Ghosts of Northern Ireland

Veterans facing prosecution for events of decades ago

Twice a week, Dennis Hutchings travels about an hour to hospital where he spends the next five hours wired up to a kidney dialysis machine. Mr Hutchings, 78, is dying of kidney failure.

But on March 9, he will appear in court in Belfast for the beginning of his trial for attempted murder over a fatal shooting 45 years ago during the Troubles.

The trial will have to be halted every two to three days so that Mr Hutchings, who lives in Cawsand in

Cornwall, can receive his dialysis treatment at a local hospital in Northern Ireland.

Mr Hutchings, a former staff sergeant in the Life Guards Regiment, was on patrol in County Armagh in June 1974 when John Patrick Cunningham, who was 27 and had learning difficulties, was shot and killed as he ran away. Mr Hutchings insists he fired in the air to try to get Mr Cunningham to stop.

Mr Hutchings served 26 years in the British Army. He was investigated at the time of the shooting, and told he would face no further action. But the case was reopened twice more, and in 2015, Mr Hutchings was arrested and taken to a police station in County Antrim for questioning. He was charged in April 2015 with attempted murder.

The only soldier being prosecuted over murders on Bloody Sunday was praised for his bravery “in the face of the enemy” just a few months after the shootings in Londonderry.

Soldier F, a lance corporal at the time of the incident, had a long and distinguished career in the military, retiring as a regimental sergeant major, the highest rank a noncommissioned officer can reach.

He joined 1 Para, the regiment implicated in Bloody Sunday, in 1966 and served 22 years in the Armed Forces, retiring in 1988.

Sources have told The Daily Telegraph he remained stoic when told he was being charged with two murders and four attempted murders.

Now in his 70s, Soldier F, will face years being dragged through the

court process. He was given anonymity as long ago as 1999, at the outset of the £200million Bloody Sunday inquiry, but his real identity risks being made public once he is brought to court.

One former colleague from 1 Para, who served with him in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday, said: “He is some soldier. What a way to treat him 47 years on.”

At the Saville inquiry, Soldier F said: “The people I shot are the petrol bombers or a person who had a weapon.” He denied murder.

Prosecutors announced on Thursday he would be charged with the murders of James Wray, 22, and William Mckinney, 27, and for the attempted murders of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon and Patrick O’donnell.

He was investigated at the time of the shooting, and told he would face no further action