THE families of the ten people shot dead by British Paratroopers in Ballymurphy almost 50 years ago are planning further legal action.
On Tuesday, an inquest found the victims, including Catholic priest Fr Hugh Mullan who was shot in the back and a mother of eight, were “entirely innocent” when they were gunned down in cold blood in west Belfast.
Solicitor Paddy Murray, who represents nine of the ten families, said further legal action is being planned.
“One of those avenues is civil proceedings against the Ministry of Defence and in parallel with the inquest the families initiated those proceedings,” he told BBC Radio Foyle.
“They were stalled pending the outcome of these findings.
“Given the very critical commentary by the coroner we will be moving forward with some vigour in relation to the civil action”.
Five months after the Ballymurphy Massacre, British Paratroopers were sent to Derry and shot dead 14 people on Bloody Sunday, January 30, 1972.
On Tuesday, Coroner Mrs Justice Keegan delivered her findings into the Ballymurphy Massacre.
Nine of the 10 victims were killed by the Army, the coroner said.
However, they could not definitively rule who shot the tenth victim, John McKerr.
Mrs Justice Keegan, who delivered her findings over the course of more than two hours, said the deaths took place during the Troubles in a “highly charged and difficult environment”.
But she said there was “no justification” for British soldiers to shoot dead the nine innocent victims.
Speaking in parliament, Foyle MP Colum Eastwood said: “Will this prime minister now finally apologise for what those British forces did by murdering 10 entirely innocent people, or will he continue to pursue an amnesty for their killers?”
The British Government is planning to bring forward legislation to stop the prosecution of security force members for legacy shootings and killings during the North’s Troubles.
However, former British Prime Minister Theresa May such legislation should also include paramilitaries.
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