Soldier F: Bloody Sunday soldier found not guilty of murders
The Bloody Sunday paratrooper was found not guilty of two murders and five attempted murders in Derry in 1972.
Giving his verdict at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Patrick Lynch said the evidence presented against the veteran, known in court as Soldier F, was well short of what was required for a conviction.
Troop F was accused of murdering James Wray and William McKinney on Bloody Sunday, considered one of the darkest days of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The veteran was also accused of attempting to murder Michael Quinn, Patrick O’Donnell, Joseph Friel, Joe Mahon and an unknown person.
13 people were killed when members of the Parachute Regiment opened fire on a civil rights demonstration in the city.
The non-jury trial heard evidence over four weeks, including testimony from two of Trooper F’s colleagues.
Troop F was present at Belfast Crown Court every day of the trial, hidden behind a curtain in the courtroom. Relatives of the murdered people and supporters of Soldier F attended the hearing every day.
In his decision, Judge Lynch said that the concept of “collective crime” does not exist in the courts.
He said the Crown failed to establish that Soldier F “knowingly and intentionally assisted in shootings with intent to kill or shot himself with that intent.”
He said the only evidence against Trooper F was provided by two other veterans, Troops G and H, and there were difficulties in relying on that.
The judge said: “Their statements, which are the sole and conclusive evidence, cannot be tested in the same way as witnesses giving evidence from the witness box do. In my view, the delay seriously hindered the defence’s ability to test the truth and accuracy of the hearsay statements.”
Judge Lynch told Belfast Crown Court that on Bloody Sunday some members of the Parachute Regiment entered North Glenfada Park in Derry and began shooting at unarmed civilians from a distance of 50 meters or less.
This led to two murders and the unlawful wounding of several people, he said.
The judge said: “They had completely lost their sense of military discipline. They were members of a regiment established by the order of the prime minister in 1942.” [Winston] “Churchill had a proud record in the Second World War.”
He added: “Those who fought valiantly against SS Panzer divisions in 1944 had their regiments disgraced when some of their successors shot unarmed civilians in the back as they fled from them in the streets of a British city.
“Those responsible should hang their heads in shame.”
In the packed public hall of Court 12, relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims offered no visible or audible response as Trooper F was found not guilty of all charges.
There was no reaction from those in the gallery who supported the former paratrooper.
