Soldier F Acquitted Over 1972 Bloody Sunday Shootings

A former British paratrooper known as Soldier F was acquitted at Belfast Crown Court of two murders and five attempted murders over the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings, with Judge Patrick Lynch ruling the prosecution’s evidence fell short of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The non‑jury (Diplock) trial lasted four to five weeks and relied largely on statements from two other soldiers, referred to as G and H, whose credibility the judge questioned and whose prior statements could not be tested in court. Soldier F sat behind a curtain to protect his identity while relatives of the victims attended the proceedings. Prosecutors had pursued the only service member ever charged over the killings; the judge said criminal liability must be established individually and cannot rest on collective condemnation, while also criticizing the soldiers’ conduct on the day. The case revisits Bloody Sunday, when members of the Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 unarmed civil‑rights marchers in Derry in January 1972, an episode investigated by the Saville Inquiry that prompted a 2010 apology from then‑Prime Minister David Cameron.