Bloody Sunday Soldier F appears at court hearing behind curtain amid risk to life

A former soldier accused of two murders on Bloody Sunday has appeared in court for the first time since he was charged, hidden from view, as his lawyers tried to have the case thrown out.

Ex-paratrooper Soldier F, who cannot be identified, is accused of murdering James Wray and William McKinney when members of the Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 protesters on the streets of Londonderry in January 1972.

He is also charged with five attempted murders.

The veteran was present in Court 16 in Belfast on Friday for a pre-trial hearing before Mr Justice Fowler.

He sat in the witness box, with a blue curtain shielding him from the main body of the court to protect his anonymity.

Relatives of Bloody Sunday victims packed the public gallery, having travelled to the hearing from Londonderry.

The defence made an application for the case to be dismissed ahead of a trial.

Representing Soldier F, Mark Mulholland KC argued that there was an “insufficiency of evidence” against his client.

‘Contradictory and flawed’

He went on to claim that contemporaneous statements from other soldiers were “contradictory and flawed”.

Mr Mulholland told the judge that the case against the veteran was absent of a “coherent evidential basis” to ground any of the seven charges he was facing.

Ian Turkington KC, who is also part of the veteran’s defence team, told the court Soldier F would be seen as a “prized target” for dissident republicans and claimed there would be a “real and immediate risk” to his life if his identity was made public.

The defence relied on reports compiled by Alan McQuillan, the former assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

‘Totemic’ status

Mr McQuillan, who gave evidence to the court via video link, told the judge that the prosecution of Soldier F had assumed “totemic” status.

He warned that the New IRA, which he said was based out of Londonderry, could seek to target him.

NI Public Prosecution Service (PPS) barrister Louis Mably KC highlighted that the current police assessment of the risk to Soldier F was “low”.

The PPS previously called a halt to the prosecution of Soldier F in 2021, citing concerns the case could collapse if it went to trial.

The decision to halt proceedings was challenged by Mr McKinney’s family and the Divisional Court of the High Court in Belfast subsequently overturned the PPS’s move.

After reviewing its position, the PPS decided to resume the prosecution.

A date for Soldier F’s trial is yet to be fixed.