Former RUC officer questioned at Inquest into Derry 1984 killings

The inquest into the deaths of two Derry men shot dead by the SAS in the grounds of Gransha Hospital on December 6, 1984 resumed in Wednesday after a break of several weeks.

Daniel Doherty (23) from Creggan and William Fleming (19) from the Waterside died after entering the grounds of Gransha Hospital on a motorbike which was rammed by SAS soldiers on the morning of December 6 1984 and they were both shot.

The first witness at the resumed inquest was a former RUC officer, John Lyttle who told the hearing about stopping the deceased in the early hours of the morning of December 6.

The witness said he was on patrol sometime between 2.30am and 3.30am in Derry city centre, when he saw Daniel Doherty, who he claimed he knew, and another man, and stopped and briefly questioned them.

The former RUC officer said he knew Daniel Doherty and said the other man 'said his name was Fleming' from the Waterside area.

He said both men were 'suspected by police of being PIRA members'.

He later described them as being some of the 'most active terrorists in the city.'

John Lyttle said he could not recall where in the city centre it was when he stopped the pair.

The former officer said that following the stop he would have filled out a CI 1 form detailing where and when the incident had occurred.

Under cross-examination by Desmond Hutton KC for the Fleming family, John Lyttle denied that this was 'a directed stop'.

Mr Hutton put it to the witness that there was no record of any CI 1 form being filled in and the witness replied he would always have filled in a report.

It was put to the witness that that this was not coincidence that he had stopped these two men hours before they died 'in a hail of bullets', but was part of an intelligence operation.

The witness replied that it was purely coincidence and said he knew nothing about the later military operation until he woke up later in the day to see media coverage of the incident in Gransha.

Later under questioning by Mark Mulholland KC for some of the military witnesses, the former RUC officer said Derry, in 1984, was'a 'very dangerous place', for members of the security forces.

The hearing continues.