Sinn Féin and the SDLP have welcomed the retraction of the British army claim that a teenager shot dead by a soldier in 1972 was a terrorist. Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor
Daniel Hegarty (15) was killed on the morning of Operation Motorman, an intensive effort by the army to assert control over republican areas of Belfast and Derry. A British army account of the Troubles produced earlier this year to coincide with the end of Operation Banner, the army's formal deployment in Northern Ireland, alleged that the teenager was a terrorist.
However, the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry raised the Hegarty case and others last July with British defence secretary Des Browne and pressed for the record to be put straight.
The ministry of defence has since written to the Pat Finucane Centre to confirm: "The secretary of state has previously written letters to the effect that Daniel is considered innocent and we continue to stand by those comments. The paragraph in question is inaccurate and this should have been picked during proof reading, but unfortunately was not."
The ministry has apologised to the family for its additional distress. Senior British army figures are known to have been unhappy with the army account of the Troubles since 1969.
Sinn Féin Assembly member for Foyle Martina Anderson said there should be a full and independent inquiry into the shooting of the teenager.
"The admission by the British government that Daniel Hegarty was not a terrorist does not go far enough. What is needed is a full independent inquiry into why this child was shot dead at point blank range on the morning of the 31st July 1972. The British government need to disclose all the facts relating to this case." She congratulated the Hegarty family for their tenacity in pursuing the case.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan also welcomed the army's retraction and called for other disputed British army claims to be investigated. "I am pleased that, on this occasion, the ministry of defence has moved more quickly and more fully that most of those with an interest in this travesty had expected," he said. He added he remained concerned at the stated intention of the British army to issue a new version of its assessment of the conflict.