High Court quashes decision to drop Soldier F murder charges
BELFAST’S High Court has quashed a decision by the Public Prosecution Service to dismiss murder charges against Soldier F for two deaths on Bloody Sunday.
The PPS said last year that it was seeking to drop the case after reviewing the evidence.
It followed a separate court ruling on the admissibility of evidence which caused the collapse of another Troubles murder trial.
But the High Court said yesterday it may be for the trial judge to rule on whether evidence is admissible or not and not the PPS.
Delivering the ruling, Lady Chief Justice Mrs Siobhan McKeegan said the decision by the PPS “crossed the threshold of irrationality”. She added: “This is a rare occasion where we consider the decision should be quashed and reconsidered...It may be that the swiftest and most effective course is actually for the district judge to be asked to rule on the admissibility issue.”
The PPS announced last year it was halting the prosecution of Soldier F for the murders of James Wray and William McKinney in Londonderry. The McKinney family launched a judicial review to challenge the decision.
Judicial reviews taken by other Bloody Sunday families to challenge a PPS decision not to take prosecutions against five other veterans were dismissed by the court.
The Daily Express crusade Betrayal Of OurVeterans has fought for over three years for former troops to be given immunity for actions they took serving their country. On Bloody Sunday – January 30, 1972 – they shot dead 13 civil rights protesters in the Bogside area of Londonderry.