Ministry of Defence settles case of Navy veteran shot in Belfast
Thomas Burns was shot in 1972 and died in hospital; his family pursued legal action for decades.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Ministry of Defence settles case of Navy veteran shot in Belfast
Photograph: Evening Standard (embedded from source)
What this story says
- The Ministry of Defence has settled a legal action brought by the family of Thomas Burns, a Royal Navy veteran shot in Belfast in 1972.
- Thomas Burns died in hospital after being shot on 13 July 1972 as he left Glenpark social club.
- The family's solicitor, Patricia Coyle, confirmed the settlement was negotiated.
- The Legacy Act previously halted legacy inquests, affecting the family's request for a fresh inquest.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
68/100
Craft
95/100
Hype
15/100
6 sources · methodology
The Ministry of Defence has settled a legal action brought by the family of Thomas Burns, a Royal Navy veteran who was shot in Belfast in 1972. Mr Burns died in hospital after sustaining the injury on 13 July 1972 as he left Glenpark social club. He had served in the Royal Navy for over eight years, including postings in Malta and Singapore, before returning to Belfast in 1965.
Mr Burns' family, including his widow Kathleen who campaigned until her death in 2007, continued his mother's efforts to clear his name. An original inquest finding of misadventure in 1973 was quashed, and in 2019 the then attorney general for Northern Ireland confirmed Mr Burns was an unarmed civilian shot without justification. An application for a fresh inquest was directed in 2023, but was later halted by the Legacy Act, which stopped legacy inquests that had not yet opened.
Disagreement on inquest status
The Evening Standard and The Independent reported that the family are continuing to press for their father’s inquest to be reopened. The Evening Standard also stated that the family asked for a meeting with the British Prime Minister and Secretary of State in August 2026 to discuss reopening the inquest. The BBC News digest stated that the family now await a decision on whether that inquest will go ahead.
What the coverage left out
None of the left or centre-rated reports mentioned the specific sum of money involved in the settlement with the Ministry of Defence. The right-rated outlets did not carry this story at all.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 1 time, most recently on 4 Sept 2026, 22:30, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
2 rated outlets
- The left-rated reports from The Independent and perspectivemedia.com led on the 'significant' settlement for the family of the Navy veteran shot by soldiers in Belfast. Both reports included details of Mr Burns' service in the Navy, his death in 1972, and the family's long pursuit of accountability. Patricia Burns' statement that the army killed her father for no reason and that she wished her mother had lived to see the settlement was included.
Centre
4 rated outlets
- The centre-rated reports from the Evening Standard, BBC News, NewsLetter UK, and derrynow.com highlighted the 'significant' settlement for the family of the Navy veteran. The Evening Standard and The Independent, which both published full reports, detailed Mr Burns' service, the circumstances of his death, and the legal actions taken by his family. They also noted the impact of the Legacy Act on the family's quest for a fresh inquest. The Evening Standard quoted Patricia Burns stating her father was killed without justification and that the settlement was one mechanism to correct the public record. The derrynow.com digest included a quote from the family's solicitor, Patricia Coyle, regarding the potential impact of a new 'Hillsborough Law' on legacy cases.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Ministry of Defence settles case of Navy veteran shot in Belfast?
- Of the 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 33% are rated left, 67% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Ministry of Defence settles case of Navy veteran shot in Belfast left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Ministry of Defence settles case of Navy veteran shot in Belfast biased?
- Ministry of Defence settles case of Navy veteran shot in Belfast is one event reported by 6 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which outlets covered Ministry of Defence settles case of Navy veteran shot in Belfast?
- 6 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- Who was Thomas Burns?
- Thomas Burns was a Royal Navy veteran who served for over eight years, including postings abroad. He was shot in Belfast on 13 July 1972 and later died in hospital. His family pursued legal action for decades seeking accountability for his death.
- What was the outcome of the legal action?
- The Ministry of Defence settled a legal action brought by the family of Thomas Burns for a significant payment. The family's solicitor, Patricia Coyle, confirmed the settlement was negotiated after many years of pursuing the case.
- What is the Legacy Act and how did it affect the case?
- The Legacy Act is legislation that halted legacy inquests which had not yet opened. This affected the Burns family's request for a fresh inquest into Thomas Burns' death, which had been directed in 2023 but was subsequently cut short by the Act.
Read it at the source
6 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
2- ‘Significant’ settlement for family of Navy veteran shot by soldiers in Belfast (opens perspectivemedia.com in a new tab)
perspectivemedia.com — is perspectivemedia.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- ‘Significant’ settlement for family of Navy veteran shot by soldiers in Belfast (opens The Independent (US) in a new tab)
The Independent (US) — is The Independent (US) biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
4- 'Significant' settlement for family of ex-navy man killed by British army (opens BBC News in a new tab)
- Royal Navy veteran’s family settles legal case over 1972 Belfast shooting by soldiers (opens NewsLetter UK in a new tab)
NewsLetter UK — is NewsLetter UK biased? Our profile of this outlet
- British MOD settles action for family of Thomas Burns (opens derrynow.com in a new tab)
derrynow.com — is derrynow.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- ‘Significant’ settlement for family of Navy veteran shot by soldiers in Belfast (opens Evening Standard in a new tab)
Evening Standard — is Evening Standard biased? Our profile of this outlet
Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
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