THE TRIAL OF a former paratrooper accused of the murder of two men on Bloody Sunday is to start on September 15.

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 on January 30 1972.

He is also charged with five attempted murders during the incident in Derry’s Bogside area.

He has pleaded not guilty to the seven counts.

Judge Mr Justice Fowler fixed the date for the trial during a brief mention hearing at Belfast Crown Court on Friday afternoon.

Soldier F was not in court for the hearing, instead appearing remotely by videolink.

The court also heard that a separate judge has been appointed to deal with issues related to the disclosure of evidence before the trial.

Mark Mulholland KC, representing Soldier F, noted that Mr Justice Fowler had previously expressed concern about fixing a date until he was confident the disclosure issues would be resolved before the trial.

Mr Mulholland said: “We would be confident that all matters can be dealt with well before the summer.

“In fact, I’d like to have all these dealt with in the next eight weeks, so that there’s a clear run into this case.”

Sam Magee KC, on behalf of the prosecution, described the disclosure issues as “complex”.

“This isn’t entirely straightforward,” he said.

Mr Justice Fowler scheduled another mention hearing for April 11 to fix dates for the completion of legal position papers on the disclosure issues.

“We’ll fix the trial date for 15 September,” he added.