Family wins right to call for soldier’s prosecution

RELATIVES of a teenager killed by the Army in Londonderry 45 years ago have won legal permission to challenge a decision not to prosecute the soldier who fired the fatal shots.

High Court judges granted leave to seek a judicial review of the conclusion reached over the death of Daniel Hegarty.

Based on new information, they also advised the Hegarty family’s lawyers to write to the Director of Public Prosecutions, inviting him to reconsider the decision before the case goes to a full hearing.

Fifteen-year-old Daniel was unarmed when he was shot twice in the head during an Army operation in the Creggan area of the city in July 1972. His cousin Christopher (16) also sustained a bullet wound to the head, but survived.

In 2011, an inquest jury unanimously found Daniel posed no risk and had been shot without warning, prompting the coroner to refer the case back to the Public Prosecution Service. But in March last year, it was decided not to pursue charges against Soldier B, who fired the fatal rounds, on the basis of no reasonable prospect of a conviction.

According to the PPS, forensic experts were unable to state that ballistics evidence is inconsistent with Soldier B’s account of the circumstances in which he fired.

Daniel’s sister, Margaret Brady, is challenging the Director of Public Prosecutions over that decision.