An IRA group which was killed during an ambush by the SAS in the Co Armagh village of Loughgall in 1987 was responsible for up to 50 murders, secret government documents have revealed.

SAS soldiers who shot dead eight IRA men and a bystander as they attacked a police station in the North acted excessively, a lawyer for the bereaved claimed.

On a day when Joseph O’Brien and Pat Smullen registered a winner each in the battle for the flat title, Ruby Walsh and Davy Russell treated punters to a tremendous duel in the Athleague Maiden Hurdle in Roscommon yesterday, victory going to the former champion on the Tony Martin-trained Miriam’s Dream.

European judges will rule today on whether the Government was guilty of violating the human rights of IRA members shot dead in Northern Ireland by British troops and the RUC.