Danny Doherty & William Fleming Inquests

Danny Doherty and William Fleming were shot dead by undercover soldiers in the grounds of Gransha Hospital in Derry on 6 December 1984. William Fleming was a pillion passenger on a motorcycle being ridden by Danny Doherty when it was rammed by a car driven by a soldier. Mr Fleming sustained fractures to his thigh and shin in the collision yet the soldier claimed Mr Fleming pointed a gun at him whilst he was injured on the ground, so he opened fire on him. He was struck by bullets from two weapons fired from two different positions. Danny Doherty was struck by 19 bullets fired from behind or to the right. Both men sustained bullet wounds to the head in circumstances where both were wearing crash helmets. In all, 59 rounds were fired. A soldier claimed he removed Mr Fleming’s handgun and placed it in a holdall after the shooting ceased. New inquests into the deaths were ordered by the Attorney General. In 2015 it emerged that one of the soldiers who discharged his weapon at Gransha also opened fire in an incident in Dunloy earlier in 1984 in which two men were killed and another fired in an incident weeks later in Strabane in which three men were killed. This afternoon the presiding Coroner heard that these inquests are at a significantly advanced stage and are capable of proceeding to substantive hearing shortly.