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taken to the royal navy hospital he found that the bodies had been stripped of their clothing causing difficulties in distinguishing entry and exit wounds that the mortuary had no x ray machine which would have allowed watson to track the paths of the bullets through the bodies and that he was refused access to any other x ray machine after the professor returned to his home in scotland he was refused access to the results of blood tests and other evidence which had been sent for analysis and was dissatisfied with the photographs taken by the gibraltar police photographer who had assisted him 86 87 63 at the inquest mcgrory questioned the lack of assistance given to the pathologist which watson told him was a puzzle 88 watson concluded that mccann had been shot four times once in the jaw possibly a ricochet once in the head and twice in the back farrell was shot five times twice in the face and three times in the back watson was unable to determine exactly how many times savage was shot he estimated that it was possibly as many as eighteen times watson agreed with mcgrory s characterisation that savage s body was riddled with bullets stating i concur with your word like a frenzied attack a statement which made headlines the following morning 89 90 91 watson suggested that the deceased were shot while on the ground 92 a second pathologist called by mcgrory offered similar findings two weeks later the court heard from david pryor a forensic scientist working for london s metropolitan police who had analysed the ira members clothes his analysis was hampered by the condition of the clothing pryor offered evidence which contradicted soldiers a and b about their proximity to mccann and farrell when they opened fire the soldiers claimed they were at least six feet 1 8 metres away but pryor s analysis was that mccann and farrell were shot from a distance of no more than two or three feet 0 6 or 0 9 metres 93 several eyewitnesses gave evidence three witnessed parts of the shootings and gave accounts which supported the official version of events in particular they did not witness the sas shooting any of the suspects while they were on the floor 94 witnesses from death on the rock also appeared stephen bullock repeated his account of seeing mccann and savage raise their hands before the sas shot them josie celecia repeated her account of seeing a soldier shooting at mccann and farrell while the pair were on the ground hucker pointed out that parts of celecia s testimony had changed since she spoke to death on the rock and suggested that the gunfire she heard was from the shooting of savage rather than sustained shooting of mccann and farrell while they were on the ground a suggestion celecia rejected the sas s lawyer observed that she was unable to identify the military personnel in photographs her husband had taken 95 96 maxie proetta told the coroner that he had witnessed four men three in plain clothes and one uniformed gibraltar police officer arriving opposite the petrol station on winston churchill avenue the men jumped over the central reservation barrier and farrell put her hands up after which he heard a series of shots in contrast to his wife s testimony he believed that farrell s gesture was one of self defence rather than surrender and he believed that the shots he heard did not come from the men from the police car the government lawyers suggested that the police car was driven by inspector revagliatte and carrying four uniformed police officers but proetta was adamant that the lawyers version did not make sense his wife gave evidence the following day contrary to her statement to death on the rock carmen proetta was no longer certain that she had seen mccann and farrell shot while on the ground the government lawyers questioned the reliability of proetta s evidence based on her changes and implied that she behaved suspiciously by giving evidence to death on the rock before the police she responded that the police had not spoken to her about the shootings until after death on the rock had been shown 97 asquez who provided an unsworn statement to the death on the rock team through an intermediary reluctantly appeared he retracted his statements to death on the rock which he claimed he had made up after pestering from major bob randall another death on the rock witness who had sold the programme a video recording of the aftermath of the shootings note 3 the british media covered asquez s retraction extensively while several members of parliament accused asquez of lying for the television and death on the rock of encouraging him in an attempt to discredit the sas and the british government asquez could not explain why his original statement mentioned the soldiers c and d donning berets showing identity cards and telling members of the public it s okay it s the police after shooting savage details which were not public before the inquest 99 100 verdict edit the inquest concluded on 30 september and laws and mcgrory made their submissions to the coroner regarding the instructions he should give to the jury hucker allowed laws to speak on his behalf laws asked the coroner to instruct the jury not to return a verdict of unlawful killing on the grounds that there had been a conspiracy to murder the ira operatives he allowed for the possibility that the sas personnel had individually acted unlawfully 101 mcgrory on the other hand asked the coroner to allow for the possibility that the british government had conspired to murder mccann savage and farrell which he believed was evidenced by the decision to use the sas for operation flavius the decision according to mcgrory was wholly unreasonable and led to a lot of what happened afterwards it started a whole chain of unreasonable decisions which led to the three killings which i submit were unlawful and criminal killings when the coroner asked mcgrory to clarify whether he believed there had been a conspiracy to murder the ira operatives he responded that the choice of the sas is of great significance if the killing of the asu was in fact contemplated by those who chose the sas as an act of counter terror or vengeance that steps outside the rule of law and it was murder and that is a matter for the jury to consider 102 103 pizzarello then summarised the evidence for the jury and instructed them that they could return a verdict of unlawful killing under any of five circumstances including if they were satisfied that there had been a conspiracy within the british government to murder the three suspected terrorists he also urged the jury to return a conclusive verdict rather than the ambiguity of an open verdict and forbade them to make recommendations or add a rider 104 105 106 by a majority of nine to two they returned a verdict of lawful killing 104 106 107 six weeks after the inquest a gibraltar police operations order was leaked the document listed inspector revagliatte as the commander of two police firearms teams assigned to the operation 108 in february 1989 british journalists discovered that the ira team operating in spain must have contained more members than the three killed in gibraltar the staff at the agencies from which the team rented their vehicles gave the spanish police descriptions which did not match mccann savage or farrell and savage s car was rented several hours before he arrived in spain 109 it emerged that the spanish authorities knew where mccann and savage were staying a senior spanish police officer repeatedly told journalists that the ira cell had been under surveillance throughout their time in spain and that the spanish told the british authorities that they did not believe that the three were in possession of a bomb on 6 march although the spanish government did not comment it honoured 22 police officers involved in the operation at a secret awards ceremony in december 1988 and a spanish government minister told a press conference in march 1989 that we followed the terrorists they were completely under our control 110 the same month a journalist discovered that the spanish side of the operation was conducted by the foreign intelligence brigade rather than the local police as the british government had suggested 111 112 the independent and private eye conjectured as to the reason for the spanish government s silence in 1988 spain was attempting to join the western european union but was opposed by britain the papers theory was that margaret thatcher s government dropped its opposition in exchange for the spanish government s silence 113 114 legal proceedings edit main article mccann and others v united kingdom in march 1990 the mccann savage and farrell families began proceedings against the british government at the high court in london the case was dismissed on the grounds that gibraltar was outside the court s jurisdiction 115 the families launched an appeal but withdrew it in the belief that it had no prospect of success 70 they then applied to the european commission of human rights for an opinion on whether the authorities actions in gibraltar violated article 2 the right to life of the european convention on human rights echr 116 issuing its report in april 1993 the commission criticised the conduct of the operation but found that there had been no violation of article 2 nevertheless the commission referred the case to the european court of human rights ecthr for a final decision 116 117 the british government submitted that the killings were absolutely necessary within the meaning of article 2 paragraph 2 to protect the people of gibraltar from unlawful violence they stated that the soldiers who carried out the shootings believed that mccann savage and farrell were capable of detonating a car bomb by remote control the families alleged that the government had conspired to kill the three that the planning and control of the operation was flawed that the inquest was not adequately equipped to investigate the killings and that the applicable laws of gibraltar were not compliant with article 2 the court found that the soldiers reflex action in resorting to lethal force was excessive but that the soldiers actions did not in their own right give rise to a violation of article 2 the court held that the soldiers use of force based on an honestly held belief could be justified even if that belief was mistaken to hold otherwise would in the court s opinion place too great a burden on law enforcement personnel it also dismissed all other allegations except that regarding the planning and control of the operation in that respect the court found that the authorities failure to arrest the suspects as they crossed the border or earlier combined with the information that was passed to the soldiers rendered the use of lethal force almost inevitable thus the court decided there had been a violation of article 2 in the control of the operation 118 119 as the suspects had been killed while preparing an act of terrorism the court rejected the families claims for damages as well as their claim for expenses incurred at the inquest the court did order the british government to pay the applicants costs incurred during the proceedings in strasbourg the government initially suggested it would not pay and there was discussion in parliament of the uk withdrawing from the echr it paid the costs on 24 december 1995 within days of the three month deadline which had been set by the court 116 long term impact edit a history of the gibraltar police described operation flavius as the most controversial and violent event in the history of the force 120 while the journalist nicholas eckert described the incident as one of the great controversies of the troubles and the academic richard english posited that the awful sequence of interwoven deaths was one of the conflict s most strikingly memorable and shocking periods 121 122 the explosives the ira intended to use in gibraltar were believed to have come from libya which was known to be supplying arms to the ira in the 1980s some sources speculated that gibraltar was chosen for its relative proximity to libya and the targeting of the territory was intended as a gesture of gratitude to gaddafi 6 123 124 125 126 several commentators including father raymond murray a catholic priest and author of several books on the troubles took the shootings as evidence that the british authorities pursued a shoot to kill policy against the ira and that they intentionally used lethal force in preference to arresting suspected ira members 127 maurice punch an academic specialising in policing and civil liberties described the ecthr verdict as a landmark case with important implications for the control of police operations involving firearms 15 according to punch the significance of the ecthr judgement was that it placed accountability for the failures in the operation with its commanders rather than with the soldiers who carried out the shooting punch believed that the ruling demonstrated that operations intended to arrest suspects should be conducted by civilian police officers rather than soldiers 128 the case is considered a landmark in cases concerning article 2 particularly in upholding the principle that article 2 paragraph 2 defines circumstances in which it is permissible to use force which may result in a person s death as an unintended consequence rather than circumstances in which it is permissible to intentionally deprive a person of their life it has been cited in later ecthr cases concerning the use of lethal force by police 129 after the inquest verdict the governor of gibraltar air chief marshal sir peter terry declared even in this remote place there is no place for terrorists in apparent revenge for his role in operation flavius terry and his wife were shot and seriously injured when the ira attacked their home in staffordshire two years later in september 1990 130 131 132 133 following asquez s retraction of his statement to death on the rock and his allegation that he was pressured into giving a false account of the events he witnessed the iba contacted thames television to express its concern and to raise the possibility of an investigation into the making of the documentary thames eventually agreed to commission an independent inquiry the first such inquiry into an individual programme to be conducted by two people with no connection to either thames or the iba thames engaged lord windlesham and richard rampton qc to conduct the investigation 134 in their report published in january 1989 windlesham and rampton levelled several criticisms at death on the rock but found it to be a trenchant piece of work made in good faith and without ulterior motives 135 in conclusion the authors believed that death on the rock proved freedom of expression can prevail in the most extensive and the most immediate of all the means of mass communication 29 135 see also edit crime portal gibraltar portal deal barracks bombing another ira ...