News that only one soldier will face prosecution for six shootings leaves families of other victims disappointed

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

For the families of the Bloody Sunday victims, who have campaigned for justice for decades, the announcement that only one Parachute Regiment soldier would be prosecuted represented an anticlimax.

Expectations that at least four former soldiers would face charges had been widespread. Relatives had marched together to Derry’s Guildhall, bearing photographs of their brothers – civil rights demonstrators who were shot dead on 30 January 1972.

A banner bearing the words “Towards Justice” was carried by the families as they processed through the streets where, 47 years ago, soldiers opened fire. Along the way, they halted to sing the civil rights anthem We Shall Overcome.

Shortly before 10am, they all filed into the City hotel, overlooking the River Foyle, where the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service briefed the families about their decision. “People were totally devastated,” said John Kelly, whose brother Michael was shot dead. “But at least six families have something to look forward to.” Soldier F has been charged with two murders and four attempted murders.

Having heard the news, they walked across to the Guildhall. Their joint statement reflected contradictory emotions. It declared: “Justice for one family is justice for all of us. We stand in full solidarity with those of us whose loved one’s death or injury has not been included in the announcement of prosecutions.

“We have also faced the disappointing news that in some cases there will not be prosecutions, and we are mindful of those families who received that news today.

“Bloody Sunday was not just a wanton act carried out by a trained army against defenceless civil rights activists. It also created a deep legacy of hurt and injustice and deepened and prolonged a bloody conflict unimaginable even in those dark winter days of 1972.

“The passage of time has made charges difficult in this case, and in other cases. But the passage of time should not be used as a form of blanket immunity to block proper investigations. Everyone deserves justice, including those whose loved ones were murdered by the British state.

Timeline Bloody Sunday timeline: from 1972 killings to charges against soldier Show Hide Parachute Regiment soldiers opened fire on demonstrators at a civil rights march in the Bogside area of Derry. Thirteen men were killed; a 14th man subsequently died of his wounds. The UK prime minister, Edward Heath, appointed the lord chief justice, Lord Widgery, to produce a report into the events of what became known as Bloody Sunday. The Official IRA detonated a car bomb at barracks in Aldershot where the Parachute Regiment was headquartered. Seven people, mostly female cleaners, were killed. Lord Widgery produced his report, called Report of the Tribunal Appointed to Inquire Into the Events on Sunday, 30th January 1972. It was dismissed by many as a “whitewash”. Colonel Derek Wilford, who commanded Parachute Regiment soldiers on Bloody Sunday, awarded the OBE in the new year honours. The Labour prime minister Tony Blair announced there would be a new inquiry into Bloody Sunday following pressure from victims’ relatives. The Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday opened. It lasted 12 years and cost hundreds of millions of pounds. Final report of the Saville inquiry published. It stated: “We found no instances where it appeared to us that soldiers either were or might have been justified in firing.” The Conservative prime minister David Cameron apologised on behalf of the government, describing soldiers’ actions as “both unjustified and unjustifiable”. Police Service of Northern Ireland launched a murder investigation into the deaths of the Bloody Sunday victims. It involved 30 detectives. Files passed to the Public Prosecution Service of Northern Ireland which considers whether or not to prosecute any Parachute Regiment soldiers for their actions. Prosecutors announce their decision to charge only one former paratrooper for the murder of James Wray and William McKinney, and for the attempted murders of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon and Patrick O’Donnell. The case of “Soldier F” begins before a district judge in Derry magistrates court. Owen Bowcott

“The dead cannot cry out for justice, it is the duty of the living to do so for them. We have cried out for them for many years, and now we have succeeded for them.”

The families dealt with the disappointment with dignity. At the end of the press conference, there was a minute’s silence in Guildhall in memory of the dead, followed by a round of applause.

Afterwards Jean Hegarty, whose younger brother Kevin McElhinney was killed, said she was disappointed there had not been more charges but was not surprised. “There were a few families who were really upset,” she said. “It depended on expectation levels. It was very mixed emotions.

“If there’s a trial of Soldier F, I will go along – even if it’s in London. Maybe it will be a jury trial? We have came a long way but we are still a divided community. It would be nigh on impossible to get a jury that everyone here considered fair. If it’s held in England, I don’t think it would be fair.”

Julieann Campbell, whose uncle Jackie Duddy was killed in 1972, agreed. “People feel a bit gutted, a bit underwhelmed,” she explained. “But the fact that six families came out with good news, that’s a success.”

Others at the nearby Museum of Derry stressed the importance of finally resolving the bitter events. “Without Bloody Sunday and the Ballymurphy army shootings of 1971 [in which 11 civilians died],” said one man, “the war would not have gone on for 40 years. Those two radicalised a whole generation who went into the IRA.”