MEMBERS of a shadowy British army unit will not be investigated by police for killings carried out in the 1970s despite admissions during a television documentary.
Director of Public Prosecutions Barra McGrory took the unprecedented step of asking the chief con-
stable to investigate claims made by former members of the Military Reaction Force (MRF) in a Panorama programme screened last year.
The soldiers said they "took the war to the IRA" in the early years of the Troubles, shooting dead several unarmed civilians in the process.
Between May and September 1972 - the most violent year of the conflict - 'drive-by' shootings occurred which were assumed to have been carried out by loyalist gunmen.
In fact the gunmen were soldiers in civilian cars, dressed in plain clothes.
The MRF was disbanded after just 14 months.
Patricia McVeigh's father Pat was one of those killed by an MRF patrol who wrongly claimed the Harland and Wolff shipbuilder had been holding a weapon.
Last night her solicitor Padraig O Muirigh said he has been told that the PSNI will take no action.
Mr McGrory told the families this week in a letter: "The PSNI is of the view that none of the men featured have admitted to any criminal act or to having been involved in any of the incidents portrayed in the programme."
He said he intends to meet the Historical Enquiries Team to ask what "investigative steps" have been taken to examine unresolved British army killings.
Ms McVeigh said her family will demand that the Police Ombudsman examine the decision.
"As a family we are totally shocked and dismayed," she said.
"The three MRF men in the Panorama programme appeared to gloat about their activities at that time."
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