Prosecution decision over Kingsmill massacre suspect ‘imminent’

A decision on whether to prosecute a man whose palm print was allegedly found on a getaway vehicle used in the Kingsmill massacre is set to be announced within two weeks, a coroner has been told.

The already long-delayed inquest into the murders of 10 Protestant workmen gunned down in rural south Armagh in 1976 was again put on hold last year with the dramatic announcement that detectives had apparently matched the print to an individual.

Two months later a 59-year-old man was arrested in Newry, Co Down.

He was released pending a police file being sent to prosecutors for assessment.

A preliminary inquest hearing in Belfast on Monday was told that the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has written to Coroner Brian Sherrard to inform him that a decision on whether a case will be taken against the suspect is imminent.

The letter, dated 26 January, said it was "reasonably anticipated that a prosecution decision will issue within the next two weeks".

At an early inquest hearing, a lawyer for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said detectives believed the print belonged to the arrested man.

Prosecutors had been awaiting additional investigative material from the police before making a final decision. Belfast Coroner's Court heard that material was passed on recently.

Mr Sherrard welcomed the indication from the PPS.

"The decision will to some extent guide our next steps in this process," he said.

The coroner said if the decision was not to prosecute then he would move to reconvene the inquest at the earliest opportunity.

Ten Protestant textile workers were shot dead after their minibus was ambushed in an attack seen as a reprisal for loyalist killings in the same area in January 1976.

One man, Alan Black, who survived was at Monday’s hearing along with other victims’ families.

The coroner also expressed concern not all material from An Garda Síochána - had yet to be disclosed to the legal parties in the inquest.