IRA says sorry for murdering teenage boy 30 years ago
Bernard Teggart, one of a family of 13 Catholic children in west Belfast, was said to have had the mental age of an eight-year-old when he was shot by the Provisionals and dumped on the outskirts of the city in November 1973.
He was found with blood pouring from a bullet wound in his head, his hands and feet tied and a piece of cardboard pinned to his shirt bearing the single word: "Tout". He died in hospital.
The IRA refused even to admit to Bernard's murder for more than 30 years, but yesterday offered its "sincere apologies to the Teggart family for the pain and grief we have caused".
In a statement published in An Phoblacht, it said it had carried out an "investigation" into the murder after a request from the Teggart family. "We can now confirm that Bernard Teggart was shot by the IRA," it said. "The killing of Bernard Teggart should not have happened."
Even by the standards of the early 1970s, when the IRA's killing spree was at its height, its suspected involvement in his murder set a new low in brutality.
The murder came just two years after his father, Daniel Teggart (44), was shot dead by soldiers on the night that internment without trial was introduced in the North. His family have always insisted Mr Teggart had no paramilitary links.
They said yesterday: "The statement validates what we have always said. Bernard was an innocent child subjected to a horrendous ordeal that culminated in his killing. Today's announcement was important to us, but especially for our mother who, in the later years of her life, needed to now hear the IRA publicly acknowledge responsibility, apologise and recognise that Bernard should never have been killed.
"Our mother is a deeply religious woman who holds no bitterness towards those responsible. Her faith has been her rock and she has prayed for those responsible for the killing of our father and of Bernard."
Monsignor Denis Faul, one of three priests to denounce the IRA after the murder, described the move as "very significant". He said it could pave the way for further apologies to some of the IRA's 1,800 victims, and would accelerate the process of reconciliation in Northern Ireland.
Two years ago, the Provisionals offered "sincere apologies and condolences" to the "non-combatant" victims of the troubles.
On the day of Bernard's murder, loyalists stepped up their bombing campaign in nationalist areas, with blasts in Armagh and Dungannon. A total of 20 people were killed in November 1973, half of them by the IRA.
By admitting that Bernard's murder "should not have happened", the IRA has effectively admitted that it had no evidence that he was an informer.
At the time, the main reason advanced in the New Barnsley estate in west Belfast, where the family lived, was that he had seen the IRA hijacking a beer lorry.
The teenager was said to have shouted "I'm going to tell on youse." Within minutes, the British army arrived and the men were arrested.
- David Lister
