https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2d0eg3y6yo
Foyle MP Colum Eastwood has described the government spending more than £4m "at public expense" on the defence of Soldier F as "sickening".
The former paratrooper, whose identity is protected by a court order, was found not guilty earlier this month of two murders and five charges of attempted murder on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry in 1972.
Legal fees for the case of £4.3m were revealed in a parliamentary answer to the SDLP MP.
Eastwood said the final figure would be "much higher" once all bills are received.
Thirteen people were shot dead and at least 15 others injured on 30 January 1972 at a civil rights demonstration in the Bogside area of Londonderry.
Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme, Eastwood said the spending was in stark contrast to the financial help the Bloody Sunday families had received.
"We have to remember during this whole trial the families had to make their own way to Belfast," he said
"They had no support at all from the government."
"But this guy who's been a protected species for 53 years is getting millions of our money spent on him."
Eastwood said the case only happened "because he (Soldier F) and other soldiers perjured themselves at the Saville inquiry".
"He put himself in that situation by lying to the Saville inquiry."
"I've asked more questions about exactly what money was spent and what rates were paid," he added.
'Committed' to supporting veterans
Veterans minister Alistair Carns gave details of the Soldier F costs in response to a written question from Eastwood.
He said the Ministry of Defence was "committed" to supporting veterans, and that Soldier F had received legal and welfare support throughout proceedings.
Carns added the expenditure dates from March 2019, when the former paratrooper was first charged.
They also include costs associated with judicial review proceedings.
Doug Beattie is wearing a navy blazer and white shirt with tie. He has glasses on.
Image caption,
The Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie says Soldier F 'deserved to be defended' and the government had decided to take that on
Ulster Unionist Party MLA, Doug Beattie, said "it is a huge amount of money, as was the £192m spent on the Saville Inquiry".
"This is an employer putting in defence of an employee, an employee they sent to Northern Ireland knowing full rightly that they had not done all that they should have done to make sure that he was trained properly for deploying to that type of environment."
"So I'm not surprised by this," he added.
"The only people who benefitted from any of this has been the lawyers," he added.
Who is Soldier F?
Soldier F is the only military veteran who has been prosecuted over the shootings.
The five charges of attempted murder related to two teenagers at the time 16-year-old Joe Mahon and 17-year-old Michael Quinn as well as Joseph Friel, who was 20, and Patrick O'Donnell, 41, and an unknown person.
The case was heard by a judge sitting without a jury at Belfast Crown Court and lasted five weeks.
To protect his identity, Soldier F was screened from public view and his name not disclosed, as a result of a court order.
The decision to charge Soldier F was taken by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in 2019.
He was one of 18 former soldiers reported to the PPS as a result of a police investigation, which followed the public inquiry into Bloody Sunday conducted by Lord Saville.
But he was the only one charged.
Two years later, the PPS dropped the case after the collapse of the trial of two other veterans who had been accused of a 1972 murder in Belfast.
But the prosecution resumed in 2022 after a legal challenge.
by YourDasSidePiece
20 comments
Absolutely sickening
There’s always a magic money tree to protect Britain’s state killers
Sickening that an MP doesn’t understand that everyone in the UK has a right to a legal defence.
We live in a country that respects the rule of law. Those that disagree with that should feel free to move to North Korea, China, DRC or Russia!
Findings in previous cases in courts above British law where the Brits have shot to kill have stated btw that the Brits should be doing more to help civilians pursue justice, to uphold the human right of effective remedy. Which includes monetary aid for the victims families.
So what we have here is carte blanche for the murderer, but absolutely zero help for the family of those innocent victims.
Right side of history as per usual Brits! 👌🤙👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 /s if I really needed it.
The silence from the “those Irish language signs will cost a fortune” gang is deafening.
Bet if he was found guilty, nobody would have cared.
>The only people who benefitted from any of this has been the lawyers
Probably the most clued-in comment anyone has made on the situation. What were most politicians before they were politicians? Who actually writes the laws? Exactly. As Shakespeare said: first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.
I’m a republican but the prosecution Solictor’s didn’t work for free either
A great day for lawyers. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
I mean most persons get financial aid.
Not Guilty & he’s still whinging
Did anybody ever really expect justice from a British court?
The British Government planned Bloody Sunday. Prior to deploying 1 PARA to Derry They discussed the legality of shooting anyone engaged in rioting. They were already in the process of re-barrelling the Army issue SLR rifles to a smaller calibre, so that soldiers could more easily shoot “rioters” without fear of the bullet going through the “rioter” and killing a bystander 100m further on. Essentially optimising their equipment to murder civilians with impunity in Northern Ireland as opposed to the cold war battlefield they were designed for (of course no such downgraded weapons were used in Derry).
In the immediate aftermath the British Government at cabinet level were shocked at how LOW the death toll was. They had expected 1 PARA to kill multiples more, since that was what they were ordered to do.
There’s no dispute that Soldier F murdered the people he was charged with murdering. All were innocent civilians. He is on record admitting to having shot them. Most victims were shot in the back or the side as they fled.
The soldiers responsible for the bulk of the murders also arrested a lorry full of teenagers and innocent bystanders who they systematically tortured for a day – this was intended to extract confessions of premeditated rioting which would then implicate the innocent civlians they had murdered. Soldiers F and G were said to have revelled in the process of beating, burning and mock executing their mainly teenage prisoners, all while the RUC watched on, laughing and encouraging them.
Obviously 1 PARA were also involved in the Ballymurphy Massacre where they targeted civilians for execution over several days, shooting a mother who was looking for her son in the face and shooting people who went to aid their injured neighbours who had been shot. Essentially the sniper scene from Saving Private Ryan, but of course it wasn’t Nazis trying to draw out American GIs, it was British soldiers shooting innocent civilians so they could murder more innocent civilians over days.
I believe Soldier F and a close friend of his were also responsible for the murder of two men on the Shankill, also in 1972 (correct me if I’m wrong). Either way, the excuse used by the soldiers was virtually identical to those given on Bloody Sunday.
I’m glad that political Unionism, in particular people like Gavin Robinson have gloated about the fact that a self confessed murderer of innocent civilians escaped justice. It underlines and highlights their absolute lack of morality and solidifies what we already know; they view innocent Catholic civilians as less than human, not deserving of life and not deserving of justice in death.
That British supremacy must be absolute, and that murdering Catholics, even innocent civilians is an act they supported and continue to support. It exposes the absolute hypocrisy and the total lies they spout about their “fears” regarding a United Ireland. It’s inconceivable that anything could happen to any Unionist that even comes remotely close to what they applaud the British state for doing in Derry.
Does badger beard do anything other than moan? Even by NI political standards he is insufferable
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Watch unionist politicians and commenters trip over themselves to justify this. The government doesn’t really give a F about soldier F it’s the higher ups that are being protected by this 4 million investment
Anyone with a dog in this fight is sickening.
Colin must have forgotten who Soldier F was killing for.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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