Kingsmills Massacre final hearing: Man whose brother was murdered in IRA atrocity has 'no regrets' for abandoning inquest

The inquest is examining the IRA murder of 10 Protestant workmen in south Armagh as they travelled home from work 1976.

Preliminary hearings of the inquest began in 2014 and all hearings except one have so far taken place in Belfast.

Some relatives have queried why the final hearing has been moved to Dungannon, asking if this had been done to "hide it away" from the Belfast media.

"We're totally disillusioned with the whole process," said Colin Worton, whose brother Kenney was one of those murdered.

"This is the first hearing I am aware of since we walked away from the inquest in 2020 and to be honest, I feel a bit guilty - and yet at the same time I am not sorry.

"It has been dragging on for some nine years.

"This inquest is in memory of my brother, but I honestly didn't think we were going to make any headway when we walked away in 2020 and I think that has been proven to be true."

The primary reason most families walked away in 2020 was because the coroner declined to name deceased suspects.

"I can't for the life of me understand why they can't name the dead suspects if they have been identified as such by intelligence reports," Colin said.

It is understood that two of the suspects identified by the inquest are deceased with at least six having terrorist convictions. And it is believed that one suspect is both deceased and had terrorist convictions.

However the coroner has argued that naming suspects could put the lives of others close to them at risk and risk national security.

"I don't think we were ever treated with respect the way we should have been treated," Colin added.

"We had to travel from Armagh to the inquest in Belfast but sometimes when we arrived it would be adjourned after only an hour. But it would take us half a day to get ready and get there.

"Then you were given documents at the last minute quite a bit before hearings."

He is also angered by the fact that although the inquest pursued evidence on the massacre from Garda since 2014, it took until last year until a witness gave evidence.

However the families were not given a date for the hearing and in any case they were statute barred from attending the behind closed doors session in Dublin High Court.

Some families were given a report on what was said - about a year after the hearing - but are legally forbidden from disclosing its contents.

"I find all that nearly verging on laughable if it wasn't so serious that they could keep families out of a court hearing in Dublin examining Garda evidence on the murders.

"When we met the Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Bessbrook in 2015 none of that was mentioned. He said they would go out of their way to give us everything they had."

He lamented the fact that his mother, Bea Worton and Jean Lemon, (whose husband Joe was murdered) and victims campaigner Willie Frazer, who was key in securing the inquest, have all passed away in the nine years the inquest has been operating.

"And still we have got nothing."

A spokeswoman for the Coroner said: “We note the comments provided but it would not be appropriate for the office to respond in light of the ongoing legal proceedings. The Coroner has not yet reached a final determination on the naming of deceased suspects.”

The Irish government and Garda were also invited to comment.

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Angry IRA victims stage walk out from Kingsmills Massacre legacy inquest