Northern Ireland court to give verdict on soldier's role in 1972 killings

23/10/2025 16:30

A Belfast court on Thursday is due to deliver its verdict on the sole British soldier charged with murder over the 1972 "Bloody Sunday" killings of 13 unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland.



The soldier, who cannot be identified legally and is known as Soldier F, is accused of killing two men and trying to kill five others when members of a British army regiment opened fire in the mainly Irish nationalist city of Londonderry.



He had previously pleaded not guilty to the seven charges and was not called to give evidence during the one-month trial that was heard without a jury.



Bloody Sunday was the deadliest shooting incident of three decades of sectarian violence involving nationalists seeking a united Ireland, unionists wanting Northern Ireland to remain a province of the United Kingdom, and British forces. A 1998 peace deal largely ended the bloodshed.



Defence lawyers did not call any witnesses and said that military statements taken over 50 years ago were manifestly unreliable, with no independent supporting evidence offered to back the prosecution case.