How the Trial of a Former Soldier Over Bloody Sunday Ended in Case Dismissal
Sunday 30 January 1972 is remembered as arguably the deadliest β and significant β days during thirty years of unrest in Northern Ireland.
Within the community where events unfolded β the memories of the tragic events are painted on the walls and seared in public consciousness.
A public gathering was held on a wintry, sunny afternoon in Londonderry.
The protest was challenging the practice of imprisonment without charges β detaining individuals without due process β which had been established following multiple years of violence.
Military personnel from the Parachute Regiment fatally wounded thirteen individuals in the district β which was, and remains, a strongly nationalist community.
A particular photograph became especially memorable.
Images showed a clergyman, Fr Edward Daly, using a blood-stained cloth as he tried to shield a crowd moving a young man, the injured teenager, who had been mortally injured.
Media personnel recorded extensive video on the day.
Documented accounts contains Father Daly informing a reporter that soldiers "gave the impression they would discharge weapons randomly" and he was "absolutely certain" that there was no provocation for the shooting.
That version of the incident was rejected by the initial investigation.
The Widgery Tribunal found the Army had been shot at first.
During the resolution efforts, the ruling party set up a fresh examination, in response to advocacy by surviving kin, who said the first investigation had been a whitewash.
During 2010, the findings by the investigation said that overall, the military personnel had fired first and that not one of the individuals had posed any threat.
At that time government leader, the leader, apologised in the government chamber β saying deaths were "improper and unjustifiable."
The police started to look into the matter.
An ex-soldier, referred to as Soldier F, was brought to trial for murder.
He was charged concerning the killings of James Wray, in his twenties, and twenty-six-year-old William McKinney.
The defendant was additionally charged of trying to kill multiple individuals, other civilians, further individuals, another person, and an unnamed civilian.
Remains a court ruling protecting the soldier's identity protection, which his lawyers have argued is required because he is at danger.
He stated to the Saville Inquiry that he had only fired at individuals who were carrying weapons.
That claim was rejected in the concluding document.
Information from the examination was unable to be used immediately as evidence in the court case.
In the dock, the veteran was shielded from sight with a protective barrier.
He spoke for the first time in the proceedings at a proceeding in December 2024, to reply "innocent" when the allegations were put to him.
Kin of the victims on that day journeyed from Londonderry to the judicial building each day of the trial.
One relative, whose brother Michael was killed, said they understood that listening to the case would be emotional.
"I can see all details in my mind's eye," John said, as we walked around the primary sites discussed in the trial β from the street, where the victim was shot dead, to the adjoining the courtyard, where the individual and William McKinney were fatally wounded.
"It even takes me back to my position that day.
"I participated in moving Michael and lay him in the ambulance.
"I relived every moment during the proceedings.
"But even with enduring the process β it's still meaningful for me."