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A bloody Sunday Paratrooper found not guilty of two murders and five attempted murders dairy In 1972.
giving its verdict on belfast On Thursday, Crown Court Judge Patrick Lynch said that the evidence presented against veteran – who was referred to in court as Soldier F – was significantly less than what was required for sentencing.
Soldier F was accused of the murders of James Ray and William McKinney on bloody sundayConsidered one of the darkest days of troubles In Northern Ireland. The veteran was also charged with the attempted murder of Michael Quinn, Patrick O’Donnell, Joseph Friel, Joe Mahon and an unidentified man.
there were thirteen people When members of the Parachute Regiment were killed There was firing at a civil rights demonstration in the city.
The non-jury trial heard four weeks of evidence, including statements from two of Soldier F’s colleagues.
soldier f Was present at Belfast Crown Court for each day of the trial, hidden behind a curtain in the courtroom. Relatives of those killed and supporters of Soldier F also attended each day of the trial.
Judge Lynch said in his decision that there is no concept of “collective crime” in the courts.
He said the Crown had failed to establish that Soldier F was “knowingly and knowingly aiding and abetting the firing with intent to kill, or was himself firing with that intent”.
He said that the only evidence against Soldier F was provided by two other veterans, Soldiers G and H, and that there were difficulties in relying on it.
The judge said: “Their statements, the sole and conclusive evidence, cannot be tested in the same way as witnesses would be testifying from the box. In my view, the delay has seriously hampered the defence’s ability to test the veracity and accuracy of the statements heard.”
Judge Lynch told Belfast Crown Court that bloody Sunday Several members of the Parachute Regiment entered Glenfada Park North, Derry, and began firing at unarmed civilians from a distance of 50 meters or less.
He said that this resulted in two murders and many people were injured unlawfully.
The judge said: “He had lost all sense of military discipline. He was a member of a regiment formed on the orders of the Prime Minister in 1942 [Winston] Churchill, and his glorious record in the Second World War.”
He added: “The regiments of those who fought bravely against SS Panzer divisions in 1944 have been disgraced by some of their successors by opening fire on unarmed civilians fleeing from them in the streets of a British city.
“Those responsible should hang their heads in shame.”
In the packed public gallery in Court 12, the gathered relatives of the victims of Bloody Sunday gave no visual or audible reaction as Soldier F was found not guilty on all counts. There was also no reaction from those present in the public gallery supporting the former paratrooper.
The family of one man killed vowed to fight. McKinney’s brother Mickey said outside the court: “The families and the injured and our supporters are leaving this courtroom with an incredible sense of pride in our achievements. The blame lies entirely with the British state; with the RUC which failed to investigate the killings on Bloody Sunday properly, or indeed at all; and with the British Army which protected its soldiers and enabled them to continue killing with impunity.”
Ciaran Shiels, a lawyer representing some of the Bloody Sunday families, said there was no right of appeal in the case, but they were waiting for a review from the Public Prosecution Service in relation to alleged perjury by the former soldier known as Soldier H at the Savile Inquiry, and said he would insist on a prosecution “without delay”.