Dispute over SAS statements at Danny Doherty and William Fleming inquest hearing

At a previous hearing into the deaths of William Fleming (19) from the Waterside area of Derry and Danny Doherty (23) from the Creggan area of the city, counsel for some of the soldiers had said that their clients were willing to make a statement but that they were not necessarily willing to give it to a Coroner's investigator.

Mark Mulholland, King’s Counsel, representing many of the soldiers involved said that many of his clients were willing to co-operate and attend the inquest.

But he said that they were 'in an unusual position by reason of their background' and that some of them had concerns over security.

The barrister argued that the soldiers were entitled to legal representation and the fact that they gave statements to their solicitors should be acceptable.

Mr. Mulholland went on to say that there was no danger to independence in the solicitors taking statements as the witnesses would be subject to scrutiny by questioning at the inquest proper.

Peter Coll, King’s Counsel, for the Ministry of Defence told the hearing that the Coroner did not have the power to compel witnesses to give statements to the investigator.

He said there was an option used in other inquests where no statements were taken and a witness gave evidence to the inquest and then that evidence was used as their statement.

He argued that it was up to the individual witnesses to decide how they wanted to proceed in giving evidence to the inquest.

Karen Quinlivan, King’s Counsel, for the next of kin argued that allowing the soldiers to give their statements to their solicitors was putting at risk the independence of the hearing.

She told the hearing that she accepted the right of the soldiers to their legal representation.

But she said the Coroner had the power to compel witnesses to attend and thus compel them to answer questions.

Ms. Quinlivan referred to one soldier in this case identified as Soldier M who, she told the hearing, had indicated his willingness to speak to the Coroner's investigator but then changed his mind.

She said that allowing statements to be taken in this way would be 'a creeping erosion' of the process that could undermine the inquest system.

The Coroner Justice Ian Huddleston said he would reserve judgement on the issue and the next hearing is due on January 17.

A date has been fixed for the inquest into the deaths of the two men for April 17 next year in Banbridge and it is scheduled to last 6 weeks.

A previous hearing had heard that William Fleming had been shot 4 times in the head and 56 times to the body while Danny Doherty had been shot 3 times to the head and 21 times to the body.

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