New Inquest directed into killing of Thomas Lockard
“KRW LAW acts on behalf of the Next-of-Kin of Thomas Lockard, who died on 27th April 1998
Thomas Lockard, 34, disappeared from his home on 25th April 1998. His badly beaten body was found two days later at the side of a road at Raskeagh, County Louth.
For years the family fought to find out the truth of what happened to Thomas. There were a series of investigations by Gardai and the RUC before a more recent one by PSNI resulted in the prosecution of a number of people with murder, false imprisonment and kidnapping. However, the charges were all withdrawn leaving the family bereft of any justice.
Yesterday, following representations made by KRW LAW, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland directed an inquest into the death of Thomas Lockart.
The listing of this inquest will not be affected by the new Legacy Act which received Royal Assent this week.
The death of Thomas Lockart occurred a few weeks after the Good Friday Agreement and because the circumstances surrounding his killing could not in any be categorized as ‘’ Troubles – related ‘’
Welcoming the decision of the Attorney General today, Barry O’Donnell Associate Solicitor of KRW LAW Conflict Litigation Dept said:
‘’ This is really the news the family have been waiting for. They have been both patient and resilient in their push for an inquest. The Attorney General granted the request based on a number of grounds including new evidence from a former senior RUC detective who supplied a very helpful affidavit together with a further affidavit from a civilian witness .
We had a difficult issue to navigate in relation to jurisdiction because the remains of Thomas Lockart were located in County Louth. The Attorney General agreed the case could be dealt with here especially given a decision by the Department of Justice and Equality in Ireland ot to prosecute anyone.
There was a previous inquest in Dundalk, but the Coroner in that investigation was operating with very limited evidence including the absence of key information linked to the scene of Thomas Lockard’s kidnapping.
We now hope to press for an early a hearing date as soon as possible ’’