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LAST UPDATE | 23 Oct 2025
A FORMER PARATROOPER has been found not guilty of the murders of two men and the attempted murders of five men during the events of Bloody Sunday in 1972.
Judge Patrick Lynch began summarising the evidence in the case at Belfast Crown Court shortly after 10am.
Delivering his judgement shortly after 12.30pm, he said the evidence presented against the veteran fell well short of what was required for conviction.
Soldier F, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was charged with the murders of James Wray and William McKinney on 30 January 1972 – the day when members of the Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 civil rights protesters on the streets of Derry.
He was also accused of five attempted murders during the incident in Derry’s Bogside area, namely of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon, Patrick O’Donnell and a person unknown.
He pleaded not guilty to the seven counts.
The judge said that on Bloody Sunday, a number of members of the Parachute Regiment entered Glenfada Park North in Derry and started firing at unarmed civilians at a distance of 50 metres or less.
He said this resulted in two murders and a number of people being unlawfully wounded.
“They had totally lost all sense of military discipline. They were members of a regiment formed in 1942 at the behest of prime minister Churchill and had a proud record in World War Two,” he said.
“Those who fought valiantly against SS Panzer divisions in 1944 have had their regiment sullied by some of their successors.
“Shooting in the back unarmed civilians fleeing from them on the streets of a British city.
Those responsible should hang their heads in shame.
Judge Lynch said “whatever suspicions” the court may have about the role of Soldier F, “this court is constrained and limited by the evidence properly presented before it”.
“To convict it has to be upon evidence that is convincing and manifestly reliable,” he said.
“The evidence presented by the Crown falls well short of this standard and signally fails to reach the high standard of proof required in a criminal case; that of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Therefore, I find the accused not guilty on all seven counts on the present bill of indictment.”
In the packed public gallery, gathered relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims gave no visible or audible response to the verdicts.
There was also no reaction from those in the public gallery supporting the former paratrooper.
Judge Patrick Lynch heard evidence across a four-week, non-jury trial, which included previous statements made by two other paratroopers, referred to as G and H, who were present in Glenfada Park North along with F.
While the prosecution argued the statements provided direct evidence that Soldier F had opened fire in the area, the defence said Soldiers G and H are unreliable witnesses.
Judge Lynch said the sole evidence against Soldier F was from Soldiers G and H, and said there were difficulties in relying on it.
“Their statements, the sole and decisive evidence, cannot be tested in a way that witnesses giving evidence from the witness box would be,” he said, adding that delay in getting the case to trial had “seriously hampered the capacity of the defence to test the veracity and accuracy of the hearsay statements”.
He continued: “The two witnesses are themselves, on the basis of the Crown case guilty of murder as, in essence, accomplices with a motivation to name F as a participant in their murderous activities.
“I find that they have been serially untruthful about matters central to events giving rise to this prosecution. They have committed perjury, G once to the Widgery Inquiry and H twice to the Widgery and Saville Inquiries.”
Soldier F was present at Belfast Crown Court for each day of the trial with his identify concealed behind a curtain in the courtroom.
He did not give evidence on his own behalf either before the trial or during it.
Relatives of the men killed and supporters have attended each day of the trial.
Northern Ireland’s Veterans’ Commissioner David Johnstone and Paul Young from the Northern Ireland Veterans Movement have also observed proceedings.
Mickey McKinney, brother of William McKinney, remarked that the Bloody Sunday families left court “with an incredible sense of pride in our achievements”.
He added: “Soldier F has been discharged from the defendant’s criminal dock, but it is one million miles away from being an honourable discharge.
“Unlike his victims, there has been no declaration of Soldier F’s innocence.”
He said the British state and RUC “failed to investigate the murders on Bloody Sunday properly, or indeed at all”.
“Despite the heroism, steadfastness and dignity of the Bloody Sunday Families, a coward walks free from the dock,” said McKinney.
“Not through the front door of this courthouse like every other vindicated, wrongly accused defendant proudly does, but instead, once his curtain has been pulled back for him, creeping out the back door.”
With reporting from Press Association
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