commissioner had not requested assistance from the sas specifically canepa agreed with o that the spanish police had lost track of the ira team and that savage s arrival in gibraltar took the authorities by surprise although a police officer was stationed in an observation post at the border with instructions for alerting other officers to the arrival of the ira team canepa told the inquest that the officer had been looking for the three ira members arriving at once he told mcgrory he was unsure whether or not the officer had the details of the false passports the trio were travelling under 75 the officer from the observation post denied knowing the pseudonyms under which the ira members were travelling on cross examination he acknowledged having been provided with the pseudonyms at a briefing the night before the shootings detective chief inspector joseph ullger head of the gibraltar police special branch told the coroner that the spanish border guards had let savage through carelessness while the regular border officials on the gibraltar side had not been told to look for the ira team 76 77 soldier f a british army colonel who was in command of the sas detachment testified next 78 followed by soldier e a more junior officer who was directly responsible for the soldiers 79 the inquest then heard from the soldiers involved the sas personnel all told the coroner that they had been briefed to expect the would be bombers to be in possession of a remote detonator and that they had been told that savage s car definitely contained a bomb each soldier testified that the ira team made movements which the soldiers believed to be threatening and this prompted them to open fire mcgrory asked about the sas s policy on lethal force during cross examination he asked soldier d about allegations that savage was shot while on the ground something d strenuously denied though he stated that he had intended to continue shooting savage until he was dead 80 81 several gibraltar police officers gave evidence about the aftermath of the shootings and the subsequent police investigation immediately after the shootings the soldiers shell casings were removed from the scene making it difficult to assess where the soldiers were standing when they fired two gibraltar police officers testified to collecting the casings one for fear that they might be stolen and the other on the orders of a superior 82 other witnesses revealed that the gibraltar police had lost evidence and that the soldiers did not give statements to the police until over a week after the shootings 83 civilian witnesses edit a whit...
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