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Coroner: Troubles inquest jury ruling could set precedent

Manus Deery, the Derry teenager who was shot dead in May 1972 
Manus Deery, the Derry teenager who was shot dead in May 1972  Manus Deery, the Derry teenager who was shot dead in May 1972 

KEY decision on whether to call a jury to hold a legacy inquest in Derry could have major implications for other cases from the Troubles, a coroner said.

Jim Kitson is due to make a decision within a month on whether to call a panel of members of the public for the probe into how a teenager shot dead by the British army in 1972 died.

The army has argued that Manus Deery (15) died as the result of a bullet ricochet and there is no suggestion he was in any way involved in terrorism, a lawyer for the MoD told a coroners' court preliminary hearing in Belfast.

The coroner said he wanted to take time to consider whether to call a jury. "It will have implications for not only Manus Deery but other cases," he said.

An inquest is scheduled for April and is likely to be held in Derry. Preliminary issues have to be resolved, the most important whether to call a jury, a lawyer for the coroner said.

The High Court has ruled on the issue in highly contested Troubles cases. Manus was shot dead in the Bogside in May 1972.

The army maintains that a soldier in a lookout post on Derry's walls fired at what appeared to be a gunman about 200 metres away, missed and that the ricochet fatally injured the teenager.

His family have always disputed the army's version.