Ex-British soldier goes on trial for Bloody Sunday killings
[September 15, 2025]
By BRIAN MELLEY
LONDON (AP) — Families of the victims and survivors of the 1972 Bloody
Sunday, in which British soldiers opened fire and killed 13 unarmed
civil rights marchers and injured 15 others in Northern Ireland, have
fought for justice for five decades without a single person being held
accountable in court.
That could change after Monday when a former British soldier goes on
trial on charges of murder in the shooting of two men and the attempted
murders of five others.
The ex-paratrooper, identified only as a “Soldier F” and concealed from
view in court behind blue floor-to-ceiling curtain to protect him from
vengeance, is the lone defendant in the deadliest shooting in the three
decades of Northern Ireland violence known as “The Troubles.”
The Jan. 30, 1972 massacre in Londonderry has come to symbolize the
long-running conflict between mainly Catholic supporters of a united
Ireland and predominantly Protestant forces that wanted to remain part
of the United Kingdom. Tensions have eased since the 1998 Good Friday
peace accord, which created a system for Republican and Unionist parties
to share power in Northern Ireland.
The path to the nonjury trial in Belfast Crown Court has been a
torturous journey for families of the victims.
From instigators to victims
The government initially said soldiers from a parachute regiment
opened fire at gunmen and bombers who were attacking them. A formal
inquiry cleared the troops of responsibility. A subsequent and lengthier
review in 2010 reached a much different conclusion, finding that
soldiers had fired at unarmed people who were running away and then lied
about it for decades.
Then-Prime Minister David Cameron apologized and said the killings were
“unjustified and unjustifiable."
The findings cleared the way for the eventual prosecution of Soldier F,
though that, too, has been beset by delays and obstacles.
It took seven years from the time police opened their investigation
until prosecutors announced in 2019 that they would only charge Soldier
F. They said there wasn't enough evidence to charge 16 other former
soldiers and two alleged members of the Official Irish Republican Army
who were investigated for their roles in the shootings.
Two years later, the Public Prosecution Service dropped the case because
they didn't think they could prevail at trial. They made the decision
after a judge tossed out a case against two soldiers in the killing of
an Irish Republican Army leader after ruling key prosecution evidence
was inadmissible.
But family members of one the Bloody Sunday victims appealed and the
case against Soldier F was reinstated.
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A building burns in the bogside district of Londonderry, Northern
Ireland, in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, in February 1972. (AP
Photo/Michel Laurent, File)
Long wait for justice
Tony Doherty, whose father Patrick was one of those killed, said the
campaign for justice that began in 1992 had three demands: a
declaration of innocence for the dead and wounded, rejection of the
initial inquiry’s conclusions and prosecution of those responsible.
“The first two demands have been met, and when a British soldier
stands in the dock on Monday and faces charges of multiple murder
and attempted murder, we will see the third demand met, although we
will always believe there should be many more on trial for Bloody
Sunday,″ Doherty said. “We have waited 53 long years for justice
and, hopefully, we will see a measure of it through this trial.”
Soldier F has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in the
deaths of James Wray and William McKinney, and five attempted
murders for the shootings of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon,
Patrick O’Donnell and a person whose identity is unknown.
A quarter century after the peace agreement, Bloody Sunday remains a
source of tension in Northern Ireland.
Families of the victims continue to demand justice for their loved
ones, while supporters of army veterans who fought in the conflict
complain that they continue to be dogged by investigations and
potential charges decades after their service ended.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense had said it would defend the
ex-soldier while also working to reform the system for investigating
allegations of past military misdeeds.
Derry Councilor Shaun Harkin, of the People Before Profit party,
said the case against Soldier F represents the British state going
on trial.
“The British government has sought to protect its parachute regiment
killers for decades through lies, cover-up, delay and evasion,”
Harkin said. “Soldier F pulled the trigger on Bloody Sunday and
should be held to account, but the British government and top
military brass who gave the orders should be held to account too.”
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