{"id":11818,"date":"2024-09-19T19:01:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T19:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/no-inquiry-into-loyalist-murders-of-four-catholics\/"},"modified":"2024-09-19T19:01:29","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T19:01:29","slug":"no-inquiry-into-loyalist-murders-of-four-catholics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/no-inquiry-into-loyalist-murders-of-four-catholics\/","title":{"rendered":"No inquiry into loyalist murders of four Catholics"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"PacemakerPacemaker<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Kevin and Jack McKearney were attacked in the family butcher shop in Moy<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The government has rejected calls for a public inquiry into the murders of four Catholics by loyalist gunmen in Moy, County Tyrone \u2013 despite a coroner suggesting it is the best way forward.<\/p>\n

Relatives of Kevin and John McKearney and Charles and Teresa Fox suspect collusion was a factor in the 1992 shootings.<\/p>\n

Their inquest was stopped in April<\/a> over the disclosure of sensitive intelligence.<\/p>\n

In a letter to their lawyers, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said a public inquiry was “not the best way to proceed\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘We will proceed to court’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Kevin McKearney, 32, and his 69-year-old uncle John \u2013 known as Jack \u2013 were shot at their family butcher’s shop in January 1992.<\/p>\n

Charles and Teresa Fox were 63 and 54 respectively when they were murdered at their home that September.<\/p>\n

The couple were the parents-in-law of Kevin McKearney.<\/p>\n

The Ulster Volunteer Force said it committed all four murders.<\/p>\n

Benn recently met the families to discuss the case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kevin and John McKearney were shot at their family butcher shop in Moy, County Tyrone, in January 1992<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Kevin McKearney\u2019s widow, Bernie, said: \u201cOur inquest was stopped by the coroner and a public inquiry was recommended.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want our inquiry and are not accepting a lesser body like the ICRIR.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, this secretary of state is no different than those before him and we will proceed to court to challenge him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her solicitor, Gavin Booth, described Benn\u2019s decision as a disgrace.<\/p>\n

Benn\u2019s decision mirrors one made last week in respect of murdered GAA official Sean Brown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The government did, however, grant a public inquiry into the Pat Finucane case<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It said this was based on \u201cunique circumstances\u201d \u2013 the government twice having promised a public inquiry in 2001 and 2004.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘A range of factors’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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A UK government spokesperson said that Benn considered “a range of factors” in the decision.<\/p>\n

These included the families’ views, the coroner\u2019s ruling, the government\u2019s human rights obligations and public interest.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson added that Benn “expressed his enormous sympathy for the families” and encouraged them to meet with Sir Declan Morgan of the ICRIR to hear how the body would approach an investigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Pacemaker Kevin and Jack McKearney were attacked in the family butcher shop in Moy The government has rejected calls for a public inquiry into the murders of four Catholics by loyalist gunmen in Moy, County Tyrone \u2013 despite a coroner suggesting it is the best way forward. Relatives of Kevin and John McKearney and Charles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[5493,504,5491,5492],"class_list":["post-11818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-n-ireland","tag-catholics","tag-inquiry","tag-loyalist","tag-murders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11818"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11820,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11818\/revisions\/11820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}