Bloody Sunday: ex-soldier pleads not guilty to double murder in Belfast trial

A former soldier accused of two murders on Bloody Sunday has pleaded not guilty as he was formally returned for trial after an attempt to get the case thrown out was refused.

Ex-paratrooper Soldier F, who cannot be identified, is accused of murdering James Wray and William McKinney when members of the Parachute regiment shot dead 13 civil rights protesters on the streets of Londonderry in January 1972. He is also charged with five attempted murders.

He pleaded not guilty to each of the seven counts as they were read to him during his arraignment at Belfast crown court on Friday.

The veteran sat in the witness box, with a thick floor-to-ceiling blue curtain shielding him from the main body of the court to protect his anonymity.

The arraignment took place after a defence application to have the case dismissed was refused by the judge, Mr Justice Fowler.

Soldier F’s defence team argued there was an “insufficiency of evidence” against him.

In response, the prosecution insisted he was part of a group of paratroopers that entered a courtyard in the Bogside area of Derry and opened fire on “unarmed civilians” running away from them, with each soldier firing with an intention to kill.

Soldier F remains anonymous after the judge granted a defence application for anonymity and screening provisions applied to Solider F to be extended.

In June, the army veteran’s defence team claimed he would be a “prized target” for dissident republicans if his identity was made public.