A new inquest has been ordered into the death of a woman who was killed during a robbery at a Post Office in Co Tyrone in 1983.
Bridget Foster, 80, a mother of five, was shot dead by a stray RUC bullet following a shoot-out between police and masked men who were carrying out the robbery in Pomeroy.
Attorney General Dame Brenda King has written to the presiding coroner in Northern Ireland Mr Justice Michael Humphreys, ordering that a new inquest should examine the death, following representations from legal firm KRW Law.
However, under the provisions of the Government’s contentious new legacy laws, the inquest will not be able to take place before a guillotine date for cases which have not reached a point of verdict, May 1st.
In her letter to the coroner the attorney general said she was taking account of new information provided by former RUC officer Colin Keys, who was directly involved in the incident.
Mr Keys and another officer had opened fire after shots were fired at them by the robbers.
In 2022, Mr Keys, who has since died, was awarded substantial damages by a Belfast court as part of a negligence case taken against the PSNI, after he said he had been left devastated at the thought that he might have killed the elderly woman.
He was later informed that forensics had established that another officer fired the fatal round.
The attorney general said that in the legal proceedings, Mr Keys had alleged that the RUC was aware of the Pomeroy robbery in advance but took no action to prevent it in order to protect an IRA informer.
The Foster family have also launched civil proceedings against the police and a complaint has been made to the Police Ombudsman.
The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, which gained royal assent last year, will halt all legacy inquests which have not reached a point of verdict by May 1st.
A number of Troubles victims have launched legal action against the new laws and the Irish Government has announced it is to challenge the Act in the European Court of Human Rights.
Kevin Winters of KRW Law welcomed the decision to grant a new inquest in the Foster case.
But he added: “As this is a Troubles-related incident there is currently no prospect of the inquest ever taking place.
“The Legacy Act prevents the next of kin of Mrs Foster from having access to justice.
“However, the recent announcement of an interstate challenge by the Irish Government against the UK offers much needed hope to the hundreds of other similarly affected conflict related next of kin and survivors.
“The Irish intervention couldn’t be more timely. It provides a much-needed incentive for families to persist on engagement in legacy legal agitation.”
Mrs Foster’s grandson Mark Foster said his grandmother’s death was “needless and avoidable”.
He said: “We have received no meaningful apology from anyone.
“This has dragged on now over 40 years. When are we going to get justice? When are questions going to be answered?”
