MoD obliged to preserve records relating to Troubles for next 10 years
Annette McGavigan, 14, was killed during unrest in Derry on September 6. She was said to have been playing with a friend when she was shot dead.
Her family has been campaigning for decades for answers and justice. There is a mural in her memory in the Bogside area of the city.
Last year, Northern Ireland's Attorney General Dame Brenda King granted a fresh inquest into Miss McGavigan's death, but that came just before the former Government's Legacy Act deadline which halted all inquests which had not reached their final stages.
It also followed a decision by the Public Prosecution Service not to prosecute a former soldier in relation to the teenager's death.
Miss McGavigan's family has expressed hope that the current Labour Government will honour the fresh inquests directed by the Attorney General before the cut-off date in April 2024.
It is understood that there are some 22 inquests relating to more than 40 deaths in Northern Ireland still outstanding, with some other previously unallocated legacy inquests also due to be honoured.
Patricia Coyle, solicitor for Miss McGavigan's family, said they have secured a Preservation Order for the MoD documents for a further period of 10 years to 2035.
They wrote to the MoD, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (SSCMS) in April to request an extension of an existing Preservation Order for all MoD Operation Banner documents dating from August 1969 to July 2007.
The 2014 order listed the documents to be preserved as including 'operational briefs and summaries, log sheets, patrol and incident reports from Operation Banner in Northern Ireland'.
Miss Gavigan's family said they want to ensure that the MoD continues to preserve all Army documents relating to Operation Banner for the period 1969 to 2007 so that they, and other families seeking information in legacy cases, can access relevant state materials for the purposes of future legacy inquests, civil actions and public inquiries.
Ms Coyle said the Preservation Order is of the utmost importance to all families seeking answers over incidents involving the Army during the Troubles.
'In 2015, my clients sought the preservation of all relevant MoD documents relating to British Army's activities in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007,' she said.
'In particular they wished to secure the preservation of all Army documents relating to the killing of their 14-year-old sister Annette on September 6 1971 in Derry so these are available for the fresh inquest they achieved last year.'
She said the first Preservation Order for these documents was granted in December 2014 for 10 years.
'The legal obligation to preserve 50,000 Army records relating to Northern Ireland was transferred from the Lord Chancellor to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport (SSCMS) in 2015,' she said.
'In April, this year our clients sought a further Preservation Order from the MoD, Lord Chancellor and SSCMS. Lawyers acting on behalf of the Ministry of Defence have now confirmed that a further 10-year Preservation Order was signed by SSCMS on May 6 2025.
'The preservation of these records is of paramount importance for all families in Northern Ireland who seek access to information and truth about the killing of their loved ones in cases involving the Army.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
6 hours ago
- The Independent
Takeaways: US military expands enforcement zone to 1/3 of southern border
The military is expanding its authority and reach along swaths of the southern U.S. border where troops have been empowered to detain people who enter the country illegally. Designated militarized zones will soon cover nearly one-third of the U.S. border with Mexico under supervision of nearby military bases. Federal prosecutors have filed criminal trespassing charges in the militarized terrain against more than 1,400 people, adding to possible consequences for people who cross the border illegally. Reaction to the military buffer has been mixed among residents of New Mexico's rural Luna County, where a strong culture of individual liberty is tempered by the desire to tame networks that ferry migrants and contraband across the border. Some farmers and ranchers have welcomed the military's expanded mission. But the changes also are being challenged in court and questioned by civil rights advocates and outdoor enthusiasts including hunters and hikers who fear they'll be locked out of public lands. No-entry signs The first two militarized zones, introduced in April and May, extend along 230 miles (370 kilometers) of border. The buffer runs from Fort Hancock, Texas, through El Paso and westward past factories and cattle yards to partially encircle the New Mexico border village of Columbus, where in 1916 Mexican revolutionary forces led by Pancho Villa crossed into the U.S. in a deadly predawn raid. The Army has posted thousands of no-entry signs across the region, declaring a 'restricted area by authority of the commander.' James Johnson, a fourth-generation local farmer, oversees the summer harvests on private farmland along 5 miles (8 kilometers) of the border. He says the military deployments under prior presidents put 'eyes and ears' on the border and that the new approach is 'trying to give some teeth' to enforcement. Luna County Commissioner Ray Trejo says he and other hunters are worried about their rights to carry firearms and harvest game from the newly designated militarized zones. He sees the new trespassing charges as inhumane in an economy built on immigrant farm labor. ' People are coming into our country to work, stepping now all of a sudden into a military zone, and they have no idea,' he said. Abbey Carpenter leads a search-and-rescue group for missing migrants and says public access is being denied across sweltering stretches of desert where migrant deaths have surged. 'Maybe there are more deaths, but we don't know,' she said. Fewer border crossings Border Patrol arrests along the southern border this year have dropped to the slowest pace since 1966, including a 30% drop in June. On June 28, the Border Patrol made only 137 arrests, a stark contrast with late 2023 when arrests topped 10,000 on the busiest days. Thwarted attempts to cross have plunged not only since Trump took office but also previously when President Joe Biden introduced severe asylum restrictions in June 2024, and when Mexican officials increased enforcement within their own borders in December 2023. At least 7,600 members of the armed forces have vastly expanded the U.S. government presence on the border. The Defense Department last week added an additional 250-mile (400-kilometer) militarized area in Texas' Rio Grande Valley and plans another near Yuma, Arizona. Combined, the four zones will cover nearly one-third of the U.S. border with Mexico. Legal challenges The new militarized zones are tied to President Donald Trump 's declaration of a national emergency on the border on his first day in office this year. The moves are being challenged in proceedings at a federal courthouse in Las Cruces on the banks of the Upper Rio Grande, with mixed outcomes. Migrants in drab county jail jumpsuits and chains filed before a magistrate judge on a recent weekday. They included a 29-year-old woman from Guatemala who sells pottery for a living. Military trespassing charges against her were dismissed for lack of evidence, but a conviction for illegal entry resulted in a two-week jail sentence before likely deportation. In separate proceedings, a federal public defender's office has challenged the military's new oversight of public land at the border in New Mexico — an area nearly twice the size of Washington, D.C., — seizing on the arrest of one Mexican man for trespassing through remote terrain to test the legal waters. It says the designation of a militarized zone in New Mexico without congressional authorization is 'a matter of staggering and unprecedented political significance.' A judge has yet to rule on the arguments.
Belfast Telegraph
14 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Republican Marian Price issues legal proceedings against Disney+ over Say Nothing series
Veteran republican Marian Price is taking legal action against the streaming company Disney+ for defamation over the Troubles series Say Nothing. Broadcast last year, the drama depicted Price, as being involved in the murder of Jean McConville – a claim her solicitors previously said was 'not based on a single iota of evidence'. The widowed mother-of-10 was abducted from her Belfast home, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1972. Her body was eventually found at Shelling Hill beach in Co Louth in 2003. Following the airing of Say Nothing, Price was approached for comment by the Sunday Life but refused to answer any questions. Now solicitors acting on her behalf have said that formal legal proceedings have been issued against Walt Disney and Minim Productions Limited following what they branded 'egregious and defamatory allegations levelled at our client in the 'Say Nothing' series'. Both entities have failed to take steps to rectify their actions, causing 'continuing and untold damage and harm to our client', a statement from Phoenix Law added. Solicitor Victoria Haddock said: 'Our client should not be placed in the position of having to take formal legal action to vindicate her reputation. 'Despite multiple opportunities to address the defamatory content of the 'Say Nothing' series, Disney and Minim Productions have failed to take any step to do so. 'There is no justification for making abhorrent accusations under the guise of entertainment and we will be seeking to hold all responsible parties to account.' Disney+ has been contacted for comment. Marian Price was convicted along with her sister Dolours Price for their part in the IRA car bomb attack on London's Old Bailey courts in 1973 in which one man died and more than 200 people were injured. In 2014 Marian Price was given a suspended sentence for aiding dissident republicans. She admitted providing a mobile phone used to admit responsibility for the Real IRA murders of two soldiers, Sapper Patrick Azimkar (21) and Sapper Mark Quinsey (23). The charge was connected to the attack on Massereene Army barracks in 2009.
BBC News
18 hours ago
- BBC News
Coleraine: Suspected World War II bomb discovered
Army bomb disposal experts are examining a suspected World War II bomb in were contacted after it was found in the Strand Road area of the town shortly after noon on Technical Officers were sent to the scene and are currently still have not been moved out, but the public has been asked to avoid the area.
