The shooting of 10 Protestant workers in Northern Ireland’s Kingsmill in 1976 was an “blatant sectarian attack by the IRA”, a coroner has ruled.
Almost eight years after the inquest began, Brian Sherrard announced his findings into the Co. Armagh Troubles murders in Belfast on Friday.
The inquest heard that the workers’ minibus was ambushed outside the village of Kingsmill on its way home.
The passengers were asked about their religion and the only Catholic was ordered to flee. The gunmen lined up the remaining 11 people outside the van and opened fire. Alan Black was shot multiple times, but he became the only survivor.
A little-known republican paramilitary group claimed responsibility for the shooting and was used as a front for the cease-fired IRA. No one has ever been convicted.
Mr Sherrard said a “glaring omission” in the proceedings was the total lack of evidence from those who had caused the attack. He said: “Unlike other heritage inquests which have investigated the actions of the state that directly caused the deaths, those responsible for the deaths at Kingsmill have not been held to account either personally or through any organization or political party.
“Numerous calls for help and answers have gone silent.
“Therefore, although expert evidence was given that records may exist, the inquest received no disclosures from the individuals involved in the attack, their organizations or political representatives.”
He said there was no acknowledgment from the perpetrators that the Kingsmill attack was “completely false”.
Decades after the shooting, police matched a palm print found in Kingsmill’s getaway vehicle to that of the suspect. One man was investigated by detectives in 2016 but was not charged.
Mr Sherrard said the Irish Garda Síochána had palm prints in his possession in 1976, but that police in Northern Ireland never asked for them.
The coroner said it could have helped the investigation if the suspect had been questioned immediately after the attack and given fingerprints linked to the van.
He outlined various errors and omissions in the police investigation after the shooting, but said they should be seen in the context of the time and there should be no attempt to shift blame away from those responsible for the murder.
He said there was “little doubt” that the suspected suspect was known to security forces at the time.
In his conclusions, the coroner said the attack was “sophisticated and complex” and involved at least 12 IRA members. Mr Sherrard also dismissed suggestions that the perpetrators were not pursued to protect IRA informants, calling them “useless conspiracy theories”.
The two men identified as suspects in the Kingsmill attack were later given a “letter of comfort” issued by the British government to republican suspects “on the run” during the peace process.
Mr Sherrard said the OTR letter did not prevent the inquest from proceeding as there was no solid evidence linking the individuals to the shootings.
The attack in Kingsmill was claimed by a group calling itself South Armagh Republican Action Force.
Mr Sherrard outlined extensive ballistic evidence to Belfast Coroner’s Court linking the weapons used at Kingsmill to a series of attacks by the IRA. He said “irreconcilable” evidence showed the gun fired at Kingsmill was the “exclusive property” of the IRA.
The families of the victims and sole survivors of the Kingsmill massacre have called for a public inquiry, saying the inquest into the killings left their questions unanswered.
John McConville was killed in the attack on January 5, 1976, and Black was seriously injured.
McConville and Black’s families said in a joint statement: “When the inquest began eight years ago, we were full of hope that many of the difficult questions surrounding the murder of John and his colleagues and the attempted murder of Alan Black would be resolved.” .
“However, as the inquest progressed, our questions remained unanswered and our concerns grew.”
Mr Black, speaking outside Belfast Coroner’s Court, described the inquest as a “band-aid”. “I am very disappointed in this autopsy,” he said.
