Campaign for murdered soldiers will continue until answers found, says relative

A five-decade quest for answers about the unsolved murders of three Scottish soldiers will only end when the truth is finally uncovered, a relative has vowed.

Brothers John and Joseph McCaig from Ayr, who were 17 and 18 respectively, and Dougald McCaughey, 23, from Glasgow, were shot dead by the IRA in Belfast in March 1971.

The bodies of the three friends, who were the first off-duty soldiers murdered in the Northern Ireland Troubles, were found on a roadside in Ligoniel in north Belfast.

The young men, who served with the Royal Highland Fusiliers, were lured to their deaths from a city centre pub.

No-one has been convicted of the murders.

Fusilier McCaughey’s cousin David, from Glasgow, has been actively campaigning on the case for 17 years – initially with efforts to have memorials erected in north Belfast and later in legal attempts to seek fresh investigations.

While several suspects thought to have been involved in the murders are now dead, Mr McCaughey believes others linked to the killings are still alive.

But, with the 55th anniversary approaching, he made clear he was now more focused on securing answers and some form of closure for the families, rather than criminal convictions.

“It’s a scar that’s never healed and never will heal,” he said.

“That’s one of worst things that can ever happen to someone – losing a loved one to murder. It’s one thing losing somebody through natural cases – that’s hard. I lost my dad 25 years ago and that’s still sore but it’s a different ball game losing somebody who has been violently murdered. It doesn’t matter who it was, anybody throughout the world – it’s horrible.”

Mr McCaughey, 57, is calling for state archive files on the killings to be released in unredacted form.

“There’s stuff in those files the Government doesn’t want people to see,” he said.

“We’ll just keeping going for the truth.

“Answers would help. Answers give people closure. There’ll never be closure if you don’t get the answers.

“We’ve been getting so far and you are getting to a door and you’re opening that door and, as soon as you walk through that door, ‘bang’ there’s another door. And then another door.

“You seem to be gaining a wee bit of ground and then ‘bang’ another door closes on you.

“But we’ll just keeping going.”

The UK Government recently introduced legislative proposals to restructure mechanisms for investigating Troubles cases in Northern Ireland.

A Government spokesperson highlighted that bereaved families seeking information could refer legacy cases to the reformed Legacy Commission.

“The murders of John and Joseph McCaig and Dougald McCaughey by the IRA in Belfast were horrific events and our thoughts and deepest sympathies remain with their families and friends,” said the spokesperson.

“The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill will create a reformed Legacy Commission to command public confidence and provide as much information as possible regarding the circumstances of referred cases to families enabling them to find the truth.”