A panel of independent international experts, chaired by Prof. Douglass Cassel, Director of the Center for Civil & Human Rights of the Notre Dame Law School, has found evidence of collusion by agents of the British government in the murders of 74 members of the Catholic community in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. The evidence was presented to the British and Irish governments in the form of a 115-page report in November 2006 in both Belfast and Dublin.

The panel examined 25 cases of suspected loyalist paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland during 1972-77. The 25 cases involve a total of 76 murders as well as attempted murders. In 24 of the 25 cases, involving 74 of the 76 murders, evidence suggests collusion by members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) or the Ulster Defense Regiment (UDR).

Among the incidents investigated were the May 1974 Dublin Monaghan bombings which claimed 33 lives, the Miami Showband massacre in July 1975 during which three musicians and two members of the Ulster Volunteer Force gang died and the shooting of Catholic policeman Sergeant Joe Campbell in February 1977.

In only one case, the group was unable to reach a conclusion on collusion because of conflicting accounts – the 1975 murder of 51-year-old driver James Marks and 78-year-old passenger Joseph Toland in a gun attack in Gilford, Co Armagh, on a minibus returning elderly parishioners from a church bingo game.

In releasing the report, Prof. Cassel summarized his reaction to the findings: "Personally I was shocked. The British Government has a reputation around the world as one of the leading democracies and one of the longest histories of the rule of law. To find this extent of collusion in murders in the 25 incidents we investigated was shocking."

The report calls for an official British investigation into the allegations of collusion that is capable of identifying perpetrators, determining how high up the chain of command the collusion went with a focus not only on RUC and UDR involvement, but also on the involvement of British Army and intelligence agencies. Furthermore, the report calls for the British state to publicly acknowledge its responsibility where collusion is established and to make a public apology to the family members of those who were murdered.

The report was the result of a 2004 invitation by the Derry-based Pat Finucane Center to conduct an independent and impartial international investigation into the alleged killings. The panel, in addition to Prof. Cassel, includes: Susie Kemp, an international lawyer based in The Hague who is Legal Adviser to Impunity Watch; Piers Pigou, who served as an investigator for the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and as advisor to East Timor’s Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation; and Stephen Sawyer, Senior Counsel and Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at the Center for International Human Rights of Northwestern University School of Law in the United States of America. The panel’s counsel was Thomas Vega-Byrnes, a Chicago-based attorney with extensive international experience.

View the report here.

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