A Protestant teenager was killed by loyalist paramilitaries more than 30 years ago because they thought he was Catholic was gunned down using a British Army weapon, it emerged today.
Sixteen-year-old Henry Cunningham from Co Donegal was murdered by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in 1973, when gunmen open fire on a van full of building site workers near Belfast because their vehicle carried Republic of Ireland number plates.
The report from the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) investigators found one of the sub-machine guns used in the attack was stolen from an Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) army base in Lurgan on October 23rd, 1972. The report also found evidence of security force collusion in the weapons theft.
Other security documents referred to by the HET noted that: “There were high level concerns regarding RUC elements ‘too close to the UVF’ and ‘too ready to hand over information’ and worries that loyalist extremists had heavily infiltrated the UDR.”
The Cunningham family said they were shocked by the findings, and that unanswered questions remained, including the apparent failure of the Irish Government to take any steps to pursue the matter.
“This has been a long and painful process for us and many questions remain unanswered. The HET review has however provided us with some answers and with shocking new information about the circumstances of Henry’s death,” said the murdered teenager’s brothers, Herbert and Robert, who were with him when he was killed
On August 9th, 1973, the teenager was a front-seat passenger in a Bedford van driving from Belfast to Co Donegal when gunmen on a motorway bridge opened fire, killing Henry. His older brother, Herbert, who was injured in the attack, was driving and his brother Robert was sitting behind with three other work colleagues.
The UVF killers are thought to have suspected the six men in the van, who had been working on a building site in Glengormley on the outskirts of Belfast, were all Catholic, but the Cunningham family are Presbyterian.
The family today hit out at the Irish Government response to the murder.
“It is with a mixture of anger and sadness that we note from the HET review that there is no evidence whatsoever that our own government in Dublin made any representations to the northern authorities in relation to the murder of Henry,” they said.
“Neither the gardaí nor the Departments of the Taoiseach, Justice or Foreign Affairs have been able to produce a single document pertaining to the murder of an Irish citizen.
“We would today appeal to the Taoiseach, who we accept is not responsible for these failings, to meet with us and allow us to present this document concerning the short life and premature death of Henry.”
There is also concern that an inquest was held shortly after the youth’s murder - before all the evidence had been gathered in the case.
The family was helped in its search for the truth of Henry’s murder by the Pat Finucane Centre, a group named after the solicitor murdered by loyalist paramilitaries and whose family continues to lobby for a fully independent inquiry into the allegations of top level collusion in the killing.