Case against Soldier F is subject to legal arrangements set up under Good Friday deal

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The trial of Soldier F for murder and attempted murder on Bloody Sunday in 1972 will test the limits of Northern Ireland’s criminal justice system and legal arrangements made in accordance with the Good Friday agreement.

The Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 said anyone subsequently convicted of a scheduled – normally a terrorist – offence committed before April that year would only serve a maximum of two years in prison.

The assumption since then has been that the terms of that limited amnesty in sentencing should also apply to members of the security forces.

More problematic is the fact that the reductions only apply to crimes committed after 1973 when the first Emergency Provisions Act, which contained the relevant schedules, was passed.

The government has indicated it intends to extend the two-year sentence limit to security force members and to include, for everyone, the early years of the Troubles, probably from 1966 or 1968. However, no legislation implementing those changes has yet been presented at Westminster or in the Northern Ireland assembly at Stormont, which is currently suspended.

There have been more ambitious promises from defence ministers of a statute of limitations, granting immunity for all allegations of historical offences including, possibly, the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. Such plans remain undelivered.

The trial of Soldier F would normally have been expected to be held in a non-jury, Diplock court – the common practice for Troubles-related cases in Northern Ireland.

By coincidence on Thursday, the supreme court in London heard a separate case that could set a precedent for all historical army charges. Lawyers for Dennis Hutchings, a former soldier, are arguing he should not be tried without a jury.

Hutchings, 77, faces two charges, of attempted murder and attempted grievous bodily harm, for shooting dead a man while on patrol in Armagh in 1974. Judgment in the supreme court case is expected to be reserved.

