Paul Whitters file among hundreds withheld by Britain, Gasyard Féile told

Paul, from Belview Avenue, died in April 1981, after being shot with a plastic bullet fired by an RUC officer. His family have been told classified documents held by the National Archives in England will not be released until 2059, nearly a century after he was killed.

This week during a Féile discussion writers Anne Cadwallader and Margaret Urwin said the Whitter files were among hundreds being held from the public.

Ms. Cadwallader, who wrote ‘Lethal Allies,’ a history of collusion between the British State and loyalist paramilitaries , claimed more and more files that were previously accessible were now being closed to researchers.

“Files being left closed for decades after they should have been opened and others that have either been destroyed or well hidden from our eyes in secret dumps around England. Files that are closed for far, far longer than should be including those relating to the killing of Julie Livingstone, a 14 year old child killed by a plastic bullet in 1981, and Paul Whitters, a 15-year-old child also killed by a plastic bullet in 1981.

“Both these files have been closed for another 40 to 50 years,” she said.

Ms. Cadwallader asked Margaret Urwin, author of ‘A State in Denial: British Collaboration with Loyalist Paramilitaries’ whether she believed that when researchers inquired when a file was going to be opened ‘the response from officialdom in London is to close it even longer’.

Ms. Urwin replied: “You have not overstated this at all. Hundreds of files are closed for anything up to 100 years and some that may never be opened at all in the National Archives in Kew. For example, files on UDR battalions, files on British Army tours, all closed from between 84 and 100 years. A few of them are open but many, many of them are closed.”

Members of the Whitters family have demanded that files relating to Paul’s death in Great James’ Street almost 40 years ago be released immediately. In June the ‘Journal’ reported his sister Emma Whitters’ plea: “As the youngest in the family, I’ll be 76 years old before this file is opened. I’d like to know why.”

The Pat Finucane Centre which hosted this week’s panel discussion has been leading the campaign to have the files released.

Two months ago Foyle MP Colum Eastwood raised the matter with the Secretary of State Brandon Lewis at Westminster.

He asked: “Does the Secretary of State agree that there is no good reason to keep those files closed, and will he now act to allow the parents of those children to see the files?”

Mr. Lewis replied: “I have enormous sympathy for those families who lost loved ones - especially children, which is a tragedy, during the troubles. The files mentioned by the hon. Member are currently held by the National Archives and were closed to protect the privacy, health and safety of individuals named in those files.”