McCANN AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT JOINT DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGES RYSSDAL, BERNHARDT, THÓR VILHJÁLMSSON, GÖLCÜKLÜ, PALM, PEKKANEN, SIR JOHN FREELAND, BAKA AND JAMBREK 62 soldiers on the ground in such a way as to give them the impression that the presence of a bomb had been definitely identified. But, given the assessments which had been made of the likelihood of a remote control being used, and given the various indicators that the car should indeed be suspected of containing a bomb, the actions which the soldiers must be expected to have taken would be the same whether their understanding of the message was as it apparently was or whether it was in the sense which Soldier G apparently intended. In either case, the existence of the risk to the people of Gibraltar would have been enough, given the nature of that risk, justifiably to prompt the response which followed. 18. Paragraph 209, in referring to the assessment made by Soldier G, also recalls that while he had experience with car bombs, he was not an expert in radio communications or explosives. In considering that assessment, it would, however, be fair to add that, although his inspection of the car was of brief duration, it was enough to enable him to conclude, particularly in view of the unusual appearance of its aerial in relation to the age of the car and the knowledge that the IRA had in the past used cars with aerials specially fitted, that it was to be regarded as a suspect car bomb. The authorities were, in any event, not acting solely on the basis of Soldier G’s assessment. There had also been the earlier assessment, to which we have referred in paragraph 13 above, that a "blocking" car was unlikely to be used. In addition, the car had been seen to be parked by Savage, who was known to be an expert bomb-maker and who had taken some time (two to three minutes, according to one witness) to get out of the car, after fiddling with something between the seats. 19. Paragraph 210 of the judgment asserts, in effect, that the use of lethal force was made "almost unavoidable" by the conveyance to Soldiers A, B, C and D of a series of working hypotheses which were vitiated by the absence of sufficient allowances for alternative possibilities and by "the definite reporting ... of a car bomb which ..., could be detonated at the press of a button". We have dealt in paragraphs 13-16 with the points advanced in support of the conclusion that insufficient allowance was made for alternative possibilities; and in paragraphs 17 and 18 with the question of reporting as to the presence of a car bomb. We further question the conclusion that the use of lethal force was made "almost unavoidable" by failings of the authorities in these respects. Quite apart from any other consideration, this conclusion takes insufficient account of the part played by chance in the eventual outcome. Had it not been for the movements which were made by McCann and Farrell as Soldiers A and B closed on them and which may have been prompted by the completely coincidental sounding of a police car siren, there is every possibility that they would have been seized and arrested without a shot