Outcomes

The Historical Enquiries Team has provided hundreds of families with a detailed report on what happened to their loves ones and continues each week to compile and deliver reports to bereaved families. Sometimes the HET investigation uncovers information or evidence which results in criminal proceedings.

Resolution means different things to different people. For some, nothing short of securing a conviction in court will be acceptable. Other people only want to know as much as possible about what happened and about the investigations which were carried out.

The HET is grateful for the letters of thanks it often receives and appreciates that for many people revisiting traumatic events and reawakening painful memories can be very distressing. It is especially heartening to know that sometimes HET investigators have been able to dispel misconceptions and correct inaccuracies which have been a source of enduring worry and stress for bereaved relatives. The feelings of some families are reflected in the quotations from letters we have received.

The sister of a man shot dead in Armagh in 1975 wrote,
“I was surprised and delighted that someone recognised the hurt.”

A policeman’s daughter, who was 18 months old when her father died in 1972, told us, “A jigsaw has finally been put together. The details contained within the report have given us a much deeper understanding of the events.”

The sister of a soldier killed in 1972 described HET as “the first people who have shown any interest in our family or even tried to get some understanding of how we have felt over the past 37 years.”