Keith White

Keith White 20 years, Houston Park, Mourneview estate, Lurgan, County Armagh, hit by a plastic bullet fired by a member of the RUC on 31 March 1986. He died in hospital two weeks later on 14 April.

Mr White, speaking soon after the death of his son, described Keith as a happy-go lucky and loveable son. ‘The last time I saw Keith was about 8.40am on Easter Sunday morning, and the last words I said to him were “Look after yourself.” It was something I said every time he went out.’

Keith left home that Easter Sunday morning to attend a parade of the Apprentice Boy Clubs in Portadown. The Apprentice Boys Clubs are a Protestant organisation affiliated to the Orange Order, and are the first of various associated organisations to hold parades during the ‘marching season’ each year.

The parade in Portadown on Easter 1986 was the first by loyalist orders since the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement between the British and Irish governments in October 1985. One of the promises of the Agreement had been to put a stop Orange and loyalist parades ‘coat trailing’ through nationalist areas. Portadown, a predominately unionist town, has a small nationalist population living mostly in and around a part of the town known as ‘The Tunnel’. On two or three occasions every year large numbers of RUC and British soldiers moved into ‘The Tunnel’ to facilitate Orange parades marching through the area. The Crown forces usually blocked off all the streets in the area, forcing nationalists living there to remain indoors for several hours until the parades passed. However, under pressure from the Irish Government, the Northern Ireland Office instructed the RUC for the first time to stop the Apprentice Boys parade entering ‘The Tunnel.’

Leading Orangemen and Unionists condemned the NIO directive to the RUC, and called for people to turn out in large numbers to oppose the re-routing of the march. A heavy force of RUC and British soldiers were moved into the town and took up positions around ‘The Tunnel’ area on the morning of the march. A showdown was expected and the situation was tense.

The first violent clash that day between Apprentice Boys supporters and Crown forces in Portadown began when some of the marchers reached an RUC cordon near Pleasure Gardens around 12.30pm. Scuffles broke out and stones and bottles were thrown at the cordon. A number of plastic bullets were fired. Later that afternoon more serious disturbances between marchers and the RUC took place near the cordon at Woodhouse Street. It was during the disturbances at Woodhouse Street when Keith White was struck on the head by a plastic bullet. He was knocked unconscious by the impact of the round and rushed to Craigavon Area Hospital, but due to his condition was transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. During the two weeks before his death Mr White said his son was on a life support machine and remained unconscious most of the time, ‘but once or twice’ he said ‘he opened his eyes and understood what was being said to him.’

An inquest into the killing of Keith White was held in September 1987. None of the RUC members involved in the killing attended. The coroner at the beginning of the hearing said that any one of three RUC members might have fired the fatal shot. He explained to the jury that anyone suspected of causing a death could not legally be compelled to give evidence in person at an inquest. He also told the jury their principal duty was to decide in what circumstances Mr White died.

The statements of the three RUC members, who were known as witness ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘D’, were read to the jury by senior RUC officers. Evidence presented at the hearing included video footage from a television film crew and from a British army surveillance helicopter. The video screened showed Mr White throwing stones on a number of occasions. The deceased was shown with a scarf covering his face, throwing a stone and turning away to return to the crowd. Seconds later a plastic bullet struck the back of his head. An RUC officer told the hearing he believed the fatal shot had been fired by one of three officers, ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘D’. But his investigations led him to believe officer ‘D’ probably fired the fatal shot.

Counsel for the next-of-kin said the video evidence indicated that officer ‘D’ could not have fired the shot. The RUC witness maintained officer ‘D’ fired the shot. In a his statement to the hearing officer ‘D’ said he fired one shot at a stone thrower. He said he saw a person fall to the ground but could not say whether it was Keith White. Evidence by a forensic scientist, who examined the weapon fired by officer ‘D’, proved it had a defective sight.

On the last day of the inquest the coroner gave the jury a draft summary of suggested findings they could make, but told them that it was for them to decide, ‘whether or not to accept the draft, add to it, adapt it or reject it.’ The coroner also took the unusual step of allowing the counsel for the dead man’s family to make suggestions to the jury about their findings in the case. The White family lawyer urged the jury to find that the dead man had not been killed by a shot aimed at the lower part of his body, but by a shot fired at his head. The jury found that Keith White had been throwing missiles when he was hit in the head by a baton round fire from 22 metres away. They also found that one of the plastic bullet guns used by the RUC during the incident had its sight missing. They were unable to decide which officer had fired the fatal shot.

No RUC officers were ever charged in connection with the killing of Keith White.