It is regrettable that the death of British Army officer Mike Jackson means he will never face justice for the many crimes he committed in Ireland.

Jackson’s legacy is one of murder and cover-ups. With the Parachute Regiment, he bears responsibility for Bloody Sunday in Derry and the Ballymurphy massacre in Belfast. He persistently withheld the truth in relation to massacres like Ballymurphy, where those murdered included a priest giving the last rites, and a mother of eight left for hours to die in a field after being shot in the face. Jackson also colluded with the notorious Glenanne gang, responsible for the Dublin and Monaghan bombings as well as the Miami Showband massacre.

He was responsible for the infamous “shot list,” invented to justify the murder of innocent people and falsely labelling those gunned down as “gunmen,” “nail bombers” and “petrol bombers.” Thanks to his cover-ups, there are many families still waiting for truth and justice to this day.

There can be no amnesty for Troubles crimes as proposed by the previous British government. The time for justice and truth is long overdue for all victims of British imperialism and state collusion in Ireland.

It may be too late to put Jackson himself in the dock, but there must be a day of reckoning for his crimes, and more broadly those of his regiment, even posthumously.