Prosecution of former Para accused of two murders on Bloody Sunday set to resume

THE prosecution of a former Para accused of two murders on Bloody Sunday half a century ago is set to resume.

Soldier F also faces five counts of attempted murder over events on that day in Londonderry in 1972.

Prosecutors had previously decided to drop charges against the ex-paratrooper.

The case into the murders of James Wray, 22, and William McKinney, 27, was halted over fears it could collapse in light of a separate ruling on the admissibility of evidence.

But Mr McKinney’s family challenged the decision by launching a judicial review and were successful in the High Court in Belfast.

This led Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service to review its original decision.

Yesterday it announced it will resume the prosecution.

Mr McKinney’s brother Mickey said he is glad to see “the case starting to move again”.

Bloody Sunday was seen as one of the darkest days of the Troubles, when members of the Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 civil rights protesters in the Bogside area of Derry.

Ministers introduced legislation in May to try to deal with more than 1,000 unsolved Troubles killings, giving legal immunity to people who cooperate with a new independent commission.

Ex-PM Boris Johnson pledged in his election-winning manifesto in 2019 to end vexatious prosecutions of Troubles troops.