Army general sued over 1973 loyalist murder

General Sir Frank Kitson, who is now 88, is accused of knowingly allowing loyalist groups to conduct criminals actions during the Troubles

A senior Army officer is to be sued over the loyalist murder of a Catholic man in Northern Ireland more than 40 years ago.

General Sir Frank Kitson is accused of knowingly allowing loyalist groups to conduct criminals actions during the Troubles.

In February 1973, Eugene "Paddy" Heenan, 47, was killed when loyalist paramilitaries threw a grenade at the minibus carrying him and 14 others to a building site in east Belfast.

His widow, Mary, is now taking legal action against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and General Kitson, who is now 88, claiming her husband died because of negligence and misfeasance in office.

It is the first time a retired senior soldier has been personally sued over alleged actions during the Troubles.

However, the MoD said it had received no formal notification of any legal action.

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It is not known whether Mrs Heenan has legal aid to bring the case because of privacy rules protecting the issuing of it.

Solicitor Kevin Winters, representing Mrs Heenan, said: "This week we have issued proceedings against the MoD and Frank Kitson on behalf of our clients, the relatives of Patrick Heenan.

"These are civil proceedings for damages but their core value is to obtain truth and accountability for our clients as to the role of the British Army and Frank Kitson in the counter-insurgency operation in the north of Ireland during the early part of the conflict and the use of loyalist paramilitary gangs to contain the republican-nationalist threat through terror, manipulation of the rule of law, infiltration and subversion all core to the Kitson military of doctrine endorsed by the British Army and the British government at the time."

Gen Kitson has been named as a co-defendant in the legal action on grounds that he and others used agents knowing, or should have known, that they would take part in criminal actions.

Court papers claim Gen Kitson is "liable personally for negligence and misfeasance in public office", because, in creating his policy, he was "reckless as to whether state agents would be involved in murder".

His doctrine included the use of "counter-gangs", subversion, psychological operations and the creation of covert military units such as the controversial Military Reaction Force (MRF), it is claimed.

Ex-soldier Albert "Ginger" Baker received a life sentence for killing Mr Heenan and three others but later claimed to have links to British intelligence.

Baker was a member of the outlawed Ulster Defence Association (UDA) at the time of Mr Heenan's murder and known to be a leading member of the so-called "Romper Room" gang.

Mrs Heenan's legal team say Gen Kitson's command and influence were such as to make him liable for the actions of Baker and others in the murder of Mr Heenan.

Mr Heenan, from Andersonstown, west Belfast, had been working as a foreman at a Catholic school.

Although no inquest was held into Mr Heenan's death, it has been claimed he could have survived if first aid had been administered quickly.

KRW Law is also instructed by a number of families who were the victims of UDA violence during the same period and this legal action could be the first of a series of similar civil claims.

An MoD spokesman said: "The Ministry of Defence has received no official notification of this case, nor are we aware of any evidence which would support the allegations.”

It is not known whether Mrs Heenan has legal aid to bring the case.

Gen Kitson said he was unaware that he was involved in the legal action surrounding the death of Heenan, but confirmed that he had received a letter from Mary Heenan's legal team.

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Gen Kitson said: “I wasn’t there in 1973. I was in Ireland from September 1970 until April 1972.

“I know nothing about what happened to Mr Heenan. I wasn’t a policy maker, I was a commander of troops.

“I have absolutely no knowledge of Mr Heenan, and I had been gone from Ireland for nine months at the time of his death.

“When I was in Ireland I was a brigadier, I wasn’t working out policies. We were working very closely with the police at the time, we have to make our plans together.

“We never instigated the use of paramilitary gangs.”

Gen Kitson denied the legal firm's accusations that he was in charge of military operations in Northern Ireland during the early 1970s.

He said: “I was not. I was commanding one of three brigades. Above me there as a major general, and a lieutenant general.”