THE FAMILY OF Billy McKavanagh, who was shot dead by the British army in Belfast in 1971, have welcomed a report which said he was was innocent victim.
BBC reports that McKavanagh was shot in the back as he ran from solidiers in an area near the city centre when he was 21 years old, 40 years ago this month.
A report by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) has found that he was unarmed, despite claims to the contrary by the soldier responsible for the shooting.
Mc Kavanagh’s family have said today that they’re hoping for an apology from the government, and expressed regret that his mother had passes away without knowing that her son’s name had been cleared. They say she “never got over the shock” of his death.
The IRA had said that neither McKavanagh not his brother or cousin were members of the group. The HET has said that McKavanagh was “an innocent man”.
The HET was established to examine the deaths of thousands of people in the North between 1968 and 1998. They have dealt with more than 2,500 cases already. The team says that working with families is their primary objective.
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