The plan to end prosecutions for deaths, torture and other serious crimes related to The Troubles was announced by Boris Johnson in the run up to the 2019 General Election and a Bill is currently being steered through the House of Lords after passing its Commons stages.

Justice campaigner Billy McManus argues that the new law would allow the killers of his father William to evade justice.

William was one of five Catholics (including a 15 year-old boy) shot dead by Loyalist paramilitaries at a betting shop in Belfast in 1992.

Speaking to the Byline Times Podcast, Billy said: “The security services know the names of everyone involved.  At least two of them were agents of the state.”

An inquiry by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland reported last year that there had been “collusive behaviour” between officers from the now disbanded Royal Ulster Constabulary and members the loyalist UDA who were involved in the attack. 

The same report also identified significant failures in the police investigation and said that files relating to the murders had been deliberately destroyed.

Although ministers have said their intention is to “draw a line” under nearly three decades of conflict which began in the late 60’s, Billy believes the legislation is designed to cover up “the hidden secrets about what really went on in this country for over 30 years of The Troubles.”

His comments are echoed by Julie Hambleton, whose sister Maxine was among 21 revellers killed by the IRA in the Birmingham Pub Bombings in 1974.

She believes that leading Republicans were covertly working with the British security services and says, “The problem for us is that if there is anything to do with paramilitary violence, it appears that successive governments simply do not want to investigate it. It is off limits.”

Six men were wrongfully jailed for the bombings, but since their convictions were quashed in 1991, no one has been prosecuted for the crime.

The new legislation, enshrined in the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, has been criticised by a range of international organisations including the UN’s Human Rights Commission and 27 members of Congress in the United States.

Amnesty UK’s Deputy Director for Northern Ireland, Grainne Teggart, called the Bill “a gross betrayal of victims” and warned that it would set “a very dangerous precedent by signalling to other states that they, too, can shun their human rights obligations.”

The UK government, which declined to comment for the podcast, is proposing to create an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) with the promise of legal penalties for those who won’t co-operate with it.

But Billy McManus says, “I want the people who murdered my father and four other people to face the full rigours of the law, and go to jail, because that's what they deserve.  Murderers shouldn't be free to walk the streets.”

The Byline Times Podcast is available here as an exclusive preview to readers to the Byline Supplement.