A 21-YEAR-OLD man shot dead by the British army 40 years ago in Belfast was innocent, unarmed, had no paramilitary connections, no criminal convictions and posed no threat, a report by the North’s Historical Enquiries Team has found.
Billy McKavanagh, a Catholic, was shot dead by a soldier from the Royal Green Jackets in Catherine Street in the Markets area of Belfast in the early hours of August 11th, 1971, two days after the introduction of internment.
The team, which investigates past killings of the Troubles and which is part of the PSNI, suggested the British government should now issue an official apology over Mr McKavanagh’s killing.
Details of the report were released yesterday by the Pat Finucane Centre human rights organisation. “It is our hope that this report sets out the circumstances of Billy’s death clearly and will allow for the consideration of an apology at government level,” said the inquiry team.
Welcoming the findings of the report, the McKavanagh family also called for a British government apology. The shooting happened during a tense and violent time after the introduction of internment. He was shot during a security operation in the Markets.
“Billy, his brother Patrick and their cousin Teddy were walking along Catherine Street heading towards home. They had picked up items that had been looted and left lying on the street. When they saw soldiers they dropped the items and ran,” according to the team.
“Billy was shot in the back from close range as he ran away.” The report found “that he did not pose any threat whatsoever when he was shot”.
Soldiers guarding Patrick and Teddy treated them humanely, according to the team, but a separate British army unit which took them and the body of McKavanagh away assaulted them. “They were pistol whipped and beaten with rifle butts. After being taken into custody they were hooded and were then further beaten with batons before being handed over to the police.”
The soldiers who initially treated them well did not recognise them when they saw them later because they were so badly beaten. The soldier who killed Mr McKavanagh argued that he was armed. The team, however, said he was not carrying the “weapon”, a rivet gun which had been looted and left lying in the street and picked up by one of the victim’s group. The British army was briefed to expect IRA patrols in the area.
Said the team: “There remains no evidence, despite this review, to counter [the former soldier’s] assertion that in his mind, at that crucial moment, he genuinely thought he was under immediate threat of attack and that he did what he did to protect himself or his colleagues.”
“Billy’s death was an absolute tragedy that should not have happened,” said the team. “He was an innocent man who did nothing more than pick up a pair of waders that had been stolen by someone else and then run away when confronted by the army.”
The soldier responsible asked interviewing detectives to apologise to the McKavanagh family on his behalf and said he regretted the killing. The team found Mr McKavanagh’s killing was not properly investigated.
Oliver Morris, brother-in-law of the victim, welcomed the report. “We are not looking for a judicial review or compensation, it is just an apology we want,” he said.
