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| Daniel Hegarty shooting: Soldier B will not be prosecuted | Daniel Hegarty shooting: Soldier B will not be prosecuted |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A former soldier charged with the fatal shooting of a teenager during an army operation in Derry during the bloodiest year of the Northern Ireland Troubles will not be prosecuted. | A former soldier charged with the fatal shooting of a teenager during an army operation in Derry during the bloodiest year of the Northern Ireland Troubles will not be prosecuted. |
| The former soldier, who is in his late 60s, had been facing charges of shooting and killing 15-year-old Daniel Hegarty in the Creggan area of the city in July 1972. | The former soldier, who is in his late 60s, had been facing charges of shooting and killing 15-year-old Daniel Hegarty in the Creggan area of the city in July 1972. |
| Related: Bloody Sunday anniversary sparks call for Troubles amnesty | Related: Bloody Sunday anniversary sparks call for Troubles amnesty |
| His 16-year-old cousin Christopher was shot in the head during the same incident but survived. The shootings happened during Operation Motorman, when thousands of British troops were deployed into Derry and Belfast to smash into so-called no-go areas – republican districts where the security forces could not previously enter and where both wings of the IRA dominated. | |
| The Hegarty family has been campaigning for decades for the soldier to be prosecuted for the killing. An inquest in 2009 ordered by the attorney general found the original police inquiry into Hegarty’s death had been “hopelessly inadequate and dreadful”. | |
| But the region’s Public Prosecution Service on Tuesday ruled that, after a review of all the evidence, a decision had been taken not to prosecute the soldier. | But the region’s Public Prosecution Service on Tuesday ruled that, after a review of all the evidence, a decision had been taken not to prosecute the soldier. |
| Related: The legacy of the Troubles lives on. The UK must admit its failures | Brian Gormally | Related: The legacy of the Troubles lives on. The UK must admit its failures | Brian Gormally |
| The PPS assistant director of central casework, Michael Agnew, said: “We have given careful consideration to all of the available evidence and information, including the findings of the jury at the inquest. We have received further expert evidence, both from the expert who had been instructed by the coroner and also a second independent expert. | The PPS assistant director of central casework, Michael Agnew, said: “We have given careful consideration to all of the available evidence and information, including the findings of the jury at the inquest. We have received further expert evidence, both from the expert who had been instructed by the coroner and also a second independent expert. |
| “The conclusions of both experts are such that they are not able to state that the ballistics evidence is inconsistent with the account provided by Soldier B of the circumstances in which he fired. We have applied the test for prosecution afresh in light of the evidence currently available. The standard of proof that the prosecution must reach in a criminal trial is the high one of beyond reasonable doubt. | “The conclusions of both experts are such that they are not able to state that the ballistics evidence is inconsistent with the account provided by Soldier B of the circumstances in which he fired. We have applied the test for prosecution afresh in light of the evidence currently available. The standard of proof that the prosecution must reach in a criminal trial is the high one of beyond reasonable doubt. |
| “Our assessment remains that there is no reasonable prospect of proving to the criminal standard that Soldier B did not act in self-defence, having formed a mistaken but honest belief that he was under imminent attack. In these circumstances, there is no reasonable prospect of a conviction and the test for prosecution is not met.” | “Our assessment remains that there is no reasonable prospect of proving to the criminal standard that Soldier B did not act in self-defence, having formed a mistaken but honest belief that he was under imminent attack. In these circumstances, there is no reasonable prospect of a conviction and the test for prosecution is not met.” |
| In 2007 the British government apologised to the Hegarty family for previously describing the teenager as a terrorist. | In 2007 the British government apologised to the Hegarty family for previously describing the teenager as a terrorist. |