Brit paratrooper Sergeant Allan McVitie who mistakenly gunned down dad during The Troubles is named in court
The death of Henry Thornton, 29, from Co Armagh, sparked major riots in Belfast at the time
A BRITISH paratrooper who mistakenly gunned down an innocent dad-of-six during The Troubles was named in court yesterday.
Sergeant Allan McVitie, who died in 2007, was on patrol outside a Belfast police station in 1971 when he was told two shots had been fired from a passing van.
He loosed off two rounds from his rifle, killing the driver, Henry Thornton, almost instantly.
But an inquest yesterday heard the van had just backfired - and ruled Sgt McVitie should finally be identified.
Coroner Brian Sherrard said the soldier’s actions were “not necessary, reasonable or proportionate”.
Yet he said his decision to name Sgt McVitie did not set a “precedent” for naming other British troops at the centre of historical investigations.
He said Sgt McVitie had an “honestly held belief” his unit had been fired on when he shot Mr Thornton dead in West Belfast on August 7.
The court heard the labourer had been driving to work with a pal at around 7.30am when the van passed the police station.
But as it drove by, it backfired - and was mistaken for gunfire by British troops on patrol outside.
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One soldier raised the alarm with Sgt McVitie, who dropped to his knee and fired two shots at the van.
Arthur Murphy, Mr Thornton’s work pal, later told the inquest: “The next thing I heard a bang, looked over and Harry had been shot and half his head had been blown off.
“His foot must have then slipped off the pedal because the van hit the vehicle in front in sort of slow motion.”
Mr Thornton was unarmed and no weapons were ever found during a search of his vehicle.
And in 2012 the British government wrote a letter of apology to his widow, confirming he was “an innocent man”.
The death of Mr Thornton, 29, from Co Armagh, sparked major riots in Belfast at the time.
Yesterday’s ruling came at the end of a new inquest demanded by Mr Thornton’s family for more than 40 years.
Last night Mr Thornton’s widow Mary welcomed the move to name Sgt McVitie.
She said: “The way I look at it is, he shot him, so why not?
“He should have been named.”
She added: “They grew up without their daddy and it was hard on them too - it was troubled times.
“They couldn’t understand why he was shot.
“He was just an ordinary father who lived for myself and the children.”