HET: “i soldati guardavano mentre il ragazzo veniva ucciso”

Soldati sotto copertura stavano osservando mentre i lealisti assassinavano un adolescente cattolico a West Belfast, racconta un rapporto dell’Historical Enquiries Team (HET)

Damien Walsh, 17 anni, fu assassinato nel 1993 mentre lavorava in una ditta fornitrice di carbone a Twinbrook.

L’Historical Enquiries Team riferisce che le forze di sicurezza stavano guardando il centro commerciale Dairy Farm perché era frequentato da uomini dell’IRA e perché avevano notizie che vi erano stipati i materiali per la costruzione delle bombe.

Cinque tonnellate di fertilizzante furono trovate in u locale del complesso dopo l’omicidio di Damien.

Secondo il rapporto Damien non era coinvolto in attività paramilitare e non era l’obiettivo voluto dalla Ulster Freedom Force.

Gli inqirenti hanno scoperto che i soldati sotto copertura erano troppo lontani per intervenire e fermare l’omicidio.

Avvertirono via radio la polizia, fornendo i dettagli dell’auto usata per la fuga dagli assassini, ma sbagliarono marca e modello di vettura.

Il rapporto di HET conclude che non ci sono nuove linee di inchiesta.

La famiglia Walsh ritiene che il rapporto abbia sollevato più domande che risposte.

I familiari hanno già chiesto all’ufficio del Police Ombudsman di eseguire un’inchiesta separata su come la RUC condusse le indagini sull’omicidio.

HET report says ‘soldiers watched as teen was killed’

Undercover soldiers were watching as loyalists murdered a Catholic teenager in west Belfast, a report by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) has found.

Damien Walsh, 17, was shot dead as he worked at a coal supply business in Twinbrook in 1993.

The HET said the security forces had been watching the Dairy Farm shopping centre because it had been frequented by IRA men and because they had information that bomb making materials were being stored there.

Five tonnes of fertiliser were found in a unit of the complex following Damien’s murder.

The report said Damien Walsh had not been involved in paramilitary activity and had not been the UFF’s intended target.

It found that the undercover soldiers had been too far away to intervene and stop the killing.

They had radioed the police with details of the killers’ getaway car, but got the make and model wrong.

The HET report concluded that there were no new lines of enquiry.

The Walsh family said the report had raised more questions than answers.

It has already asked the police ombudsman’s office to carry out a separate investigation into how the RUC murder inquiry was conducted.