Four veterans facing charges over Belfast shootings seek review as three of them are unfit for trial process
Four former soldiers charged over shootings in Belfast more than 50 years ago have sought a review of the decision to prosecute them, a court heard today.
Requests were made on behalf of the British Army veterans following medical assessments that three of them are unfit for the first stage in a trial process.
The ex-servicemen face charges related to incidents at the height of the Troubles.
One of them, referred to as Soldier F, is accused of the murder of Patrick McVeigh at the height of the Troubles.
He is also being prosecuted for the attempted murder of four other people during the same incident on May 13, 1972.
Three of his former military colleagues, identified only as Soldiers B, C and D, are jointly charged with attempting to murder another two men in a separate incident a day earlier.
The defendants were part of an undercover Army unit known as the Military Reaction Force which operated in Belfast at the time.
Members of the MRF used unmarked cars to patrol parts of the city before the outfit was disbanded the following year.
Mr McVeigh, a father of six, was shot at the junction of Finaghy Road North and Riverdale Park South.
He had reportedly stopped to speak to those manning a civilian checkpoint when the gunfire began.
Four other men were shot and wounded in the incident.
The previous day’s shooting occurred at Slievegallion Drive in west Belfast.
Decisions were taken to charge the former soldiers after the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) examined evidence gathered in a police investigation.
It emerged previously that medical reports prepared for Soldiers C, D and F assessed them as unfit to take part in a preliminary enquiry to have them returned for trial.
At Belfast Magistrates’ Court today counsel for the trio disclosed: “We have also written to the PPS asking them to review the decision to prosecute in relation to those three.”
A similar request is understood to have been made on behalf of Soldier B.
A prosecution lawyer said more detailed medical reports were being sought in response to the move.
The PPS also plans to obtain its own expert report on the defendants’ capacity to answer statutory questions.
Adjourning proceedings until next month, District Judge Steven Keown again suggested an alternative legal method could be explored in a bid to advance the case.
He said: “You have got elderly defendants and medical evidence which clearly suggests things are not getting better, and time is of the essence.
“I do think serious consideration should be given to the voluntary bill… moving the case to the Crown Court at an earlier stage where it is in a better place to assess fitness to stand trial.