Kingsmill survivor ‘still taking in’ news of arrest

The sole survivor of the Kingsmill shootings has said he’s still trying to take in the news that a man has been arrested.

Alan Black, who was shot 18 times in the 1976 atrocity, said the development has come like a “bolt from the blue”.

He said: "I don't really know what to think to be honest. I am still trying to take it in. For 40 years the police were not interested in Kingsmill but this, I suppose, is a development at least."

Police on Friday announced that a man aged 59 had been arrested in Newry on suspicion of the murder of 10 men and attempted murder of one man at Kingsmill forty years ago.

It follows a major forensic breakthrough in the Troubles case two months ago.

Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kennedy, who has been a prominent supporter of the Kingsmill families' quest for justice, said the arrest is a "potentially positive development".

He added: “The Kingsmills massacre in 1976 shocked not only Northern Ireland but much farther afield.

“The families and sole survivor have waited 40 years in their pursuit of maximum truth and justice for this brutal and barbaric crime.

“We must now wait and allow the police investigation to take its course."