Lawyer urges judge to acquit British ex-soldier in 1972 Bloody Sunday killings in Northern Ireland

Families of the victims of the 1972 Bloody Sunday, hold a protest outside Belfast Crown court, Northern Ireland, Monday Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison, File)

LONDON — A lawyer for the only British soldier charged in the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre said Thursday that prosecutors failed to prove murder and attempted murder charges, as he urged a judge to acquit the former paratrooper.

Defence lawyer Mark Mulholland said in his closing argument that the case against Soldier F was “fundamentally flawed and weak” because of unreliable evidence from “fabricators and liars.”

The former lance corporal, who has not been named to protect him from retaliation, was the only British army member ever charged in the Jan. 20, 1972, shooting that killed 13 and wounded 15 civil rights demonstrators in Londonderry, also known as Derry.

Mulholland rested his case without his client testifying and without presenting any evidence, choosing instead to attack the credibility of a prosecution case reliant on inconsistent statements from fellow troops and fading memories of those who fled gunfire in the chaos the marked the deadliest shooting of the three decades of sectarian violence known as “The Troubles.”

Judge Patrick Lynch denied a defense request to throw out the charges after the prosecution closed its case. The judge said he would deliver his verdict on Oct. 23.

The former soldier has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder in the event that has come to symbolize the conflict between mainly Catholic supporters of a united Ireland and predominantly Protestant forces that wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom.

While the conflict largely ended with the 1998 Good Friday peace accord that created a system for Republican and Unionist parties to share power in Northern Ireland, tensions remain. Families of civilians killed continue to press for justice, while supporters of army veterans complain that their losses have been downplayed and that they have been unfairly targeted in investigations.

Prosecutor Louis Mably said Soldier F and his fellow troops had opened fire on unarmed civilians as they ran away.

He has been on trial in Belfast Crown Court for a month, shrouded from view behind a curtain.

Mably said that statements by fellow troops, identified only as Soldiers G and H, implicated Soldier F in the shooting despite having told different versions of their stories to authorities over several decades.

The government initially said members of a parachute regiment fired in self-defence after being attacked by gunmen and people hurling fuel bombs. A formal inquiry cleared the troops of responsibility, but a subsequent and lengthier review in 2010 found soldiers fired at unarmed civilians fleeing and then lied about it in a cover-up that lasted decades.

Then-prime minister David Cameron apologized and said the killings were “unjustified and unjustifiable.”

The 2010 findings cleared the way for the eventual prosecution of Soldier F, though delays and setbacks kept it from coming to trial until last month.

The defence argued unsuccessfully to exclude the hearsay statements of Soldiers G, who is dead, and H, who has refused to testify, because they cannot be cross-examined.

Mably argued that the soldiers, without justification, had all opened fire and intended to kill and shared responsibility for the casualties. He said the troops later lied to cover-up their roles.

Soldier F declined to answer questions when interviewed by investigators in 2016, saying he had no “reliable recollection” of the events that day but was sure he had properly discharged his duties as a soldier.

He is charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of James Wray, 22, and William McKinney, 27, and five counts of attempted murder for shooting Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon, Patrick O’Donnell and a final count for opening fire at unarmed civilians.

Brian Melley, The Associated Press