After waiting 50 years to see a British soldier stand trial for the killings that occurred in the Bloody Sunday massacre that took place in Derry in 1972, families of the victims finally were able to be present as ex-paratrooper ‘Soldier F’ was placed in the dock on 15 September at Belfast Crown Court.
Bloody Sunday massacre ‘Soldier F’ trial begins at Belfast Crown Court
He is facing accusations of murder for the deaths of James Wray and William McKinney, and for the attempted murder of 5 others. The murders were part of a brutal attack by British soldiers against peaceful Derry demonstrators campaigning for fair treatment in housing and employment. 14 people died as a result of the carnage, with at least 15 others injured.
John McKinney, brother of William said outside the court:
Everything that we have achieved to this point has been through relentless commitment and a refusal to lie down. Today, our message is simple: towards justice, we shall overcome.
The accused had attempted to evade trial, with his defence team at a hearing in December 2024 arguing that there was insufficient evidence for the trial to proceed. However, the judge ruled that statements by two other soldiers from the time of the killings provided enough of a basis on which to proceed. 16 other soldiers from that day have evaded justice through lack of evidence. ‘F’ was successful, however, in his bid to remain anonymous throughout proceedings, claiming that he would likely be a target for dissident republicans were his identity to be revealed.
Therefore, in court the accused was hidden behind a thick curtain. Prosecution barrister Louis Mably described the shooting of the seven civilians as they were fleeing as
unnecessary…gratuitous and…carried out with an intent to kill.
He went on to add:
These soldiers lost control of themselves….shooting people as they ran away was appalling which dishonoured the British Army and was also murder.
Closing ranks to protect the perpetrators
Jim Allister of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) predictably suggested ex-soldiers were being “selectively” prosecuted:
while multiple terrorists continue to walk our streets, effectively exercising immunity from prosecution.
Gerry Carroll of People Before Profit countered on X by saying that the killings that day were: “Murders committed in cold blood”, before saying Soldier F’s:
trial is long overdue, although he is not facing charges for all of the shots he fired on that fateful day.
Carroll went on to draw attention to the lack of accountability for British officials regarding the crimes committed by the British Army in Ireland, pointing out that:
utterly protected so far have been the generals and officials of the British state. They may not have fired the guns, but they gave carte blanche to the army to act with impunity against peaceful protesters. They are as responsible as anyone else for Bloody Sunday. Hopefully the courts do what’s right in this trial.
The British security forces killed 366 people over the course of the Troubles, representing 10% of those who lost their lives in the conflict, though the figure rises if deaths that involved collusion between these forces and loyalist paramilitaries are included.
The ‘Legacy Act’: hindering justice for victims of the Bloody Sunday massacre
While the case of Soldier F is the first to go to trial for the Bloody Sunday massacre, there have been two previous inquiries: the Widgery Tribunal of 1972 and the Saville Inquiry of 2010. The former came to be regarded as a whitewash, but the 12-year-long Saville Inquiry found that those shot posed no threat, and the killings were therefore totally unjustified. It also determined that soldiers had lied to cover their criminality.
The findings resulted in a rare British government apology for conduct of the armed forces in Ireland, with then prime minister David Cameron announcing he was “deeply sorry” for the “shocking” events of 30 January 1972.
That has not stopped subsequent Conservative governments attempting to undermine historic inquiries into the crimes of British troops, however. The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 (aka the Legacy Act), passed in September 2023, halted ongoing investigations into cases from the 30-year conflict, and prevented fresh prosecutions from being started.
Labour has pledged to repeal the law, though its argument has essentially been on a similar basis: protecting the rights of British military personnel. It argues repeal will ensure that killings of British soldiers can be solved; the Tories had argued for the bill on the basis that it enabled so-called “vexatious” charges to be laid against troops.
Featured image via Unsplash/K. Mitch Hodge
This post was originally published on Canary.