‘No amnesty for soldiers who killed our Seamus’

Seamus McKinney, Derry Correspondent, Irish News, August 26th, 2024

THE first family of a victim of the British army to publicly engage with a controversial new legacy body has said its powers to access closed files are the best way of unlocking the truth. IRA member Seamus Bradley (19) bled to death after being shot by soldiers during Operation Motorman in Derry’s Creggan area in July 1972.

Following his first meeting with the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (IC-RIR), his brother Daniel Bradley said he felt encouraged. He said a second meeting with the investigation team will take place next month.

“They told me they have the power to go into files which were closed and to open them up to get information. I believe the closed files will answer my questions. There is no amnesty for the soldiers who killed our Seamus and they can be prosecuted.

“I am happy after the first meeting. What they are saying is they will look into every question I gave them and try to answer them.” Mr Bradley believes the ICRIR will uncover why his brother was interrogated after being shot rather than taken straight to Altnagelvin Hospital.

“I want to know why there are differences between the time my brother was shot and when his body was brought to the morgue. I want the soldiers who were there to say what Seamus’s last words were,” he said.

“After that first meeting, I think we will get more information than other families who aren’t engaging with [the ICRIR]. They [ICRIR] told me that whatever information they get, they are going to publish it. They said that before they publish it, they are going to give it to me and my family and I’m happy with that.”

The ICRIR’s head of investigations, Peter Sheridan, has said the body has been given “unprecedented” statutory powers to access closed files and other information relating to Troubles deaths.

He said all public bodies are under a legal duty to comply with requests for information. A former PSNI assistant chief constable, he also served as a senior RUC officer.

Danny Bradley will meet the legacy commission’s investigations team next month

Mr Sheridan said: “Whilst we don’t comment on individual cases, the commission has unprecedented statutory powers to require information it considers necessary from any organisation. Public authorities are under a legal duty to comply with these requests.”

Any information requested by the commission must be provided in full without any redactions or restrictions. Private individuals or state bodies who do not answer requests for information can be fined up to £5,000. The head of the Commission is former lord chief justice Sir Declan Morgan.

Established through the former British government’s legacy act, the ICRIR is to be retained by the current government. Secretary of State Hilary Benn said the Labour government intends to repeal the rest of the act. However, the main victims’ representative groups in Northern Ireland have urged members not to deal with the ICRIR. They maintain that the commission is part of attempts to protect state organisations from being held accountable for their actions.