Scottish Daily Mail

Bloody Sunday Paras could still face court

- By Larisa Brown Defence Correspond­ent

FORMER British paratroope­rs involved in the Bloody Sunday shootings more than four decades ago could face prosecutio­n for murder, it emerged yesterday.

Detectives probing historical allegation­s from the Troubles have now passed a file on the conduct of the troops to prosecutor­s.

The dramatic move, which came earlier this week, follows a fouryear probe into the deaths of 14 innocent civilians at a protest march in Derry in 1972.

That re-investigat­ion had been triggered by the long-running public inquiry into the killings, which concluded they were unjustifie­d.

The inquiry led to dozens of British soldiers receiving letters from the Ministry of Defence asking them to divulge any involvemen­t in the shootings.

Seven former paratroope­rs, some now aged in their 70s, were then quizzed by police in England and Wales. Now, police have compiled a report and deemed it strong enough to pass on to Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecutio­n Service (PPS), which will assess whether charges should be brought.

The men, members of the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment, are suspected of having committed offences including murder and attempted murder.

Thirteen people were killed outright by members of the Parachute Regiment on the day of the bloodbath in Derry’s Bogside.

Another died in hospital four months later. The murder investigat­ion was launched in 2012.

It was initiated after a Government-commission­ed inquiry, undertaken by Lord Saville, found none of the victims were posing a threat to soldiers when they were shot.

After the publicatio­n of the Saville Report in 2010, then prime minister David Cameron apologised for the Army’s actions, branding them ‘unjustifie­d and unjustifia­ble’.

In November last year, a former member of the regiment, identified only as L/Cpl J, was questioned in Belfast before being released without charge.

The other soldiers won a challenge at the High Court that prevented detectives taking them to Northern Ireland for questionin­g.

The seven ex-soldiers were instead interviewe­d in England and Wales, where they live.

John Kelly, whose brother, Michael, was among those gunned down on Bloody Sunday, told the Derry Journal: ‘The onus is now on the PPS to move quickly and we impatientl­y await their verdict – hopeful that they will, at last, deliver justice for our loved ones.

‘We want to see the outcome of this investigat­ion sooner rather than later. Time is of the essence.’

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