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A report by the Police Ombudsman has documented failings in the RUC investigation into the Kingsmill murder of 10 Protestant workmen on 5 January 1976.
In the report published yesterday, 29 April, Mrs Marie Anderson highlighted the failure to arrest and interview 11 men identified by intelligence, reports on a loss of records and missed investigative opportunities and inadequacies in areas such as forensics, fingerprints and palm prints, and witness enquiries. the Police Ombudsman also found that the original investigation failed to exploit ballistic links with other attacks in which the same weapons were used.
The ten workers were murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) when the minibus taking them home from work at Glenanne Mill was stopped by a group of armed men on the Kingsmill Road, County Armagh, on 5 January 1976.
One passenger, identified as a Catholic, was told to leave and the remaining 11 men were shot multiple times. Only one man, Alan Black, survived despite suffering horrific injuries.
The murders were said to have been in retaliation for loyalist paramilitary attacks carried out the day before on the Reavey and O’Dowd families which resulted in the deaths of six people.
Commenting on the report the PSNI said “First and foremost our thoughts today are with the families and loved ones of those killed and injured in this awful attack. I want to acknowledge the pain and suffering that they all continue to feel. Their unimaginable suffering has been compounded by the lack of the fulsome and effective investigation that everyone would want and that they deserve."
The police statement added “Areas of the report make for uncomfortable reading and I note the failings the Police Ombudsman has identified in the original investigation. It is important to note that the Ombudsman found no intelligence that could have forewarned of, or allowed police to prevent, the murders nor did it identify any intelligence that indicated a direct threat to any of the deceased or injured.
"The families and loved ones of those targeted in this attack have to live with the consequences every day. I am determined to do all I can to provide these remarkable families with the acknowledgement they deserve and the answers they crave."
Taoiseach Micheál Martin also added his comments "The attack at Kingsmill in County Armagh in January 1976 was an appalling, sectarian mass-murder in which ten people were brutally killed.
"Today, on the presentation of the report of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland into the police investigation to the families of victims, I think of all those killed in the attack, and of Alan Black, the sole survivor.
"It is quite shocking that the perpetrators of this heinous crime have still not been held accountable. I call on anyone who may have knowledge of the attack, even at this late stage, to contact the authorities."
Check out the findings of the report at https://www.policeombudsman.org
