The arraignment took place after a defence application to have the case dismissed was refused by judge Justice Fowler.

A FORMER BRITISH soldier accused of two murders on Bloody Sunday has pleaded not guilty as he was formally returned for trial after an attempt to get the case thrown out was refused.

Ex-paratrooper Soldier F, who cannot be identified, is accused of murdering James Wray and William McKinney when members of the Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 civil rights protesters on the streets of Derry in January 1972. He is also charged with five attempted murders.

He pleaded not guilty to each of the seven counts as they were read to him during his arraignment at Belfast Crown Court on Friday morning.

The veteran sat in the witness box, with a thick floor-to-ceiling blue curtain shielding him from the main body of the court to protect his anonymity.

The arraignment took place after a defence application to have the case dismissed was refused by judge Justice Fowler.

Justice Fowler granted a defence application for anonymity and screening provisions applied to Solider F to be extended.

In June, the veteran’s defence team claimed he would be a “prized target” for dissident republicans if his identity was made public.

In response, the prosecution insisted Soldier F was part of a group of paratroopers that entered a courtyard in the Bogside area of Derry and opened fire on “unarmed civilians” running away from them, with each soldier allegedly firing with an intention to kill.

Delivering his ruling on the no bill application on Friday, Justice Fowler said the defence had failed to convince the court that the evidence against Soldier F was “tenuous in character”.

Justice Fowler did however grant a defence application for anonymity and screening provisions applied to Soldier F to be extended.

The veteran’s defence team had claimed he would be a “prized target” for dissident republicans if his identity was made public.

The judge said he saw no reason why the trial could not take place “early next year”.

A date for trial is set to be fixed at a further review hearing on 24 January.

“We’ll try to get a trial as soon as possible,” said Justice Fowler.

https://www.thejournal.ie/soldier-f-british-soldier-pleads-not-guilty-murder-northern-ireland-6564624-Dec2024/

by askmac

13 comments

  1. Anonymity and screening, even though his name is on parliaments website

  2. Whatever the outcome the old bastards going to be burning in hell soon.

  3. Well he would wouldn’t he, not like he’s gonna come out and go “aye I’m a murdering bastard, but taigs don’t count”.

    The real question will be, will the solicitors string the case out in the hope that he passes away before judgement is passed.

  4. Did anyone stop to think that the CPS’s hesitancy to take the case is because they know there is no way they can secure the conviction. Are they even allowed to use any of the Saville inquiry evidence?

    Imagine for a second this cunt walks free at the end of this, exonerated in the courts. That’s a much worse pain for the families than blaming the justice system for not progressing with the case. Getting enough evidence for a murder 44 years ago is one thing, in the aftermath of a military/government coverup is very worrying.

  6. Savage Deplorable reaction to expression of demand for civil rights. Which is always at the root of ‘troubles’ internationally. 

    However this guy is a patsy for the state. 
    If guilty he should face consequences within context of Good Friday Agreement rule of law must always be upheld no matter how bitter the taste. 

    I wish people would unite against the British Establishment instead of getting hypnotised by flags and shite archaic rhetoric that is more akin to cult propogation than evolving civil society. 

  7. I’m not sure how I feel about this trial. One part of me agrees that a killer should be held to account, while another would prefer we went after those who gave the orders on the day rather than the squaddies that carried them out.

  8. Understandable. If your a pyscho and don’t consider what you were shooting at as human, can’t be murder.

  10. Cowardly bastard at the time, and still a cowardly bastard. He will die in a cell as a cowardly bastard

  12. Genuine question I hope to try and get an answer from before it descends into the usual whataboutery, why does Bloody Sunday sit above many of the other atrocities over the past 50 years.

    There has been more deadly attacks, there have been others which are just as senseless, there have been others which have affected only innocent civilians.

    Is it as simple as it’s was carried out by the Paras who most have said were not trained for the type of deployment they had at the time rather than paramilitaries from either side?

  13. I can’t see him getting convicted and imprisoned, but if he at least spends a few sleepless nights worried that he *might* be, I guess that’s something. Certainly it’s more than the rest of the murderers from his crew will ever feel.

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