Northern Ireland

Family seek answers about murdered naval officer

Patricia Burns whose father Thomas Burns was shot dead by British army in 1972
Patricia Burns whose father Thomas Burns was shot dead by British army in 1972 Patricia Burns whose father Thomas Burns was shot dead by British army in 1972

The daughter of a former Royal Navy officer shot dead by a soldier in 1972 says lengthy inquest delays are keeping her family from learning the truth.

Thomas Burns was shot dead on July 13 1972 by a soldier positioned at a watchtower at the Flax Street army base in Ardoyne.

Mr Burns was shot by a member of the Regiment of Wales who were stationed in north Belfast at the time.

It was claimed at the time he was armed, something later dismissed as untrue.

Delays in the coroners court mean the family have been given no time frame as to when a new inquest night he heard, however.

Mr Burns had spent 10 years travelling the world as a Royal Navy officer before returning to Northern Ireland with his young family and setting up home in the Oldpark area of north Belfast.

In the run-up to the shooting of the father-of-four, three members of the regiment were shot dead by the IRA within a one-mile radius.

The first, Lance Corporal John Hillman (29), was fatally injured in an attack on a lookout post at the Flax Street base. His wife told an inquest that when she last spoke to him he was crying and told her his "nerves had gone and he couldn't even hold a cup of tea".

Lance Corporal Alan Giles (18) was shot dead during a gun battle in Alliance Avenue on June 12 1972.

A week later 21-year-old Brian Soden was killed by an armour-piercing bullet after the vehicle he was travelling in came under fire in Brompton Park in Ardoyne.

Members of the regiment told later inquests that that they were under almost daily fire from the IRA who at that time, under the command of the late Martin Meehan, were at their most active.

It is thought the soldier who shot Mr Burns may have launched the attack on the unarmed civilian in an act of revenge.

The family, represented by Patricia Coyle of HCC solicitors, have now lodged an application for a fresh inquest.

The murdered man's daughter Tricia Burns was just six years old at the time of the shooting and said her childhood was destroyed as a result.

"The night my daddy was shot there was shooting and trouble ongoing in the area with it being the Twelfth night," she said.

"He tried to leave the bar during a lull in the shooting to get home, there was a spotlight coming from the army post and he shouted for them to turn it away so he could get home and he was just shot from the lookout tower.

"His friends carried him back onto the bar and phoned for an ambulance but none could get through. They eventually sent an army vehicle to transport him but it was stopped by the UDA who had blocked the road.

"We don't understand why he wasn't taken to the Mater which is just down the road, but he was taken to the Royal. He was shot at 1am and died at 7.30 that morning - we don't know what happened in between those times," Ms Burns said.

When investigators from the HET contacted the soldiers who'd given evidence to the original inquest they were told they had no recollection of signing statements that appear to have been fabricated.

"My daddy was in full-time employment when he was shot, so it was really just a matter of my mummy having to go out to work," Tricia said.

"She'd no time to mourn, she'd no time to grieve, she took on two jobs because she'd four young children to feed.

"And we never spoke, never spoke about what happened ever. She wasn't able to, she just couldn't talk about it, that was her way of coping.

"We didn't like talking about it because people assumed he'd done something bad. It was put in the paper at the time that he was a gunman.

"We hope any inquest would look at the new evidence we've found - there was three members of that regiment killed in the weeks leading up to my daddy's murder, we never knew that before.

"The fact that there was a cover up afterwards and they blackened by daddy's name makes us think that there was more to it. Statements were all altered and changed about, they don't match, they contradict each other."

Delays in the coroners court mean the family have been given no time frame as to when a new inquest night he heard.

"My mummy died eight years ago with no answers. They seem to just put delay after delay in our way.

"You hear about all the big atrocities and high profile killing but individual families' lives were wrecked and they deserve answers as well.

"We're not seeking revenge, just the truth and to have my daddy's good name cleared for him and for my poor mummy who died without ever getting justice."