Judgment to be delivered in legal challenge to UK's controversial Troubles bill

A number of Troubles victims launched the court action last year

JUDGMENT IN A legal challenge to the UK Government’s controversial Northern Ireland Troubles bill is set to be delivered later today.

The act includes a form of limited immunity for some perpetrators of crimes committed during the conflict and would also prevent future civil cases and inquests into Troubles offences.

High Court judge Justice Colton will rule in the case brought by a number of victims challenging the human rights compliance of the legislation which offers a conditional amnesty to people accused of Troubles-related crimes.

The Legacy Act received royal assent in September despite widespread opposition from political parties, victims’ organisations in Northern Ireland and the Irish government.

The new Act will also halt future civil cases and legacy inquests.

Multiple victims launched judicial review proceedings against the Act. Martina Dillon, John McEvoy and Lynda McManus were selected as the lead cases in the legal battle at the High Court in Belfast.

Martina Dillon’s 45-year-old husband, Seamus, was shot dead in a loyalist attack at the Glengannon Hotel in Dungannon, County Tyrone, in 1997.

John McEvoy survived a loyalist shooting on the Thierafurth Inn in Kilcoo, County Down, in 1992.

Lynda McManus’s father, James, was among those wounded in the Sean Graham bookmakers massacre in 1992.

When the case was heard last year, a barrister said the Act was subjecting victims to a form of “secondary trauma”.

Whatever ruling Justice Colton delivers, legal action is set to continue with the verdict likely to be appealed to higher courts.

Separately, the Irish Government has launched an interstate legal case against the Legacy Act, arguing that it breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.