Dying Army veteran, 78, in legal bid to halt trial over Ulster killing

A DYING Army veteran facing trial over a fatal shooting in Northern Ireland 46 years ago has launched a legal battle against the Government to halt the case.

Great-grandfather Dennis Hutchings, 78, is facing charges over the death of 27-year-old John-Pat Cunningham, whom he suspected of being an IRA member, in June 1974.

Despite no fresh evidence, no witnesses and no new forensic leads, the retired soldier – cleared twice of the killing – has been accused of attempted murder.

Critics claim his case is proof of a ‘witch-hunt’ against soldiers who served during the Troubles.

The Daily Mail has campaigned for an end to the hounding of our heroes. Mr Hutchings, who is ill with kidney failure and heart disease, is to stand trial on March 9.

Yesterday he began a crowdfunding drive for his legal battle. Mr Hutchings, from Cornwall, said: ‘I spent 26 years serving my country and now I am being hung out to dry like a common criminal.’

In a legal letter, he has warned Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith that he will bring a Judicial Review on the grounds that British veterans are suffering ‘discriminatory treatment’ by the criminal justice system.

Veterans who served at the height of the IRA’s terror campaign are 54 times more likely to face prosecution than Republican paramilitaries, according to his letter.

Mr Hutchings’s lawyers say his right to a fair trial is being contravened. In June 1974, he was leading a patrol in County Tyrone when they came across an IRA unit moving weapons ahead of an attack.

He challenged the group of about ten and a firefight broke out.

Four men were arrested and later convicted of terrorist offences, while the rest fled. Two days later, the troops carried out a search of the area to track down the missing Republicans and came across Mr Cunningham, who they believed was an armed IRA suspect, near the village of Benburb. As he ran, members of the patrol fired, killing him. It later emerged he was an innocent member of the public with a mental age of between six and ten. Mr Hutchings, pictured, was investigated and cleared. However, a legacy unit set up by the Police Service of Northern Ireland arrested him in April 2015. To contribute to his fund, visit www.crowd justice.com/case/ justice4veterans

WITCH-HUNT AGAINST OUR HEROES