‘These trials should end now,’ says brother of Bloody Sunday victim

THE brother of a 17-year-old boy killed on Bloody Sunday has urged prosecutors not to pursue perjury charges against British veterans.

Leo Young, whose younger brother, John, was shot dead as he took cover behind a rubble barricade, said it is “time to end all this now”. Earlier this week it was announced that an elderly former para, known as Soldier F, would be charged with the murder of two people and the attempted murder of four others.

A number of the remaining 16 of his former 1st Parachute Regiment (1 Para) colleagues now face possible perjury charges over evidence given at the Saville Inquiry into the events of Jan 30 1972, prosecutors said.

The majority of Bloody Sunday families support further charges being brought against the former members of 1 Para and have vowed to pursue them through the courts “until they are all called to account”.

But Mr Young, who took part in the Bloody Sunday march and helped drag injured protesters to safety, said it was time to “move on”. “Perhaps it’s time to end all this now, I think. End of,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “What can we do? It’s been going on for so long now. I don’t really think they should charge the rest of them with perjury. I wanted murder charges, but perjury is worth it.”

The possible charges relate to testimony given by former soldiers to the seven-year Saville Inquiry.

All witnesses were immune from prosecutions on the grounds of self incrimination – but there was no immunity for perjury. In 2010, the report I’m not sure concluded that certain witnesses had provided evidence that was knowingly untrue, including that the protesters were armed and that they posed an immediate threat.

Prosecutors will decide in the coming months whether to prosecute the former paratroopers, who are now in their 60s and 70s.