PSNI TO APPLY FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL TO UKSC IN KEY LEGACY CASES
KRW LAW LLP represents relatives of victims of The Glenanne Gang of Loyalist murders in Mid-Ulster, victims of torture at the hands of British security forces and relatives of victims of British Army MRF killings in the early 1970.
In these cases the Court of Appeal in Belfast has given judgment against the PSNI in relation to its investigations.
Earlier this week in the Court of Appeal in Belfast, the PSNI applied for leave to appeal to the UK Supreme Court to challenge the judgments of that court and seek to get them overturned.
We have been informed that the PSNI, at the highest level, gave assurances to the relatives of victims and survivors of The Glenanne Gang that there would be no such application to appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Today leave was refused in relation to the application to The Glenanne Gang and The Hooded Men. Leave was granted in relation to the MRF.
In relation to The Hooded Men, KRW has been told by the PSNI that its appeal to the UKSC is confined to its independence in conducting Article 2 investigations, where the right to life has been violated, only in contemporary cases.
The PSNI can apply to the UKSC for permission to appeal.
Kevin Winters, Senior Partner of KRW LAW LLP said:
“We welcome the refusal of leave by the Court of Appeal in relation to the applications made by the PSNI regarding The Glenanne Gang series of murders in Mid-Ulster as this may have impacted on the work of Operation Kenova and regarding the torture of The Hooded Men and others. We hope that, on behalf of those we represent, the PSNI will not apply direct to the UKSC to challenge those decision of the Court of Appeal. The UKSC can refuse permission in relation to the MRF challenge.”