Soldier may refuse to give evidence over death

Editorial Department • Published 15 Apr 2010 11:05

A convicted murderer who shot and fatally wounded a father of four from Enniskillen almost 40 years ago has cast doubts on whether or not he will give evidence to a new investigation into the killing.

Duncan Munro McLuckie was a 19-year-old army private when he shot Warrant Officer Bernard Adamson during a military training exercise at Letterbreen in April 1972.

Yesterday (Wednesday) it emerged that he has been refused legal aid to take part in a new inquest into Mr. Adamson's death and that has cast doubt on whether he will give evidence.

Since the shooting McLuckie has been convicted of murder over another death and is currently serving a life sentence in a high security prison in the north of England.

He maintains that the death of 30-year-old Mr Adamson, from Derrin Park, Cornagrade, Enniskillen, was a tragic accident.

Official inquiries at the time concurred with that view and the original inquest in the months after the shooting delivered an open verdict.

But in a highly unusual legal move, Attorney General Baroness Scotland ordered a second inquest after Mr. Adamson`s family raised concern about the findings of the initial investigation.

With Mr. Adamson`s widow Patricia Bruce watching from the public gallery, a preliminary hearing in Belfast was told that McLuckie`s application to the Legal Services Commission (LSC) for legal aid had been turned down.

Solicitor for the inquest, Ronan Daly, told Northern Ireland's senior coroner John Leckey that the prisoner's legal representatives had now applied to the Armed Forces Minister for funding and were awaiting a reply.

The LSC`s decision was not wholly unexpected, as it only approves legal aid for witnesses to inquests in "exceptional circumstances".

Lawyer for the Adamson family, Ivor McAteer, noted that McLuckie had made clear that while he was prepared to give evidence to the inquest, that was dependent on his legal costs being covered.

"He has indicated his willingness to co-operate but only if he gets legal representation," said Mr. McAteer.

Mr. Adamson, a military instructor at the Letterbreen firing range, was one of five full-time members of the UDR acting as the "enemy" during a training exercise in April 1972. According to a report at the time soldiers taking part had been issued with a magazine loaded with blank bullets and, because of the security situation and the threat of IRA attack, a second magazine loaded with live ammunition.

McLuckie apparently loaded the magazine of live bullets into his rifle by mistake.

No criminal charges were brought against McLuckie.

He was later fined £43 in a military tribunal into the circumstances of the incident.

An initial investigation found that live rounds had somehow got mixed in with the blank cartridges that were to be used.

Senior military officials from England had travelled to Northern Ireland to witness the firearms training and a quantity of live ammunition had been on site in case the top brass had been targeted by republican terrorists.

Coroner Leckey told the lawyers he had written to the governor of HM Frankland prison in Durham to ask when McLuckie was due to be released, but had not yet received a reply.

Mr. McAteer said it was important that the court knew if he was due to walk free in the near future.

"We don`t know if his release date is coming up," he said.

"We don`t want to lose him, so to speak, or lose the opportunity to question him," the solicitor added.

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This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 15 Apr 10

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