Brandon Lewis still engaging on ‘statute of limitations’ which he decribes as a ‘complicated, sensitive and difficult’ area

The Secretary of State told the ‘Journal’ he will be reflecting on ‘feedback’ received since launching his ‘legacy’ Command Paper last summer.

However, he hopes to move on a positive package on legacy in the ‘not too distant future’.

“We’ve been engaging people since on the statute of limitations. We said we wanted to legislate in the autumn of last year. We haven’t done that because we wanted to take the time to continue with that engagement.

“It’s a very complicated, sensitive, difficult area. That’s why it has not been finalised in the last 23 years. So we are going to take a bit more time to work that through.

“But we are very keen to try and find a way through this and be able to deliver a package to help move this forward in a positive way. We’ll respond to that in due course, hopefully fairly soon, off the back of the Command Paper, but we have been, as I say, taking into account the feedback we’ve got from the Command Paper and are still engaging.”

“Some people have issues with the statute of limitations and then you also get the complication that people have - even in a family, you get three, four, five, different opinions of what the outcome should be and that’s the challenge with this.

“My view is we need to be honest about what is achievable. We are seeing that prosecutions aren’t happening.”

The statute of limitations proposal has been decried as an amnesty by critics and has united many victims in opposition. Mr. Lewis said it is just one of three planks in his legacy paper. A new independent body to focus on the recovery and provision of information about Troubles-related deaths and serious injuries and a major oral history initiative are also proposed.

“One of the things I think that gets slightly misread in terms of the Command Paper we published last summer is that, yes, it does outline a statute of limitations as a sort of foundation to develop a wider package....I need to be really clear about this - we will continue investigations.

“One of the things we want to do is recognise the challenges that are there in the system at the moment - it isn’t working for anybody.

“When the Ballymurphy families take 50 years to get some recognition of the truth and understanding of what happened that is just too long...and other families.

“We’ve all seen in the last couple of years a lot of cases collapsing or not being prosecuted and families therefore don’t get information and what we’ve got to do is find a way to get a system - and the criminal justice system is fundamentally not working for this at the moment - but get a system that allows families to get an understanding of what really happened.”

Amnesty move will only ‘perpetuate pain’: Derry BishopMr. Lewis told the ‘Journal’ he believes the independent recovery body will make it easier for families to access the truth about what happened to their loved ones. He suggested families are getting more information via the coroners’ courts due to the burden of proof being based on the ‘balance of probabilities’ rather than the more stringent ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ standard that applies in criminal prosecutions.

“I think there is a point where, as a UK government, we need to be honest about what is achievable because we are seeing these cases collapse,” he said.

The Secretary of State argued his proposals will make this outcome less likely.

“When you move through a process that isn’t driven by a prosecution but which is driven by an investigation to get to the truth on a balance of probabilities like the coronial courts then you are seeing people able to get to the truth and to get an understanding,” he said.

Engagements, however, will continue for now with no firm date for legislation.

“Obviously people have different views about what we do with civil cases and things like that. We’ll be looking at all of that and hopefully we’ll be able to reflect on that feedback with a package that can work for NI and the families in the not too distant future.”