Member's statement: Coagh Inquest: Court of Appeal Ruling
Member's statement by Mr Keith Buchanan on .
- MLA
- Mr Keith Buchanan
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 20 April 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Coagh Inquest: Court of Appeal Ruling
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5493212
Read the official Assembly record
Text
On Thursday last, at the Court of Appeal ruling on the Coagh inquest, the Lady Chief Justice, Dame Siobhan Keegan, confirmed that the coroner was right to find that the actions of the SAS soldier known as soldier B had been justified when responding to an IRA attack in 1991. The court was clear that he acted proportionately in what was a deadly and fast-moving situation. The decision highlights why so many veterans are deeply worried about the current legacy process. These cases have been allowed to drag on for years, placing huge pressure on veterans and their families. The Lady Chief Justice also made it clear that the arguments used in the challenge were not what judicial reviews are meant for. Put simply, the legal system is being used in ways in which it was never designed to be used. We need to be absolutely clear about one thing: the terrorists who set out to murder that day in Coagh had one objective, which was to kill and terrorise. They were not out to make a citizen's arrest. Some people have the mindset that you can somehow have a chat with and then arrest a terrorist who is heavily armed and has carried out murder in the past. That does not happen. That day, as always, the terrorists thought that they could murder innocent people and run back to their safe house, but that did not happen. Was the attack filed under "Coagh" in the IRA filing cabinet for all to see in the future? No, it was not. Those terrorists and supporters thought that they were at war when they were successful with their murdering campaign but innocent men when killed by the British Army. A terrorist is a terrorist, whether at Coagh, Westminster Bridge or the Manchester Arena bombing. Was that justified? Was there no alternative? Please do not try to dress raw murder, here or anywhere, in some form of glorification. It does not wash. There is no comparison between the men and women who were sent to uphold the law and those who tried to destroy it through violence. It is high time that some people in Northern Ireland and across the world understood right from wrong. When you drive into a village to murder innocent people, that is wrong, and it has consequences.
389 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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