Legal Justification for SAS Soldier's Actions Confirmed
A coroner was legally entitled to conclude that an SAS soldier was justified in shooting an unarmed IRA driver, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Senior judges dismissed arguments that a distinction should have been made between Tony Doris, the driver, and two other IRA members who were also ambushed and killed in County Tyrone in June 1991.
In 2024, a coroner ruled that the SAS's use of lethal force was "reasonable and proportionate."
Dismissing a challenge to the inquest verdict, Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan stated that the SAS member who fired, known as Soldier B, had responded proportionately in a lethal situation.
"Mr Doris was part of the threat to life in this fast moving situation,"
"It would be absurd to disaggregate the driver from the other men in this case, all active members of the Provisional IRA, part of a plan to murder which clearly involved an imminent threat to life which Soldier B sought to protect," Keegan said.
Details of the Incident
Doris and the two other IRA men - Peter Ryan and Lawrence McNally - were killed in Coagh when intercepted in a stolen car on suspicion of intending to murder a member of the security forces.
The three men were members of the IRA's East Tyrone brigade active service unit.
Up to 150 rounds of ammunition were discharged during the incident.
In 2024, the coroner found that the soldiers honestly believed lethal force was necessary to prevent loss of life.
Legal Challenges and Court Proceedings
Relatives of Doris mounted a judicial review challenge against the coroner's verdict, alleging the circumstances breached the Article 2 right to life under European law.
Their lawyers claimed Doris had been wrongly "executed" as the unarmed driver who did not pose the same threat as those armed.
They argued that Soldier B had acted disproportionately.
A High Court judge initially dismissed the case after endorsing the inquest verdict that Doris's actions posed an immediate threat to life.
However, lawyers for Doris's relatives maintained that the assessment of Soldier B's use of force was incorrect.
The Court of Appeal heard that Doris had been targeted as he attempted to drive away from the scene.
Lawyers for his family argued any threat posed by Doris was clearly distinguishable from that of his armed passengers.
Court of Appeal's Ruling
Dame Siobhan, sitting with Lord Justice Colton and Mr Justice Fowler, rejected submissions that the coroner made a legal error.
She emphasized previous determinations that Soldier B honestly believed the entire active service unit constituted a unified and immediate threat to life, responding proportionately by firing eight rounds within one or two seconds.
According to the court, Soldier B had an honest and genuine belief that a military colleague's life was in danger.
"The coroner's finding that Soldier B was entitled to view the occupants of the car in the way that he did as a group of terrorists who posed a collective threat is sustainable in law," the Lady Chief Justice held.
"The coroner has applied the correct legal tests and reached a rational, well-reasoned decision."
