Two soldiers ‘lost control’ in fatal shootings in Belfast 50 years ago – coroner

By Rebecca Black and Jonathan McCambridge, Press Association

Two soldiers “lost control” in the fatal shootings of five people in Belfast almost 54 years ago, a coroner has said.

The British Army soldiers did not use reasonable force in the shooting of a Catholic priest, a father-of-six and three teenagers in two areas of west Belfast on July 9th, 1972, the coroner ruled.

Judge Scoffield said that Father Noel Fitzpatrick, 42, father-of-six Patrick Butler, 38, and teenagers David McCafferty and Margaret Gargan were unarmed and posed no risk when they were shot.

He said Father Fitzpatrick and Butler were killed by the same bullet as the priest looked left and Butler looked right as they attempted to cross the road from an alleyway.

David McCafferty, 15, was seeking to retrieve the body of the priest when he was shot in the back, the coroner said.

A soldier who fired the shots that killed all three, known only as Soldier A, was less than 100 metres away at Corry’s Timber Yard.

The coroner concluded that the soldier “fired prematurely”, “lost control” and shot without having first made an assessment of the risk, if any, they posed.

He said he was satisfied that no warning was given and that the three victims were not carrying a weapon.

He said even if the soldier believed he needed to use force to defend himself, the force used was not reasonable.

A soldier known only as Soldier E, who was located at the same woodyard as Soldier A, shot Margaret Gargan, 13, in the head while she stood on a pavement and spoke to friends, the coroner said.

He was unable to conclude whether the other teenager, 16-year-old John Dougal, was armed when he was shot.

He said the teenager was a member of the junior wing of the Provisional IRA but said on balance he concluded he had not progressed into the ranks of the adult IRA.

The coroner said even if John had been in possession of a firearm, he was not using it and was likely running away when he was shot in the back.

He said: “With John Dougal shot in the back as he ran from the area and taking into account the requirements of the yellow card, the force used by Soldier A was not reasonable.”

He said that Soldier A, who shot John Dougal, Fr Fitzpatrick, Butler and David McCafferty, and Soldier E, who shot Margaret Gargan, had “overreacted and lost control”.

Judge Scoffield rejected the British Army’s explanation that the soldiers were reacting to a mass “coordinated” attack on Corry’s Timber Yard, where the soldiers were based, and said the brigade radio logs “hugely undermine” that narrative.

He said he also rejected the civilian case that “not one shot had been fired” by civilians before British Army soldiers began firing and said that was “much too simplistic an analysis”.

He said that while soldiers may have been influenced by civilian firing, they were not responding to “a coordinated attack by a mass of gunmen”.

He said the soldiers based in the woodyard had been apprehensive about the breakdown of an IRA ceasefire and had been “expecting an armed attack and were, no doubt, nervous and fearful of such a possibility”.

Families and friends of the five gathered at Belfast Coroner’s Court for the long-awaited findings.

There was applause as they walked together holding a banner which read “time for truth”.

The group included former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, junior minister Aisling Reilly, West Belfast MP Conor Maskey and People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll.

The inquest concluded in April 2024, just hours before the former government’s guillotine on conflict-related court cases as part of new legacy laws coming into effect.

It was the last of the coronial investigations into Troubles-related deaths completed before the May 1st deadline of the Legacy Act, which is currently being reviewed under the Labour Government.

It had been a fresh inquest ordered by Northern Ireland’s attorney general in 2014 after an original inquest in 1973 returned an open verdict.

Before reading out his findings, which number some 640 pages, Judge Scoffield apologised to the families for the length of the wait, saying he had taken some time to consider matters.