McCANN AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
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feet (see paragraph 111 below). Then A turned back to McCann and shot
him once more in the body and twice in the head. A was not aware of B
opening fire as this was happening. He fired a total of five shots.
62. Soldier B was approaching directly behind Farrell on the road side of
the pavement. He was watching her. When they were three to four metres
away and closing, he saw in his peripheral vision that McCann turned his
head to look over his shoulder. He heard what he presumed was a shout
from A which he thought was the start of the arrest process. At almost the
same instant, there was firing to his right. Simultaneously, Farrell made a
sharp movement to her right, drawing the bag which she had under her left
arm across her body. He could not see her hands or the bag and feared that
she was going for the button. He opened fire on Farrell. He deemed that
McCann was in a threatening position and was unable to see his hands and
switched fire to McCann. Then he turned back to Farrell and continued
firing until he was certain that she was no longer a threat, namely, her hands
away from her body. He fired a total of seven shots.
63. Both soldiers denied that Farrell or McCann made any attempt to
surrender with their hands up in the air or that they fired at the two suspects
when they were lying on the ground. At the inquest, Soldier A stated
expressly that his intention had been to kill McCann "to stop him becoming
a threat and detonating that bomb".
64. The shooting took place on the pavement in front of a Shell petrol
station in Winston Churchill Avenue.
After the shooting, the soldiers put on berets so they would be recognised
by the police. They noticed a police car, with its siren going, coming south
from the sundial down the far side of Winston Churchill Avenue. A number
of policemen jumped out of the car and leapt the central barrier. Soldier A
still had his pistol in his hand. He put his hands up in the air and shouted
"Police". A recalled hearing shooting from behind as the police car was
approaching.
While neither of the soldiers was aware of the police car or siren until
after the shooting, the majority of witnesses, including the police officers P,
Q and R who were in the vicinity to support the soldiers in the arrest and a
number of the surveillance team as well as civilian witnesses, recalled that
the sound of the police siren preceded, if only by a very short time, the
sound of the gunfire. Officers P and Q, who were watching from a relatively
close distance, considered that Farrell and McCann reacted to the sound of
the siren: Q was of the opinion that it was the siren that caused Farrell and
McCann to stop and turn.
65. The arrival of the police car at the scene was an unintended
occurrence. After the Commissioner had handed over control to the military
at 15.40 hours, he instructed Mr Colombo to ensure that there was police
transport available. Mr Colombo telephoned Chief Inspector Lopez at the
Central Police Station, who in turn instructed the Controller Police