SHARE
The collapse of a controversial trial involving two former British paratroopers accused of murdering an IRA gunman nearly 50 years ago has highlighted the extreme difficulties of bringing prosecutions relating to the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
The trial related to the case of Joe McCann, a notorious IRA commander in Belfast at the height of the unrest in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s. Apart from being held responsible for killing at least 10 British soldiers, he was also involved in the assassination of the Ulster Unionist politician John Taylor in February, 1972.
McCann’s notoriety as one of the IRA’s most feared gunmen meant that he was soon at the top of the Royal Ulster Constabulary’s wanted list. So when McCann was spotted in Belfast by two RUC officers the following April, British paratroopers, who had been deployed to the province in support of the local police force, were asked to help the police detain him.
Almost half a century ago, Northern Ireland’s home affairs minister John Taylor was ambushed leaving the family engineering business in his home town of Armagh.
Two men raked the 34-year-old’s car with machine-gun fire. He was hit five times in the face and neck and left for dead, slumped over the steering wheel.
Somehow, the politician, just about to become a father, survived. But his wounds were so severe he spent a year in hospital, requiring reconstructive surgery to the jaw.
The Official IRA claimed responsibility for what was the first assassination attempt on a member of the Northern Ireland government.