DUP leader says Sinn Fein's response to Soldier F acquittal shows 'selective and deeply inconsistent' approach

​Gavin Robinson has hit out at the First Minster’s response to Thursday’s judgement, in which she said the verdict was “an affront to justice”.

The former paratrooper was found not guilty of committing two murders and five attempted murders on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry in 1972. He had been accused of the murders of James Wray and William McKinney, as well as the attempted murder of Michael Quinn, Patrick O’Donnell, Joseph Friel, Joe Mahon and an unknown person.

Delivering his judgment at Belfast Crown Court, Judge Patrick Lynch said the evidence presented against the veteran fell “well short” of what was required for conviction.

However, the judge said that members of the Parachute Regiment had shot dead unarmed civilians, and those involved should “hang their heads in shame”.

In an email to DUP members, Gavin Robinson said: “The not-guilty verdict in the Soldier F trial dominated the headlines. Michelle O’Neill described the outcome as ‘an affront to justice’.

“Sinn Fein speak loudly about justice when it suits them, but their concern is selective and deeply inconsistent.

“Only days earlier, Michelle O’Neill refused to agree with DUP MLA Diane Dodds that the IRA’s attempt to murder her and her husband, Nigel Dodds, in the Royal Victoria Hospital in 1995 made them innocent victims.

“Nigel and Diane were visiting their seriously ill child in intensive care when the IRA opened fire. That was an act of terrorism, pure and simple. Of course, Diane and Nigel are innocent victims of terrorism but our “First Minister For All” seemed unable to accept that.

“Whilst demanding soldiers are put in the dock, Sinn Fein’s compassion or call for justice doesn’t extend to the victims of the Enniskillen Bomb, the La Mon bombing, the Teebane murders, or the many Protestant farmers along the Fermanagh border who were systematically murdered by the IRA?

“Rather than campaigning for justice for those families, Republicans are held a Winter School to celebrate IRA man Jim Lynagh in the very community he once terrorised. That truly is an affront to justice and democracy. Lynagh was psychopath that the IRA couldn’t even control”, the East Belfast MP said.

In a social media post shortly after the verdict was announced, Ms O’Neill said: “Over 15 years ago, the then British Prime Minister publicly acknowledged the role of British soldiers on Bloody Sunday.

“Yet, not one British soldier or their military and political superiors has ever been held to account”.

The UK Government has said it is committed to “finding a way forward that acknowledges the past” in Northern Ireland following the verdicts.

Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch said that while there have been people on both sides who felt a lot of pain, she said this “should draw a line on what has been a very difficult issue”.