THE Government is to announce legislation that would grant amnesty to terrorists on the run, which it is feared may scupper a £25 million criminal investigation into thousands of unsolved terrorist murders in Northern Ireland.

Unionists reacted furiously yesterday to the announcement by Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, that the law would be published “reasonably soon . . . probably early next month”.

Allowing the return of “on the runs” was once a key demand by Sinn Fein. Unionists have accused the Government of doing a secret deal to secure the recent announcement by the IRA that its campaign of violence was over.

Among those who would immediately benefit from such legislation would be Rita O’Hare, Sinn Fein’s Washington spokesperson who went on the run in the early 1970s after being charged with terrorist offences.

Mr Hain told the first sitting of the new Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that the Government would take advice from the police about who should qualify for the amnesty.

He said that provided that the offender was not a supporter of a paramilitary organisation, was not observing a “ceasefire”, such as that currently being undertaken by the Real IRA, and had not committed any new offence since 1998, they may be eligible. “We’ll obviously take advice from the police about this,” said Mr Hain, adding that dozens of offenders would benefit from the legislation.

He also said that there would be a separate category of offenders who have never yet been identified or charged, because of a major “cold case” review of 2,120 killings.

The review, which is being headed by David Cox, a former Metropolitan Police commander, is the largest of its kind in British criminal history.

Sammy Wilson, MP for East Antrim, said that families would be shattered if, once identified, the murderers of their loved ones obtained amnesty.

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