Victims' daughter loses IRA ceasefire appeal

Michelle Williamson watched news of the bomb on TV

A woman, whose parents were killed in an IRA bomb, has failed in her attempt to challenge a government ruling that the ceasefire called by that organisation is still intact.

Michelle Williamson's parents, George and Gillian, were killed in the 1993 Shankill Road bomb in Belfast.

Last year Ms Williamson brought a legal challenge against a prouncement by former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam that the IRA ceasefire was intact. However, McWilliamson's challenge was rejected.

Ms Williamson was not in court on Thursday to hear the latest ruling. But her solicitor indicated that she may appeal to the House of Lords.

Mr Nick Harvey said: "Michelle will be very disappointed. It's obviously a major setback.

"We'll be considering with senior counsel our next move and announcing it soon."

Mo Mowlam's view 'legitimate'

Lord Chief Justice Sir Robert Carswell told the court he had decided to back the original ruling.

"The secretary of state, in our opinion, adopted a legitimate approach to the decision which she made and was entitled to reach the conclusion which she did."

Mo Mowlam: Ruled that the IRA ceasefire was intact

Ms Williamson's lawyers had argued that after the murder of north Belfast man Charles Bennett and gun smuggling from the United States, Ms Mowlam should have declared the ceasefire void.

Such a decision could have affected the prison sentence of Sean Kelly convicted of the Shankill Road bombing, in which Ms Williamson's parents died.

He is due for early release this July under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

But the Lord Chief Justice said: "Even if there had been events which, on their own, appeared to point to a resumption of terrorist violence or an intention to do so, as the Bennett murder and the arms smuggling did, she was entitled to look at the security picture as a whole and make her judgments upon that."

Sir Robert admitted that Ms Mowlam's decision was of a "difficult and delicate nature" and that there was a "subjective element" in making it.

Michelle Williamson once handcuffed herself to the gates of the Maze prison

But he said it was not for him to intervene unless it could be established that the secretary of state had gone wrong in law.

He added: "We have reached the conclusion that the judge was correct in holding that the secretary of state did not apply an incorrect test in deciding not to specify the IRA and that she was legally entitled to make that decision."

MP's support

The anti-agreement Ulster Unionist MP for Lagan Valley, Jeffrey Donaldson supported Ms Williamson's case.

He said it was a "sad day for justice".

"I believe Michelle Williamson has a very strong case.

"The IRA was so blatantly in breach of its ceasefire and yet the government continues to release their prisoners.

"This is in spite of the IRA not fulfilling what it is required to do by legislation, including the need to co-operate with the decommissioning body."