MP in court to support army veteran on trial
WESTCOUNTRY MP and former veterans minister Johnny Mercer is in court in Belfast this week supporting a former soldier on trial for shooting and killing a man during the Northern Ireland Troubles.
The Plymouth Moor View MP flew to Belfast on Sunday and was present at the opening yesterday of the trial of David Jonathan Holden.
Holden, 52, is accused of acting with gross negligence when he shot and killed a man at a cross-border checkpoint in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. He appeared at Belfast Crown Court accused of the manslaughter of Aidan McAnespie in February 1988. He denies the offence.
Mr Mercer wrote on Twitter yesterday: “At court today for the start of yet another trial of a Northern Ireland veteran in Belfast; this time for gross negligence manslaughter after a negligent discharge in 1988. I feel for all the families involved on all sides: it is tragic this legal process continues to this day.”
Prosecuting barrister Ciaran Murphy QC told the non-jury trial, being presided over by Mr Justice O’Hara, that Holden’s account that his finger had slipped and he had fired the shots by accident was “not credible”.
Mr McAnespie, 23, was killed in Aughnacloy, County Tyrone, moments after walking through a border security checkpoint. He was on his way to a local Gaelic Athletic Association club when he was shot in the back. Members of his family attended the hearing yesterday.
Holden is a former Grenadier Guardsman from England, whose address on court documents is given as c/o Chancery House, Victoria Street, Belfast.
The case at Belfast Crown Court is proceeding amid the continuing controversy over Government plans to prohibit future Troubles-related prosecutions.
A small number of protesters gathered outside the court and unfurled banners calling for an end to Troubles prosecutions. As well as Mr Mercer, Northern Ireland’s veterans commissioner Danny Kinahan also attended the trial.
Members of Mr McAnespie’s family, supported by Amnesty, said that there should be not be an end to Troubles prosecutions. Grainne Teggart, from Amnesty, said: “Today represents the due process that the UK Government is seeking to shut down for victims. Their plans to legislate for an effective amnesty would permanently deny justice to other victims. It is imperative that the UK Government heed the opposition to those proposals.”
Despite announcing its intent last summer, the Government is yet to table draft legislation in Parliament that would ban future prosecutions of military veterans and ex-paramilitaries for Troubles incidents predating April 1998.
Mr Mercer also supported Dennis Hutchings, who was on trial last year for another fatal shooting during the Troubles.
The 80-year-old veteran, who lived in Cornwall, who had denied attempted murder and causing grevious bodily harm, died during his Belfast trial last October.
The case was one of a series of high-profile prosecutions of veterans that have been pursued in Northern Ireland in recent years.