British soldiers lost control in 1972 Springhill shootings, inquest finds

British army soldiers “lost control” and used force that was “not reasonable” in the killing of five civilians in Northern Ireland in 1972, an inquest judge has ruled.

Four of the victims – two teenagers, a father of six and a Catholic priest – posed no risk when they were shot in the Springhill and Westrock areas of west Belfast on 9 July 1972, Mr Justice Scoffield said on Thursday.

The blistering verdict about one of the most highly contested events of the Troubles said two soldiers, known as A and E, overreacted to perceived threats, fired prematurely and ultimately lost control.

“All fatal shootings were found to have been carried out by soldiers acting in breach of the ‘yellow card’ rules governing the use of lethal force,” the 640-page report said. Four of the dead were unarmed and it was unclear whether the fifth was armed, it said. “None of the deceased should have been shot in the circumstances.”

The coroner said Father John Fitzpatrick, 42, a curate at Corpus Christi church, and Patrick Butler, 37, a Belfast Corporation refuse worker, were killed by the same bullet as they attempted to cross a road. Margaret Gargan, 13, was shot in the head while talking to friends. All three were deemed wholly innocent.

David McCafferty, 15, was seeking to retrieve the priest’s body when he was shot in the back, the coroner said. The court heard that he was a member of Na Fianna Éireann, the IRA youth wing, but was unarmed and not engaged in offensive activity and was considered an innocent victim.

McCafferty’s sister Betty Kennedy said the ruling brought “a long-awaited clarity and justice” to the family. “The passage of 54 years has been marked by profound grief, perseverance and unwavering pursuit of truth. David’s name is now cleared,” she said.

The conduct of John Dougal, 16, before his death remained unclear and suspicious but he should not have been shot because he was probably fleeing to take cover, the coroner said.

He rejected the explanation that the soldiers were reacting to a mass coordinated attack on a timber yard where their unit was based, and said brigade radio logs undermined that narrative.

He noted the soldiers’ youth and inexperience and their ignorance of the political context in what was the bloodiest year of the Troubles. The killings happened six months after Bloody Sunday, when soldiers opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Derry.

Soldier A, who killed Dougal, Fitzpatrick, Butler and McCafferty, fired from less than 100 metres away at Corry’s timber yard without first assessing what risk, if any, they posed, the coroner said. Soldier E shot Gargan.