Two High Court judges yesterday blocked attempts to force a public inquiry into the killing of 24 Malaysian rubber plantation workers by British troops more than 60 years ago.
Victims’ relatives described the shootings at Batang Kali, Malaya, in December 1948, as a “massacre” and judges said allegations against members of the Scots Guards were “as serious as it is possible to make”.
But Sir John Thomas – president of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court, who sat with Mr Justice Treacy – said it would be “very difficult at this point in time” to establish whether the shootings were “deliberate executions”.
Judges said it was “very questionable” whether “much can be learnt”. – (PA)
