The father of a man shot dead by the SAS in Northern Ireland in 1990 today won a five-year legal battle over disclosure of confidential intelligence reports about the killing.
The Law Lords ruled that the Police Service of Northern Ireland must hand over unabridged information about the shooting of Martin McCaughey and Dessie Grew by the undercover military unit outside Loughgall, Co Armagh, to the coroner who will hear the inquest into their deaths.
The judgment overturned an earlier Northern Ireland Court of Appeal ruling that the PSNI was legally entitled to limit the information passed to the coroner.
McCaughey (23) a former Sinn Féin councillor, and Grew (37) were shot dead close to some outbuildings in fields, and the nature of their wounds raised fresh allegations about a shoot-to-kill policy being operated by the security forces in the battle against terrorism in Northern Ireland.
The inquests into the men's deaths have long been delayed, and McCaughey's father Owen, began his lengthy legal bid after the Chief Constable refused to release the full intelligence reports, together with a copy of the report into the shootings by the RUC Investigating Office to the coroner.
Following a six-day hearing in January the Law Lords ruled today that the Chief Constable must disclose the reports in full.