Trial of former paratrooper Soldier F, charged with two murders and five attempted murders, begins in Belfast
Soldiers disgraced the British army by targeting unarmed civilians in an “unjustified” and “gratuitous” use of force on Bloody Sunday, the murder trial of an army veteran has heard.
The shooting by the former paratrooper and his comrades was “unnecessary” and had a profound impact on Northern Ireland, a prosecutor told Belfast crown court on Monday at the opening of the long-awaited trial.
Soldier F is charged with two murders and five attempted murders when the Parachute Regiment fatally gunned down 13 civil rights protesters in Derry on 30 January 1972, a defining event of the Troubles.
The former lance corporal pleaded not guilty to the murders of James Wray and William McKinney and the attempted murder of five others. Granted anonymity by a court order, he entered court 12 before the press and public, and a curtain concealed him in the dock.
