A WIDOW launched a legal case yesterday against a senior British Army officer over alleged misconduct in public office.

Mary Heenan issued civil proceedings against retired General Sir Frank Kitson in relation to the death of her husband in a loyalist grenade attack in February 1973.

Eugene “Patrick” Heenan, 47, was killed when the minibus in which he was travelling was targeted by loyalist paramilitaries in east Belfast.

Gen Kitson, commander-in-chief of land forces from 1982 to 1985, was a senior figure in the running of military operations in Northern Ireland during the early 1970s.

He has been named as a co-defendant in the legal action on the grounds that he and others used agents while they knew, or should have known, that they would take part in criminal actions.

Court papers claim Gen Kitson is “liable personally for negligence and misfeasance in public office,” because, in creating his policy, he was “reckless as to whether state agents would be involved in murder.”

His doctrine included the use of “counter-gangs,” subversion, psychological operations and the creation of covert units such as the controversial Military Reaction Force.

Ms Heenan said: “I am 88 years of age, roughly the same age as Frank Kitson. “I am entitled to accountability and we seek answers from the person we believe bears a significant, if not sole, responsibility for my husband’s murder.”

Former soldier Albert “Ginger” Baker received a life sentence for murdering Mr Heenan and three others.

He was a member of the Ulster Defence Association, which colluded extensively with the security forces, perhaps most infamously in the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.