The remains of two young Belfast men, killed by the IRA in 1978, have been handed over to their relatives today. DNA tests have confirmed the identities of 23-year-old Brian McKinney and 17-year-old John McClory. The two were abducted and shot by the IRA for allegedly stealing weapons from the organisation and using them in robberies.
Their remains were found in a shallow grave in bogland at Colgagh, County Monaghan, two miles south of Crossmaglen, after information about their secret burial place had been given by the IRA to the Commission for the Location of Victims remains. They were taken to the City Morgue in Dublin, where a pathologist has carried out an examination in an effort to ascertain the cause of death and establish their identity.
DNA tests were also carried out at laboratory in England. The remains of John McClory were released at lunchtime and those of Brian McKinney are being released later this afternoon. Members of their families are accompanying them back to Belfast where they will be buried.
The Monaghan location was one of six pinpointed by the IRA, south of the border, where the graves of nine people abducted and killed since the early 1970s could be found. However, despite exhaustive searches, using heavy digging equipment, only one other body was recovered, that of Belfast man Eamon Molloy, who was left in a coffin above ground in a County Louth cemetery.
All of the other searches were finally called off last month after going on since the end of May. The decision was taken by a joint commission established by both governments and headed by the former Tánaiste John Wilson and the former Northern Ireland civil service chief Sir Kenneth Bloomfield.
