No documents found of meeting between Mo Mowlam and Kingsmill witness, court told

No relevant documents relating to a meeting between former secretary of state Mo Mowlam and a new witness who has come forward in the long-running Kingsmill inquest have been found, a court has been told.

At a review hearing at Laganside Courthouse, coroner Brian Sherrard said he wanted to make the process as comprehensive as possible and suggested this could involve hearing evidence from the new witness.

In one of the most infamous incidents of the Troubles, 10 Protestant workmen were murdered by the IRA in 1976 when their minibus was ambushed outside the village of Kingsmill, Co Armagh, on their way home from work.

Those on board were asked their religion, and the only Catholic was ordered to run away.

The killers forced the 11 remaining men to line up outside the van before opening fire.

Alan Black, who was shot multiple times, was the sole survivor.

No-one has ever been convicted.

The Kingsmill inquest opened in May 2016. It was then paused while police carried out a new investigation before resuming in 2017.

The last evidence in the case was heard in March of this year.

However, a review hearing earlier this month was told that a new witness, Vincent McKenna, had come forward with information.

In court on Wednesday, coroner Brian Sherrard asked about records or minutes of an alleged meeting between Mr McKenna and Ms Mowlam, who was the Northern Ireland secretary from 1997 to 1999.

Peter Coll KC, representing the PSNI and MoD, said inquiries had been made of the Northern Ireland Office about the meeting and had been told nothing relevant had been found.

He also said nothing had been found by the PSNI matching a name of a special branch officer put forward by Mr McKenna.

Mr Sherrard asked that the NIO produce a statement to the court detailing the search that had been carried out for materials about the alleged meeting.

Fiona Doherty, representing some of the Kingsmill families, said they were a "little wary" about the witness.

She added: "Having said that what he says is clearly within the scope of the inquest.

"If there is any means of ascertaining the veracity of what he says then we are keen that those steps be taken."

Mr Sherrard said the court had to decide how to approach Mr McKenna's evidence, adding there may be some benefit in inviting him to give evidence.

He said: "My concern about dealing with this in any other way than simply inviting Mr McKenna to participate in the matter is that I don't want to leave any avenues open that could potentially be explored.

"I would like this to be as comprehensive as I can.

"We don't have very much on attribution in terms of individuals. I think the inquest findings will certainly be able to say something about attribution generally across the board."

Ms Doherty said she would need to take instructions from her clients, describing the new development as a "bolt from the blue".

The coroner said: "One of my frustrations is that I have a room full of disclosure from the state, either PSNI or MoD.

"But I have nothing of any value from those who caused these deaths and I just wonder against that background given that we do have somebody coming forward whether the inquest could deal with that in a perfunctory way."

Mr Sherrard said he would receive written submissions from the legal representatives before deciding on how to deal with the evidence of the new witness.