One of the few families to go public about their engagement with the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) say they are encouraged by the appointment of two veteran “Stakeknife” detectives to their brother’s case.
Danny Bradley was speaking after his first meeting with the detectives who will investigate the death of his brother Seamus in 1972.
IRA member Seamus Bradley (19) was shot and injured in Derry’s Creggan on the morning of Operation Motorman. Despite being shot, the teenager was not given first aid or taken directly to hospital but bled to death.
A 2019 inquest concluded that his killing was unjustified as he did not present a threat. The inquest also concluded that he may have survived had he been given basic first aid after being shot.
The teenager’s family want the ICRIR to uncover what happened in the hours between him being shot and his body being brought to the morgue at Altnagelvin hospital.
The victim’s younger brother, Mr Bradley said he met the ICRIR to learn the full details of what has been done and what the ICRIR plans to do in the investigation. Mr Bradley said he wants to know what his brother’s final words were.
A number of families have engaged with the ICRIR as a way of finding out what happened their loved ones. However, the majority of victim families who have spoken publicly about the body say they are opposed to it.
The ICRIR was established under the previous British government’s Legacy Act which has been opposed by all political parties in Northern Ireland.
While Secretary of State, Hilary Benn has pledged to repeal the Act, he plans to retain the ICRIR. Demanding that the Commission be abolished along with the Legacy Act, victims’ families have claimed it to be part of a British government attempt to protect state participants from being held accountable.
Mr Bradley said he was “hugely encouraged” by what he was told in his ICRIR meeting on Wednesday. The Derry man said he was particularly reassured by the appointment of two veteran detectives who previously worked on the Freddie Scappaticci case.
Codenamed “Stakeknife”, Scappaticci was a British agent in the IRA.
In 2015, it was confirmed he was being investigated in connection with at least 24 murders alleged to have been carried out by him as a member of the Provisional’s internal security unit. The PPS subsequently concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Scappaticci and it was reported that he died in April 2023.
Mr Bradley said: “I met the investigators over an hour and a half and I believe they will honestly investigate Seamus’s case.
“I believe they will get the answers to the unanswered questions about my brother’s killing.”
He said the detectives promised to do everything they could to answer his family’s concerns.
“They said they would update me again on the investigation in February,” Mr Bradley said.
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An ICRIR spokesman said the Commission does not comment on individual cases for privacy reasons but was determined to work with individuals to address their concerns.
The spokesman said: “The Commission has recruited a range of experienced investigators from different backgrounds and disciplines and with a range of specialisms. Each investigation will have a dedicated team of investigation staff assigned to it.”
