The Great Betrayal: Northern Ireland conflict veterans raise funds for film about troops facing possible prosecution for Troubles killings

They are calling it ‘The Great Betrayal”.

Veterans of the conflict in Northern Ireland are raising funds for a film about the hundreds of troops now facing possible prosecution for killings during the Troubles.

Among the backers is a 76-year-old great grandfather who is to stand trial later this year charged with the attempted murder of a vulnerable Catholic man more than 43 years ago.

Dennis Hutchings, a former corporal major, has donated  £100 towards the making of the documentary through the fundraising website Justgiving.

“I put in what I could afford,” said Mr Hutchings, who retired to Cornwall but faces a trial in Northern Ireland later in the year. “I would like to see this film happen. It has got to happen. If it doesn’t nothing will get done about our plight.”

Mr Hutchings, who suffers from kidney and heart problems, is expected to be the first of a number of former soldiers prosecuted over hundreds of historic killings being investigated by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

The film is being made by the campaign group Justice for Northern Ireland Veterans and needs to raise £50,000 to get the project off the ground.

“At present those who served their country in the war against the IRA feel betrayed. It’s time the truth was told,” writes the organisation’s founder Alan Barry, a former soldier who served in Northern Ireland on the Justgiving website.

He said: “The Great Betrayal will expose those who never faced prosecution and escaped justice,” said Mr Barry while condemning what has been branded a ‘witch hunt’ against British troops.

The film-makers have so far raised only a fraction of what is needed although a financier and Conservative Party donor Christopher Mills has pledged £25,000.

Mr Mills, who founded the private equity firm Harwood Capital and is said to be worth almost £300 million, said: “It is an honour to help such a worthy cause.”

The PSNI’s legacy investigations branch is investigating more than 1,100 killings during the Troubles, of which more than 300 are attributed to british troops while more tha half are blamed on Republican terror groups.

But Army veterans suspect they are being disproportionately targeted because official record kept by the military make them easier to investigate.

They also complain that under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement paramilitaries on both sides would serve a maximum of two years for any offence including murder while British troops would be liable for life sentences.

Mr Hutchings is expected to be the first of the cases to go to trial. He was first arrested over the death of John Pat Cunnginham, 27, who had learning difficulties, three years ago.

Mr Cunningham was shot dead by an Army patrol in June 1974.  The prosecution has alleged that Mr Hutchings chased him across a field and fired his weapon three times.

Lawyers for Mr Hutchings contend that he fired warning shots. Prosecutors admit they have no idea if Mr Hutchings fired the fatal shots and that is “equally possible” a second soldier, who has since died, killed Mr Cunningham.

The Great Betrayal will question why – so long after the death – Mr Hutchings is being dragged to court.