Courts

Decision to halt prosecution of British army veteran over 1972 murder quashed

Daniel Hegarty (15) shot twice as army moved into Creggan during operation to clear no-go areas set up by Republicans

Daniel Hegarty (15) was shot and killed by a member of a British army patrol in the Creggan area of Derry on July 31st, 1972. Photograph: Derry Journal

Alan Erwin
Thu Jun 29 2023 - 13:58

A decision to halt the prosecution of a former British soldier for the murder of a teenager in Derry more than 50 years ago is to be quashed, the High Court has ruled.

Senior judges identified flaws in the conclusion reached that the ex-serviceman’s statement about the killing of Daniel Hegarty would be legally inadmissible. Relatives of the 15-year-old victim are now set to press for the trial process to be reinstated.

Daniel was shot twice in the head after the British army moved into the Creggan area of the city in July 1972. The killing occurred during Operation Motorman, when troops were deployed to clear so-called no-go areas set up by republican paramilitaries at the height of the Troubles.

In 2011, an inquest jury unanimously found that the Daniel posed no risk and had been shot without warning.

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An army veteran, referred to as Soldier B, was to be prosecuted for Daniel’s murder and the intentional wounding of his 17-year-old cousin, Christopher Hegarty, in the same incident. But the Public Prosecution Service announced in 2021 that the charges were being dropped.

The decision to discontinue the criminal process came after the trial of two former paratroopers, Soldiers A and C, accused of another Troubles-era killing collapsed due to deficiencies identified in statements given to Royal Military Police in 1972 and to detectives from a legacy unit in 2010.

Daniel’s sister, Margaret Brady, mounted a judicial review challenge against the subsequent decision to discontinue the prosecution of Soldier B. Ms Brady’s barrister argued that Soldier B was fully aware that he was being questioned about the shooting.

The court found the circumstances were different from the facts in Soldiers A and C’s case and Lord Justice Treacy confirmed that the decision to discontinue the prosecution of Soldier B should to be quashed.

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