William Fleming

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Peter Barry, stated that "in Northern Ireland, under British rule, it was the army who set the ambush – it was an ambush, nothing else. No attempt to arrest was made. The men were shot dead without any chance to surrender"'.

In November 2004, the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland decided not to prosecute three of the SAS soldiers involved in the killing of Fleming and Doherty.

Julie Doherty, the widow of Danny Doherty, submitted an application for a judicial review to be held into the killing of her husband and Fleming. This application was dismissed by Mr Justice Girvan. In his reserved judgement, Girvan said the decision not to prosecute could not be challenged as it was based on the prosecutor's assessment of the evidence. In addition, Girvan stated "The no prosecution decision was made in 1986. In 2004 it is much too late for the applicant to seek effectively to re-open a decision made in 1986 and not challenged within a reasonable time thereafter."

William James Paul Fleming (1965 – 6 December 1984) was a volunteer in the Derry Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from the predominantly republican "Top of the Hill" area of the Waterside, Derry, Northern Ireland.

Fleming was killed along with fellow volunteer Danny Doherty after they were ambushed in the grounds of Gransha Hospital by Special Air Service (SAS) and 14 soldiers of the British Army on 6 December 1984.

In 1984 Fleming spent a week in Hydebank Detention Centre in Belfast after he refused to pay a fine he was given after being found guilty of damaging a Royal Ulster Constabulary vehicle.

On 6 December 1984, Fleming and Doherty were riding around on a motorbike in the grounds of Gransha Hospital, approximately four miles from Derry city centre. The hospital was also the administrative headquarters of the Western Health and Social Services Board. It was reported at the time that the pair had gone to the hospital in an attempt to assassinate an off-duty member of the Ulster Defence Regiment who was employed there, and had intended to carry it out during a staff shift change at 8 a.m.. The SAS were aware that an IRA operation had been planned to take place in the vicinity of the hospital after receiving a tip-off from an intelligence source. An SAS unit from the Londonderry Detachment of 14 Intelligence Company, without the knowledge of the Royal Ulster Constabulary or the hospital authorities, located troops at the site keeping watch for two weeks prior to 6 December. However, they had minimal prior information as to how the attack was to be executed and when.