'Shoot-to-kill' hearing to begin

Three IRA men were shot dead at a checkpoint by police in Lurgan in 1982

A preliminary hearing is due to begin into six controversial killings at the centre of an alleged police shoot-to-kill policy 25 years ago.

Coroner John Leckey will look at the case of three IRA men shot dead by members of a specialist RUC unit near Lurgan in November 1982.

He will also examine the killing of Catholic Michael Tighe, shot dead at a hayshed near Craigavon the same month.

Mr Lecky will also look at the killings of two INLA suspects that December.

Peter Grew and Roddy Carroll were shot dead near Armagh after being followed across the border by a police surveillance unit.

The killings of IRA members Sean Burns, Gervaise McKerr and Eugene Toman in Lurgan provoked huge controversy.

Former Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Sir John Stalker was brought in to investigate.

However, his report was never published and earlier inquests into the killings were abandoned.

The government has always denied any "shoot-to-kill" policy existed and has resisted calls from families to look again at what happened.