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Man cleared of murdering two soldiers at Masareene barracks Man cleared of murdering two soldiers at Massereene barracks
(about 1 hour later)
A man has been acquitted of murdering two British soldiers in Northern Ireland. The only man to be convicted of the Real IRA killing of two soldiers just hours before they were to be deployed to Afghanistan has been found not guilty in a retrial.
Brian Shivers, 47, of Co Londonderry, had denied all involvement in the gun attack outside the Massereene army barracks in Antrim in which sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, died. Brian Shivers had been jailed for murdering the army engineers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar in what a judge described as a "ferocious and ruthless" gun attack outside Massereene barracks in Antrim Town four years ago.
Two other soldiers and two pizza delivery men were seriously injured in the shooting in March 2009. But on Friday at Belfast crown court, Shivers was cleared of the murders.
Judge Mr Justice Donnell Deeny delivered his reserved judgment after the non-jury retrial at Belfast Crown Court. Mr Justice Deeney said the prosection case against the 47-year-old Co Derry man rested on circumstantial evidence, namely DNA found on two matches and a phone in the Real IRA getaway car. The judge said he could not be sure that these items were not contaminated innocently by the defendant.
Sappers Quinsey, from Birmingham, and Azimkar, from London, were shot by two masked gunmen as they collected pizzas outside the gates of the barracks on March 7 2009. "It could have been a quite innocent touching," he said. "And of course the transfer may have been secondary and not direct; shaking hands with someone who then handled the phone.
The soldiers, from 38 Engineer Regiment, were just hours away from deploying to Afghanistan and were already dressed in their desert fatigues. "In the same regard, the DNA on the matches does indicate contact with the box of matches used by the person who did set fire to the vehicle on 7 March. But that contact with that object might have been an entirely innocent one."
The prosecution case against the defendant was based on DNA evidence found on matchsticks and a mobile phone in and around the abandoned, partially burned-out getaway vehicle used in the attack. He also put weight on the evidence given by Lisa Leacock, Shivers's fiancee, who gave him an alibi.
But the defence insisted that the genetic traces did not prove he was involved on the night of the shootings. The judge referred to Shivers's significant medical disability and his previous good character. He said these factors suggested he would be an unlikely associate for "this determined gang" to rely on.
Shivers was acquitted of two counts of murder, six counts of attempted murder, one of posession of firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life and one of assisting offenders. Deeny said he had asked himself whether the prosecution had eliminated other possibilities than the guilt of the accused as it was obliged to do and whether he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of Shivers's guilt.
Last year, Shivers was convicted of the murders of the two soldiers and ordered to serve at least 25 years, but that judgment was quashed earlier this year by Northern Ireland's Court of Appeal. He was then ordered to face a retrial. He concluded that the answer to both questions was "clearly no" and found him not guilty.
High-profile republican Colin Duffy, from Lurgan, Co Armagh, was a co-accused at the original trial at Antrim Crown Court. Quinsey and Azimkar were the first soldiers to be murdered in Northern Ireland since the Provisional IRA's ceasefire in 1997. Friday's judgment means no one has been brought to justice for their murders.
He was acquitted of all charges. The pair were killed as they went outside their base to collect pizzas they had ordered from a local fast food business. During the original trial CCTV footage was shown of the fatal shooting, with a Real IRA gunman spraying the two soldiers with automatic fire from an AK47 rifle. The two soldiers were wearing their desert fatigue uniforms in preparation for deployment with the 38 Engineer Regiment to Afghanistan.
Shivers, dressed in a blue jacket and cream trousers, showed no emotion when Mr Justice Deeny said he was free to go. Forty-eight hours later, the Continuity IRA shot dead Constable Stephen Carroll in Craigavon, Co Armagh. The two incidents marked a renewed upsurge in violence from dissident republicans opposed to the peace process and the power-sharing settlement at Stormont.
The judge said that when he considered if the prosecution had proved the defendant's guilt beyond reasonable doubt the answer was "clearly no". Shivers's lawyer, Niall Murphy, spoke outside the court, stressing that his client was not celebrating.
He said the Crown contention that Shivers had played a key role in helping the gunmen get away and burn the attack vehicle was not convincing. He said: "It must be remembered that there are two families who are still grieving and there are several people who are still suffering from their injuries."
The judge asked why hardened terrorists would choose Shivers, who has cystic fibrosis and was engaged to a Protestant woman, as an associate. Referring to Shivers's long-term illness, Murphy said his client had originally been sentenced to a life term of imprisonment, "which would have seen him die in prison".
"He was an unlikely associate for this hardened gang to rely on," he said. The lawyer said the original conviction was overturned on a "narrow legal basis" and the information disclosed in the retrial "completely undermined the case against him".
Shivers was flanked by his lawyer Niall Murphy as they emerged from court. He stood alongside his solicitor as Murphy denounced the "miscarriage of justice" that had seen him convicted at the original trial. Murphy added: "This failed prosecution – another failed prosecution – is a cautionary tale against the reliance upon tenuous scientific evidence in high-profile legal cases."
"This is not a moment of celebration," he said. "It must be remembered that there are two families still grieving and several people who are still suffering from their injuries.
"That said, Brian Shivers has suffered the horror of having been wrongfully convicted in what now must be described as a miscarriage of justice. He was convicted of the most serious charges in the criminal calendar. He was sentenced to a life term of imprisonment which would have seen him die in prison. He is a seriously ill man and when he was in prison he was persistently denied access to medication and access to medical facilities."
The lawyer said the original conviction was overturned on a "narrow legal basis".
"But it was only during his retrial that important new material was disclosed which completely undermined the case against him. This failed prosecution, another failed prosecution, is a cautionary tale against the reliance upon tenuous scientific evidence in high-profile criminal cases. "
After the lawyer's remarks Shivers spoke only briefly to thank his legal team.
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