FAMILIES of the victims of the notorious Glennanne gang welcomed a “momentous” ruling today that ordered an independent investigation into alleged collusion between the British state and loyalist paramilitaries in the north of Ireland.

The Court of Appeal held that relatives had been denied their “legitimate expectations” that there should be an independent probe into the loyalist terror unit, linked to more than 100 murders.

Today’s verdict came after a bid by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to overturn a previous decision that it had unlawfully hampered investigations of attacks committed by the Glennane gang.

The independent Historic Enquiries Team had partially completed an inquiry into its activities before its work was halted by PSNI chiefs. 

Phoenix Law solicitor Darragh Mackin said it had been a “long, long road to get to this day,” but the families had finally been vindicated.

“The court has told us today what we always knew – that there was a state policy of collusion relating to the Glenanne series,” he said.

The Glenanne gang was a 1970s loyalist paramilitary unit which was linked to about 120 murders. 

It was made up of members of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) along with police officers and soldiers serving in the British military.

Named after the farm in Co Armagh where it met, most of the terror gang’s attacks took place in the so-called “murder triangle between Armagh and Co Tyrone in the north of Ireland.

It is alleged to have been involved in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the deadliest attack of the Troubles in which 34 people – including a pregnant woman – were killed and 300 injured.

The 1975 Miami Showband Massacre – the subject of a recent Netflix documentary – saw three band members killed and two wounded when gunmen opened fire after a bomb exploded prematurely.

British army officer Captain Robert Nairac has been linked to that attack, along with alleged RUC special agent Robin “the Jackal” Jackson. 

The two UVF members killed by the Miami Showband explosion, Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, were members of the Glennane gang. 

Eddie Barnard, whose 13-year old brother Patrick was killed by the gang in Dungannon in 1976, said the families had been treated as a form of “pestilence” by the authorities.

“For the families here today, we will keep on fighting for the truth for our dead relatives, because with the truth we honour them,” he said.