Army ‘should down tools’ fumes ex-Major as coroner rules SAS’s killing of four armed IRA terrorists was unjustified
Army ‘should down tools’ fumes ex-Major as coroner rules SAS’s killing of four armed IRA terrorists was unjustified
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A CORONER sparked fury by ruling SAS soldiers were unjustified in killing four armed IRA terrorists. Ex-SAS Regimental Sergeant Major George Simm said the British Army “should down tools” in protest. The IRA gang members, armed with assault rifles and heavy machine gun, were killed soon after firing on a police station in 1992. The SAS ambushed them as they pulled into the car park of a church in a stolen truck at Clonoe, Co Tyrone.
![[Aftermath of an IRA shooting; soldiers stand guard near a damaged building and abandoned vehicles.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/1992-scene-shoot-four-ira-969642174.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
At the legacy inquest in Belfast, Coroner Justice Michael Humphreys ruled yesterday the SAS unit’s use of lethal force was unjustified. He said the troops did not have an honest belief that it was necessary to prevent loss of life. Kevin O’Donnell, 21, Patrick Vincent, 20, Sean O’Farrell, 22, and Peter Clancy, 21, were killed. Mr Simm, 70, the most senior enlisted SAS soldier at the time, said: “If the judge thinks it unreasonable to use lethal force when terrorists are armed with an anti-aircraft weapon that could shoot through two houses, perhaps he could enlighten us on what is reasonable.
![[Aftermath of an IRA shootout: a damaged building, getaway car, and soldier with a rifle.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/1992-scene-shoot-four-ira-969642302.jpg?strip=all&w=636)
"And until that time the whole British Army should down tools. “How can the Government, how can the country, expect soldiers to do their duty if they know they will be dragged through the courts for the rest of their lives?”. The soldiers involved — all now in their mid to late 60s — have not been named. Simm, awarded a DSO gallantry medal in the 1980s, said they were all “disillusioned and confused”.
