The Troubles: 4 Army Veterans Charged With Crimes Dating From 52 Years Ago

Four former soldiers in the British Army have been charged in connection with incidents which took place in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.
The Troubles: 4 Army Veterans Charged With Crimes Dating From 52 Years Ago
The head office of Saoradh, the political wing of the New IRA, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in October 2019. Chris Summers/The Epoch Times
Chris Summers
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Four former soldiers in the British Army have been charged in connection with incidents which took place in Belfast in the midst of The Troubles in 1972.

The prosecutions are almost certainly the last to be brought for incidents during The Troubles.

On May 1, 2024 the guillotine falls on further prosecutions as a result of the passing of the controversial Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill.

Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) announced on Thursday that an individual identified only as Soldier F had been charged with the murder of Patrick McVeigh, 44, who was shot during disturbances in the city in the early hours of May 13, 1972.

He will also be prosecuted for the attempted murder of four other people wounded on the same night.

Soldier F and three other retired servicemen, identified as Soldiers B, C, and D, are also accused of attempting to murder two men during an incident in Belfast’s Slievegallion Drive the previous night.

Military Reaction Force Operated in Belfast

The four men are said to have been members of a temporary army unit known as the Military Reaction Force (MRF), which was operating in Belfast in 1972.

More than 3,600 people were killed during The Troubles—the period of sectarian strife between 1969 and 1998 when the Provisional IRA sought to force a united Ireland through terrorism—and 1,000 of those killings remain unsolved.

In journalist David McKittrick’s book “Lost Lives,” he described 1972 as a “turmoil of violence and political confusion, with a death toll far higher than any other year.”

Bloody Sunday—when members of the Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 civil rights protesters in Londonderry in January 1972—was followed by a spate of riots and soldiers being assassinated by Provisional IRA snipers, especially in Belfast.

Loyalist and republican mobs often attacked rival communities and burned people out of their homes.

In “Lost Lives,” Mr. McKittrick says Mr. McVeigh, a Catholic who was himself a former soldier, was shot “by undercover soldiers who opened fire on a vigilante group made up of local residents.”

Witnesses said that after the incident they saw the driver of the car carrying the MRF soldiers produce a pass to get through a military checkpoint in Finaghy Road North.

A mural depicting a scene from Bloody Sunday, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on Aug. 11, 2016. (Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
A mural depicting a scene from Bloody Sunday, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on Aug. 11, 2016. Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

At an inquest into Mr. McVeigh’s death, six soldiers from the MRF claimed they had been fired on by men armed with rifles and revolvers and were returning fire.

Mr. McVeigh’s widow was awarded £20,000 compensation in 1974 and the case was reopened by the then Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1993 and the following year detectives flew to England and Australia to interview former soldiers.

Daughter Says Killing Was ‘Real Injustice’

On Thursday, Mr. McVeigh’s daughter Pat welcomed the news that Soldier F had been charged.

She told the BBC, “It was a real injustice when my father was killed, he wasn’t a gunman, never was, we need his name cleared.”

The PPS also announced it would not be prosecuting another former soldier in relation to a shooting incident on May 26, 1972 or a second retired serviceman over an incident at Glen Road bus terminus on June 22, 1972 in which four people were shot.

The decisions by the PPS follow the consideration of a reports from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s legacy investigation branch, which looked into the activities of the MRF, which was also known as the Mobile Reaction Force.

PPS Assistant Director Martin Hardy said, “Regardless of the differing outcomes in relation to each incident examined, we in the PPS recognise that this is a painful day for all victims and families involved and that they have waited a long time to reach this stage of the process.”

When the then-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace unveiled the legacy bill last year he said it would stop the “merry-go-round” of court cases stemming from The Troubles.
The legacy bill will give immunity to former soldiers and paramilitary killers if they cooperate with a new truth recovery body, known as the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.

Legacy Bill Described as ‘Obscene’

Last year Paul Wilson, whose father Paddy, an SDLP politician, was killed by loyalist paramilitaries in 1972, told The Epoch Times the bill was “obscene” and said, “If you’ve broken the law you need to face justice.”
Paul Wilson, the son of Paddy Wilson, stands beside a memorial quilt created by the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) during an event in Stormont marking the 50th anniversary of the murder of his father SDLP senator Paddy Wilson on June 26, 2023. (Liam McBurney/PA Wire)
Paul Wilson, the son of Paddy Wilson, stands beside a memorial quilt created by the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) during an event in Stormont marking the 50th anniversary of the murder of his father SDLP senator Paddy Wilson on June 26, 2023. Liam McBurney/PA Wire
As a result of the legacy bill, a number of inquests into infamous incidents during The Troubles, such as the SAS killing of three IRA men at Coagh in 1991, have been told they have to conclude by April or be shut down.

Some of the anonymised ciphers used to identify the soldiers in the MRF cases are the same as those used previously, which may lead to confusion.

Soldier F, for example, is not the same individual who was charged in connection with Bloody Sunday.

That Soldier F, a former paratrooper, is charged with the murder of James Wray and William McKinney and with attempted murder involving five other people in Derry, on Jan. 30, 1972. He is due to go on trial at Belfast Crown Court later this year.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Chris Summers
Chris Summers
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Chris Summers is a UK-based journalist covering a wide range of national stories, with a particular interest in crime, policing and the law.
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