SAS Veteran Cleared Over 1991 Coagh Ambush Faces New Supreme Court Challenge

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SAS Veteran Cleared Over 1991 Coagh Ambush Faces New Supreme Court Challenge

A former SAS soldier who has been cleared three times over a deadly 1991 ambush in Northern Ireland is facing another legal fight after legal aid was granted for an application to take the case to the UK Supreme Court.

The development, reported by The Times on Tuesday, means the legal saga surrounding the former soldier, known only as Soldier B, is set to continue into a sixth year of investigations and court proceedings.

Court 1 at the UK Supreme Court in Middlesex Guildhall, London
Court 1 at the UK Supreme Court in London. Legal aid has been granted for the family of Tony Doris to apply for leave to appeal to the court in the case of a former SAS soldier known as Soldier B. (Image: Diliff / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA)

Key facts

  • What happened: Legal aid has been granted to the family of Tony Doris, an IRA man killed in a 1991 SAS ambush in Coagh, Co Tyrone, so they can apply for leave to appeal to the UK Supreme Court.
  • Who is involved: The challenge concerns Soldier B, a former SAS soldier who joined the Army in 1978 and served six tours of Northern Ireland. He shot and killed Doris during the ambush.
  • Deadline: Soldier B has two weeks to put in submissions before the Supreme Court decides whether to grant leave for the appeal to proceed.
  • What came before: A coroner ruled in 2024 that the SAS soldiers' use of lethal force was justified, and both the High Court and the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland have since rejected challenges to that finding.
  • Official response: The Ministry of Defence said it welcomed the earlier judgments but would not comment further while legal processes continue.

The new legal move

Soldier B's lawyer, Philip Barden of Devonshires Solicitors, confirmed he had been told legal aid had been granted for the next of kin of Tony Doris to apply for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, according to The Times.

Mr Barden said the veteran now faced more sleepless nights. "Once again he is aware of the fact the case against him is not closed and it's still ongoing," he said. He added that two courts had already been critical of legal aid being granted for earlier challenges, yet "here it is being granted again".

The Northern Ireland justice department declined to go into detail. "The Legal Services Agency does not comment on the details of individual cases," it said in a statement reported by The Times.

The Ministry of Defence pointed to the judgments already handed down. "We welcomed the 2024 judgment and subsequent Court of Appeal ruling earlier this year," a spokesman said. "As this case is subject to ongoing legal processes, it would not be appropriate to comment further."

What happened at Coagh

The case stretches back to 3 June 1991, during the latter part of the Troubles. Three members of the Provisional IRA's East Tyrone brigade, Tony Doris, Peter Ryan and Lawrence McNally, were intercepted by the SAS in a stolen car near the village of Coagh in Co Tyrone.

The soldiers believed the trio were on their way to murder a member of the security forces. Intelligence indicated the IRA men intended to kill Allister Harkness, a local factory worker and former Ulster Defence Regiment soldier, at a public car park in the village. Harkness had been warned and his family moved to safety. One SAS soldier even took Harkness's place, dyeing his hair and driving his gold Austin Maestro on the usual morning route.

When the stolen car arrived, the SAS opened fire. Up to 150 rounds were discharged and all three IRA men were killed. The car burst into flames after being hit.

The legal saga so far

The inquest into the three deaths opened in 2022. Delivering his findings in 2024, coroner Mr Justice Michael Humphreys ruled that the soldiers' use of lethal force was "reasonable and proportionate" because they had "an honest belief that it was necessary" to save the lives of others. He also ruled that McNally and Ryan were shot by a soldier known as Soldier G, while Doris was shot and killed by Soldier B.

Roisin Nugent, a relative of Mr Doris, challenged that finding. She argued that Soldier B should have paused after every shot to consider whether it was absolutely necessary to fire another one. Her judicial review application was thrown out by the High Court in Belfast last October, with the judge branding it "ludicrous" and "utterly divorced from reality".

Mr Justice McAlinden said that Soldier B, who is now in his sixties, had "a split second to take action to stop what he honestly believed to be a Provisional IRA active service unit from committing murder". The judge also said he was surprised that legal aid funding had been made available to mount such a challenge.

The case then moved to the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland. In April this year the judges rejected the challenge, ruling there was "no arguable legal error" that would offer "a reasonable prospect of success". They said the coroner had applied the correct legal tests and reached "a rational well-reasoned decision" compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Earlier, Soldier B broke his silence to accuse the government of allowing the "cynical exploitation" of the judicial system to persecute veterans. The veteran, who has had his name cleared three times by judges, told The Times that retired soldiers were being dragged through years of unnecessary distress at taxpayers' expense.

What happens next

Soldier B has two weeks to file his submissions. The Supreme Court will then decide whether to grant leave for the appeal to be heard. Leave is not automatic: the court must consider whether the case raises an arguable point of law of general public importance.

If leave is granted, the Supreme Court would examine the case in detail. If it is refused, the Court of Appeal ruling would stand as the final word on the inquest's findings.

Known and unknown

Confirmed: legal aid has been granted for a Supreme Court leave application; Soldier B has two weeks to make submissions; the earlier inquest, High Court and Court of Appeal rulings all upheld the finding that the use of lethal force was justified.

Unconfirmed: whether the Supreme Court will grant leave; what grounds the family will argue if the appeal proceeds; how long any further proceedings would take.

Why it matters

The case is one of the most prominent of the legacy legal proceedings arising from the Troubles. It sits at the centre of a wider debate about how the justice system handles historical military operations, with veterans' groups arguing that elderly soldiers face repeated legal ordeals while the Ministry of Defence says it respects the legal process. Whatever the Supreme Court decides, the ruling will be watched closely on both sides of that debate.

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