Bishop lashes British Army

Press, 29 November 1978, Page 9

Bishop lashes British Army

NZPA-Reuter Londonderry A Roman Catholic bishop, Edward Daly, has accused. British soldiers in Northern Ireland of shooting to kill at; stakeouts instead of making! arrests. The bishop issued a statement as the funeral took! place of a Provisional Irish Republican Army auxiliary, Patrick Duffy, shot dead on Friday. Provisional I.R.A. men gave Duffy a traditional I.R.A. funeral, firing a volley; of shots over his coffin. Bishop Daly, who has [ often attacked the Provision- [ al I.R.A. said: "Members! of the British Army here! would seem to be able to act; outside the law with immun--ity.

: “The shooting dead of a person merely because they ; enter a house or place ’where illegally held arms or [explosives are stored is quite unjustifiable.” He said he did not believe I that suspects had been shot because the soldiers con- ! earned had thought they ■were about to open fire. [ “In all the cases concerned it would appear that an arrest could have been made without resorting to a shoot-to-kill policy,’’ he said. Duffy was shot by a uniformed soldier who thought he was going to open fire, ]the British Army has said. I In Belfast, the I.R.A. has ! admitted killing a top prison official as part of its campaign to gain political-pris-oner status for jailed supporters. Deputy Governor Albert Miles was shot dead by a gunman who burst into his Belfast home after his wife answered a knock at the door.

Miles was shot five times and died almost instantly, the gunman firing at him past Mrs Miles, who although deeply shocked, was uninjured. (n retaliation the Northern Ireland Prison Officers’ Association has banned I.R.A. guerrillas at four main jails from receiving visits, letters, and parcels from their families. They plag to maintain the ban until the funeral this week of Mr Miles, deputy governor at the Maze Prison, formerly named Long Kesh. The 300 I.R.A. prisoners at [the Maze are refusing to [wear uniforms, wash themIselves, or clean out their icells, in an effort to achieve 'political-prisoner status.