New Lodge killings: Attorney General orders new investigation

The Attorney General for Northern Ireland has ordered a new inquest into the deaths of six men believed to have been killed by the army almost 50 years ago.

It follows an application, to Brenda King, by relatives including some fresh evidence.

James McCann, James Sloan, Anthony Campbell, Ambrose Hardy, John Loughran and Brendan Maguire were shot in Belfast's New Lodge area in 1973.

None of the men were armed.

The Attorney General's decision has been communicated to the court unit currently dealing with a five-year programme of troubles legacy inquests.

It is too early to know when the new inquest will be heard.

The army initially said that soldiers had shot all six men during a gun battle.

However, it was later assumed that loyalist paramilitaries were responsible for two of the deaths.

The men's families believe that the army was responsible for all the killings, in two separate incidents, and that a one-day inquest in 1975 failed to properly uncover what had happened.

Witnesses have claimed the shootings were unprovoked.

James McCann, James Sloan and Anthony Campbell, who were all 19, were members of the IRA.

In 2018, the former Attorney General, John Larkin, called for a fresh police investigation into the incidents.

Jim McCann's nephew, Daniel McCready said he was "grateful" for the decision.

"I have been campaigning for justice for Jim for a long time. I am glad this day has finally come. I want to know if the Military Reaction Force (MRF) were involved in killing Jim," he said.

In a statement from Mr McCready's solicitors, Harte Coyle Collins, Attorney General Brenda King, who was appointed to the post in 2020 said she had taken the decision "as it is now clear that there will be no further PSNI investigation into his death."

Sinn Féin MLA Carál Ní Chuilín welcomed the announcement of a fresh inquest.

She said: "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."

At the time of the killings, the New Lodge was among the most dangerous places in Northern Ireland.

The IRA had a strong presence and support in the area and, in response, the Army deployed large numbers of soldiers there, many in makeshift bases at the top of high-rise flats.

The men referred to as the New Lodge Six were killed in two separate shooting incidents.

James McCann and James Sloan were shot on 3 February 1973 by a gunman firing from the back seat of a car as they stood outside Lynch's bar at the junction of the New Lodge Road and the Antrim Road.

The other four men were shot shortly after midnight that night by soldiers believed to have fired from the top of the flats overlooking the New Lodge Road.

They were shot outside the Circle Bar, a Catholic ex-servicemen's club, that no longer exists.

Anthony Campbell had been celebrating his 19th birthday. Eyewitnesses said he was shot as he ran to help an elderly couple trying to get into their house. He was hit 17 times.

Brendan Maguire, 32 and John Loughran, a 34-year-old father-of-four, were said to have been shot as they tried to drag Anthony Campbell out of the line of fire.

Ambrose Hardy, 24, was a single man who eyewitnesses said was shot in the head after coming out of the bar waving a white cloth.

In a statement at the time, the Army claimed all six were IRA gunmen, but no guns were recovered and there is no evidence that any of them were armed.