Paratroopers launch legal bid to bring Bloody Sunday murder inquiry to a halt
Former paratrooper ‘must accept he has done wrong’ if convicted of Belfast murder 43 years ago
A MURDER investigation into the Bloody Sunday killings could be derailed after seven former soldiers began legal action against the police in the High Court.
Solicitors acting for the former paratroopers have applied for a judicial review of the way the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is conducting its inquiry following the arrest of a 66year-old former lance corporal on Tuesday.
They claim the murder investigation is being pursued for “political reasons” and have questioned its legality.
It comes as the PSNI warned soldiers they may lose their anonymity if they are charged with murder or other offences, as they will be treated in the same way as other criminal suspects.
Soldiers who opened fire on civil rights marchers in Londonderry in 1972 are terrified of reprisals if their identities become known. They were granted anonymity by the Saville Inquiry.
Yesterday solicitors acting for seven men – referred to by Lord Saville as soldiers B,N, O, Q, R, U and V – served emergency proceedings against the PSNI in the High Court in London as a response to the arrest of L/Cpl “J”, who was questioned in a Belfast police station over three deaths after being held on suspicion of murder, before he was released on bail last night.
Barristers argued that it would be illegal to arrest any of the men at their homes without notice and remove them to custody in Northern Ireland. They have requested that the soldiers are given 24 hours’ notice of any arrest, so that they can attend a local police station by appointment.
They have also argued that the murder investigation, launched in 2012, is politically motivated and should be subject to judicial review.
L/Cpl J was the first member of the British Armed Forces to be arrested over Bloody Sunday, in which 14 people died.
The PSNI said earlier this year it expects to arrest seven former soldiers, though it has previously suggested that number could go as high as 20.
Yesterday it said: “We are not treating suspects in this case any differently from suspects in any other case.” Currently, the PSNI does not name any suspects, leaving the decision of whether to do so to the province’s Public Prosecution Service when they appear in court.
‘We are not treating suspects in this case any differently from suspects in any other case’
A FORMER paratrooper should not be jailed if he is convicted of murder for opening fire on Bloody Sunday, the sister of a man possibly killed by him has said.
Betty Walker said L/Cpl “J”, who has been questioned over the killing of Michael McDaid, 20, should “accept he has done wrong and apologise” if found guilty.
She said jailing the 66-year-old former soldier would achieve nothing and would be harsh on his family – a view shared by some relatives of other men killed in Londonderry in January 1972.
Several told The Daily Telegraph that an apology, or at least an admission of the truth, was more important to them than sentencing anyone convicted to jail for the events of 43 years ago.
Others say any soldier guilty of murder should be given the full sentence.
L/Cpl J became the first member of the Armed Forces to be arrested over the deaths of 14 men on Bloody Sunday when he was held on Tuesday. He was bailed last night.
As reports today, the murder investigation could be derailed after seven other soldiers applied for a judicial review into the legality of the inquiry.
But 69-year-old Mrs Walker said she did not expect L/Cpl J to be jailed even if he is tried and convicted.
She said: “He won’t do time. I am absolutely positive that nothing will happen to him. As soon as the MoD finds out, they will put their machine in order. They will make sure he is all right.
“I would feel sorry for his family if he is put in jail. What good will that do? He’s 66. It’s more important that he is found guilty. Jail isn’t the answer. If found guilty, he must accept he has done wrong and apologise.”
L/Cpl J was being questioned on suspicion of murdering Mr McDaid, William Nash, 19, and John Young, 17, and the attempted murder of Mr Nash’s father Alexander, who was shot as he tried to help him.
Bridget Gallagher, 72, another sister of Mr McDaid, said: “I want to see him named and shamed. That is more im- portant than going to jail. I would like to think he would apologise out of conscience.
“Take him to court, charge him, find him guilty in the eyes of the law – that’s what’s important.”
Maura Young, 63, the sister of Mr Young, said: “If he put his hands up and said he has done it, it is enough for him to say he has done it. Just tell the world that my brother was not a gunman, that he murdered a normal man.
“That to me is more important than a jail sentence. Not even an apology – just to say that he murdered a normal man. He just needs to put up his hands.
“They took John’s life when he was only 17. But they also blackened his name by saying he had a gun. That’s what broke my mother’s heart.
“He was never interested in guns. He was just interested in how he looked, how he dressed, his hair, music. He loved the Beatles. He just went [to the march] for the craic, to join the boys for a laugh, to see what girls were about. He loved the girls.”
Ms Young said she would prefer to see soldiers jailed if found guilty, but “the main justice is the arrest and the prosecution. After that, whatever will be, will be.”