Told to ‘boycott’ NI shootings

Northern Ireland at the The Troubles in the 1970s.

He said: “How can I remember what happened 47 years ago? I was just a private soldier at the time. I was 19.

“As far as I understand, everything that happened was dealt with at the time. There was an investigation and it was put to bed, so everyone who was involved thought the matter was over – only for it to reappear suddenly.

“The letter says there is no need to be anxious but it tells you where you can get legal advice. Why do we need legal advice?

“This is an open invitation for you to incriminate yourself or former comrades. They are asking for the names of the people in your company and your commanders.

“And if you say you can’t remember they may say you are obviously lying. I height of filled in the form and sent it back, mainly because I wasn’t involved.

“But I also took legal advice and was told they could get awkward if I didn’t respond.

“But if you look at the Good Friday Agreement, this all appears very one-sided.

“IRA members have been given ‘on the run’ letters, which are get out of jail free letters. They should have given us the same letters as well.”

Alan Barry, of Justice For Northern Ireland Veterans, said: “Veterans should boycott this fishing operation. If they are subpoenaed they should suffer from a complete loss of memory and say they can barely remember what they did yesterday, let alone more than 40 years ago.”

An estimated 278 cases involving Northern Ireland veterans are understood to be under investigation.