Full Inquest Into Deaths Of IRA Men To Begin Next September

A full inquest into the killing of three IRA men will start next September, a coroner has ruled.

Mr Justice Michael Humphreys said that the aim was for the full inquest to begin on 12 September 2022 in Banbridge Courthouse.

Peter Ryan, Tony Doris and Lawrence McNally were killed by the SAS in an ambush in June 1991 as they travelled through Coagh in Co Tyrone.  

At a pre-inquest review hearing on Thursday, the coroner urged all parties involved in the inquest to keep to that date.

Mr Humphreys said it would take something "out of the ordinary” for the current date of the inquest to be interfered with.

He said: "It is very important we maintain that window.

"If for any reason we fall outside that window, we’ll only be competing with other hearings.

"The very firm view of this tribunal is that those dates should be maintained and every possible effort will be expected from practitioners and from those engaged in this inquest generally to make sure they’re adhered to.

"I obviously can't legislate for every possible eventuality, but it would take something rather out of the ordinary to cause those dates to be interfered with."

The coroner said that he would like any reviews of sensitive materials by the PSNI and the Ministry of Defence to be carried out by 31 January.