A man was cleared at Belfast Crown Court today of murdering undercover soldier Captain Robert Nairac 34 years ago.
Kevin Crilly (60), from Armagh, Northern Ireland, had denied murdering the Grenadier Guardsman in May 1977.
In one of the most infamous killings of the Troubles, Capt Nairac was abducted by the Provisional IRA from a bar in Drumintee, Forkhill before being brought over the Border to Ravensdale Forest, Co Louth, where he was shot dead.
Mr Crilly was cleared on all five charges which he faced, including kidnapping and false imprisonment as well as murder.
Following the murder Mr Crilly, from Lower Foughill Road, Jonesborough, allegedly went on the run in the US for 27 years using his birth name Declan Power.
The prosecution claimed that, following the kidnapping of Capt Nairac from the Three Steps Inn, Crilly, then 26, picked up the gunman, Liam Townson, before driving the soldier to the forest. Townson was later convicted by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.
Mr Justice Richard McLaughlin had been considering his verdict for a month following the no-jury trial. He gave his decision at Belfast Crown Court today.
“The prosecution has not proved beyond reasonable doubt the state of knowledge or intention necessary to transform the transporting of Townson by Crilly to an unspecified place at an unspecified time into a knowing participation in a potential murder," the judge said. "For these reasons I find the accused not guilty.”
Mr Crilly was asked about the killing by BBC Spotlight journalists.
"The admissions by Crilly to the journalists from the Spotlight programme prove he was involved to some degree in the events surrounding the death of Captain Nairac," the judge said. "He was present at the Three Steps Inn where what he described as a 'battle' took place. This can only mean what he witnessed was the abduction of Captain Nairac but it does not prove his active participation in it."
He said the evidence did not prove where Capt Nairac was at the time Crilly went to collect Townson or when he dropped him off, nor does the evidence establish when or by whom the decision was made to kill him.
“I have concluded that the prosecution has not proved Crilly was a participant in the abduction,” the judge added.
Besides the Spotlight interview, during which Mr Crilly expressed concern that he would be jailed, much of the evidence centred on hair, believed to be that of Capt Nairac, which was discovered near the suspected murder scene.
A large clump of hair was also found in a Ford Cortina belonging to Mr Crilly’s family.
The judge added: “Given that the prosecution has been unable to prove a sufficient nexus between Crilly and the Cortina, the significance of the mass of hair found in it becomes irrelevant in proof of participation by Crilly in the murder or abduction.
“In any event, the vagueness of the strength of comparison with the reference sample would have made impossible to link the hair from the car with Capt Nairac beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Capt Nairac's remains have never been found. Former IRA members claim his body was disposed of at a local meat processing plant.