Carmen Proetta (born 24 September 1947 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) is a

Gibraltarian Gibraltarians (Spanish: ''gibraltareños'', colloquially: '' llanitos'') are an ethnic group native to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea ...

who was an independent witness to

Operation Flavius Operation Flavius (also referred to as the Gibraltar killings) was a military operation in which three members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) were shot dead by the British Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar on 6 March 198 ...

, a controversial

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

operation in which the

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling, and in 1950 it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terr ...

shot dead three unarmed

Provisional IRA The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

members in

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

on 6 March 1988. She became the subject of a number of articles by several British newspapers, which later paid her substantial damages in an out-of-court settlement. Proetta had given a statement to the police, saying that she was washing dishes when she looked out her kitchen window and witnessed the killings. According to her account, two of the three West

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

suspects, Mairead Farrell and Dan McCann, had their hands in the air when they were shot without warning. Her claims were made public a month later in an interview for the

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documentary '' Death on the Rock''. In her interview she said "They ecurity forcesdidn't do anything... they just went and shot these people. That's all. They didn't say anything, they didn't scream, they didn't shout, they didn't do anything. These people were turning their heads back to see what was happening and when they saw these men had guns in their hands they put their hands up. It looked like the man was protecting the girl because he stood in front of her, but there was no chance. I mean they went to the floor immediately, they dropped." After the programme was broadcast, several British newspapers, including ''

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'' and ''

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'' ran stories about her background. ''The Sun'' ran a headline labelling her 'The tart of Gib'. Its front-page story accused her of being a former prostitute, of running an escort agency and of being 'anti-British'. ''The Sunday Times'' interviewed the same witnesses after the broadcast. A ''Sunday Times'' journalist involved, Rosie Waterhouse, resigned not long afterwards. In a letter to the ''

Press Gazette ''Press Gazette'', formerly known as ''UK Press Gazette'' (UKPG), is a British trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. First published in 1965, it had a circulation of about 2,500 before becoming online-only in 2013. Published wit ...

'' published in January 1989, Waterhouse wrote that her copy had been altered with the effect of discrediting Proetta's evidence. All of the accusations were later shown to be false. Proetta launched a libel action case against five of the newspapers and was subsequently awarded an estimated £300,000 damages in an out-of-court settlement.
Notes substantial damages in relation to erroneous claims in ''The Sun''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Proetta, Carmen 20th-century Gibraltarian people Living people 1947 births

See also

References