Operation Flavius

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Operation Flavius was the name of an operation by a Special Air Service team in Gibraltar on 6 March, 1988 against the Provisional IRA. Three members of the IRA intended to detonate a bomb during the changing of the guard at the governor’s residence.

Their plan was to hide the bomb in a car so as to kill a large number of British soldiers.

The SAS team was told (incorrectly) that the IRA had already placed their bomb and were ready to detonate it. As the suspects walked along the causeway into Gibraltar from the Spanish frontier, the SAS quickly shot the three (Dan McCann, Seán Savage and Mairéad Farrell) dead, claiming later that the bombers were "reaching for" a detonator. In fact, all three were unarmed and the bomb was still in nearby Spain.

An inquest was called, which found that all three had been shot while laying face down on the ground. An army bomb expert also disputed whether a remote controlled explosive device was technologically feasible, casting further doubt on the justification given. The car bomb found days later in Marbella was a conventional timer controlled device.

The following year ITV broadcast a Thames Television documentary "Death on the Rock", reflecting concerns about the shootings, which led to a significant amount of criticism of the British government. However, British tabloids attacked the character and credibility of the witnesses, such that their statements in the documentary became discredited in the United Kingdom. Prime minister Margaret Thatcher denounced the documentary as "trial by television". In 1992, Thames Television lost its broadcast licence.

In 1995 the European Court of Justice ruled that the British government had sanctioned excess force and breached the European Convention on Human Rights.