Verdict due in Bloody Sunday murder trial of Soldier F

A verdict is expected on Thursday in the trial of a former British soldier accused of murdering two people on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry in 1972.

The former member of the Parachute Regiment has denied two murder charges and five counts of attempted murder.

His identity has been protected by a court order and he is known only as Soldier F.

Thirteen people were shot dead on Bloody Sunday in January 1972 at a civil rights demonstration in the Bogside area of Derry.

A public inquiry, which concluded in 2010, found that none of those killed during Bloody Sunday posed any threat to the Army.

Soldier F is the only military veteran who has been prosecuted over the shootings.

He is accused of murdering James Wray, 22, and William McKinney, 26.

The five charges of attempted murder relate to two teenagers at the time – 16-year-old Joe Mahon and 17-year-old Michael Quinn – as well as Joseph Friel, who was 20, Patrick O’Donnell, 41, and an unknown person.

The case is being heard by a judge sitting without a jury at Belfast Crown Court.

Last week, Judge Patrick Lynch rejected an application by defence lawyers to have the case dismissed because they claimed key prosecution evidence was unreliable.

The trial began on 15 September and lasted five weeks.

To protect his identity, Soldier F was screened from public view throughout the proceedings by a dark curtain around part of the dock.

The decision to charge Soldier F was taken by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in 2019.

He was one of 18 former soldiers reported to the PPS as a result of a police investigation, which followed the public inquiry into Bloody Sunday conducted by Lord Saville.

But he was the only one charged.

Two years later, the PPS dropped the case after the collapse of the trial of two other veterans who had been accused of a 1972 murder in Belfast.

But the prosecution resumed in 2022 after a legal challenge.