Ailing ex-paratrooper known as Soldier F stands trial over Bloody Sunday killings
Former British lance corporal, now in his 70s, is accused of killing two civil rights marchers in 1972 as a non-jury trial begins in Belfast
An ailing former British paratrooper known only as Soldier F entered the dock on Monday for the start of a controversial non-jury murder trial over the Bloody Sunday killings in Londonderry in 1972.
The man, now in his 70s and said to be in poor health, is charged with the murders of James Wray, 22, and William McKinney, 26, and with multiple counts of attempted murder relating to a group of demonstrators shot by soldiers from the Parachute Regiment on Jan. 30, 1972. He listened to the prosecution outline the case at Belfast Crown Court from a glass-pannelled dock shielded with a black plastic cover intended to protect his identity.
Prosecutor Louis Mably KC told the court the trial would not be “another inquiry” but would focus on a specific legal question: whether the defendant was criminally responsible for shooting at the named individuals. Mably described the alleged conduct as an “unjustified” and “gratuitous” use of force that “disgraced the Army.” He said the prosecution’s case is that the civilians in a courtyard known as Glenfada Park North posed no threat, were unarmed and were shot as they tried to flee.
Soldier F has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The prosecution says he fired shots with three other soldiers from his platoon; two of those soldiers are now dead and a third is not a defendant or a witness. The counts of attempted murder include allegations involving Patrick O'Donnell, Joseph Friel, Joe Mahon and Michael Quinn, and a fifth attempted murder charge relating to "persons unknown." O'Donnell has since died; three of the four named surviving victims are expected to give evidence.
Relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday gathered outside the court on Monday, holding photographs and calling for justice. They were joined by relatives of other victims of army shootings, including those killed in Ballymurphy in west Belfast in 1971. Veterans protesting outside the court said they believed former service members were being unfairly treated by the government decades after the Troubles, and some supporters carried flags and banners in public demonstrations in recent years.
The trial marks the culmination of a long legal and investigatory process. The Widgery Tribunal in 1972 initially accepted that soldiers had been fired upon and had returned fire in self-defence. That finding was overturned by the Saville Inquiry, a 12-year, roughly £200 million public investigation that concluded in 2010 that the people killed were innocent and that the killings were unjustified. The Saville report prompted a murder investigation that led to police referrals of 18 former soldiers to Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service.
By 2019, only one soldier — the man now known as Soldier F in court — was charged. Earlier efforts to prosecute veterans for separate incidents collapsed in 2021 after legal rulings over the admissibility of statements made by soldiers at the time; those decisions had briefly halted the case against Soldier F. The prosecution resumed following a legal challenge brought by the family of William McKinney.
The trial is being conducted without a jury under special legal provisions. Mably told the court the prosecution alleges the soldiers were acting "as a unit" and encouraging one another to shoot at fleeing civilians, and that after the shootings the soldiers would later falsely claim that those shot had been armed. He said: "Shooting people as they ran away is an appalling act and disgraced the British Army. It is also murder."
The Bloody Sunday shootings are among the most notorious episodes of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict that followed the partition of Ireland and lasted several decades. On Jan. 30, 1972, soldiers opened fire on a civil rights march in Derry, also known as Londonderry, killing 13 people and wounding many others; a total of 26 civilians were hit by gunfire that day.
The trial is due to resume on Wednesday. Court proceedings in historic Troubles-related cases have been closely watched in Northern Ireland and beyond for their legal, moral and political implications, and for their impact on relatives of victims seeking accountability more than half a century after the events took place.