No prosecution over Kingsmill massacre palm print
The Public Prosecution Service says there is insufficient evidence to bring charges.
Last updated 9th Feb 2017
Last year a palm print which was discovered on a getaway van in 1976 was matched to a suspect, but prosecutors say there is no reasonable prospect of a conviction based on the available evidence.
Michael Agnew, the PPS's Assistant Director of Central Casework, said lawyers had given "careful consideration to all of the evidence'' and had applied the test for prosecution.
"We have concluded that there is no reasonable prospect of a conviction based on the available evidence and that the test for prosecutions is therefore not met,'' he said.
It is understood there were concerns about when the individual identified had contact with the van as it could have been before or after the attack.
There was also an issue around the integrity of the van - in other words the records of where it was kept, examined and who by. That resulted in a lack of detail in files available about the palm print itself, other than it existed and was found on the front passenger window.
Prosecutors were also unable to tell if it was caused by someone who was inside the van or had come into contact with it in the hours after the murders.
The vans link to the murders itself was also a difficulty, it was spotted 5 miles away before the attack and 10 miles away after making that evidence circumstantial.
It is understood a lack of Garda and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) records in regard to how the van was forensically handled upon discovery was a key factor in the PPS's decision.
Mr Agnew announced the decision on Thursday.
"We are mindful of the disappointment that this decision will bring to the surviving victim and families of those who were killed,'' he said.
"Although 41 years have passed since this atrocity, we are conscious that their pain endures."
We are also conscious that inquest proceedings are currently adjourned to allow for any criminal matters to be concluded and accordingly have advised the coroner of this decision.''
"We have informed the families this morning of our decision and the reasons for it, and have offered to meet with them to answer any further questions that they may have.
The textile workers were shot when their minibus was ambushed outside the village of Kingsmill on their way home from work.
The ten victims were lined up on a country road in rural south Armagh and shot dead in a sectarian attack that was widely blamed on the IRA. Another man survived despite being shot 18 times.
Those on board were asked their religion, and the only Catholic was ordered to run away.
The killers, who had been hidden in the hedges, forced the 11 remaining men to line up outside the van before opening fire.
Alan Black was the sole survivor.
The suspected getaway vehicle was left abandoned across the Irish border and the palm print was subsequently recovered days later.
No-one has ever been convicted of the murders, which have been widely blamed on the IRA, even though the organisation never admitted responsibility.
The attack was seen as a reprisal for loyalist killings in the same area days earlier.
Following re-examination by forensic scientists in May 2016, a potential match was found on the police's database - a week after a fresh inquest into the shootings opened in Belfast.
Last month, the coroner presiding over the Kingsmill case said if the decision was not to prosecute then he would move to reconvene his inquest at the earliest opportunity.