A Chelsea Pensioner is being hounded by investigators over his role in a firefight in Northern Ireland more than four decades ago.
The former Royal Marine was quizzed for four hours by Northern Ireland officers at the famous Royal Hospital Chelsea over the death of an IRA terrorist in an Army ambush in Belfast in July 1972.
The veteran, who is now 75, fired at the armed man in the heat of a battle as ‘bullets rained down in all directions’.
He’s not the only one:
Two ex-paratroopers are being prosecuted for murder over the killing of an IRA commander more than 40 years ago. The former soldiers, who had twice been assured they would not be hauled before the courts for gunning down Joe McCann, are the surviving members of the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment patrol that opened fire in 1972. The men, now 67 and 65, are expected to stand trial next year for the Belfast killing – and face jail if convicted. The Police Service of Northern Ireland’s taxpayer-funded Legacy Investigation Branch is set to re-open 238 ‘fatal incidents’, which led to 302 deaths.
Add this to prosecutions for soldiers daring to kill Taliban, and what you have is something very, very troubling. An army that has no rules of engagement, that is afraid to open fire on the enemy for fear of prosecutions decades in the future. These men were doing what we paid them to do – kill the enemy. And they did it. The IRA was the enemy and had no compunction about killing innocent civilians as well as members of the armed forces. Yet the army wasn’t supposed to shoot back? Legacy investigation? Fucking witch hunt, more like.
What have we come to? And who, in their right mind, will want to serve in the armed forces?
No prosecutions of murdering, Phenian scum though.
Well, no, because Good Friday Agreement…
Nothing whatsoever good about it…
Oh, I dunno. Whether the terms were good or bad, the result was stability in Northern Ireland. Having visited fairly frequently for both work and leisure in the past few years, the place is fairly normal these days – something that couldn’t be said in the seventies. One of the outcomes of peace is that the locals see themselves as Northern Irish rather than Irish.
I had no problem with doing deals with the enemy. I have a huge problem with dragging our soldiers through the courts while letting terrorists off Scot free. That’s a fucking disgrace.
Think you got in first, about to run this. As they get old and worn out, like missing Sea Gladiators, they become subject to all this buffeting.
It used to be said that there is no more honourable profession than in the service of the Crown. Whether can still be held today is now in doubt. Who, in their right mind would volunteer to join the British Army, Royal Navy, or RAF today when there is the possibility of being prosecuted years down the line. The chief prosecutor in Northern Ireland was a mouthpiece for the IRA so there is no way I can be convinced this is an impartial investigation. Once the PSNI was formed from the RUC, it soon became obvious of the calibre and loyalties of those joining. I served in the British Army for 24 years, serving in Borneo and Aden as well as several tours in Northern Ireland and am now wondering what language is going to be used if these people knock on my door. That my letters to various members of this government, and those in power at the time, have not even been acknowledged shows the disinterest by the authorities. They are a disgrace.
Yes, they are. It’s not often I use the word outrage, but this news really does outrage me.
Yes indeed. And when if there is serious industrial unrest, as there looks likely to be, what do we say to soldier: We want you to break this strike, if Labour get in they’ll likely prosecute you and if they don’t we will. Carry on.
@Penseivat
“The chief prosecutor in Northern Ireland was a mouthpiece for the IRA so there is no way I can be convinced this is an impartial investigation. Once the PSNI was formed from the RUC, it soon became obvious of the calibre and loyalties of those joining.”
Agree on both points. Blair’s treachery in abolishing the RUC – the most loyal and bravest police Force in the UK – should go down in history as another example of why he was the worst UK PM in C20. He did more to ruin and dis-unite UK than any predecessor.
“I served in the British Army for 24 years, serving in Borneo and Aden as well as several tours in Northern Ireland and am now wondering what language is going to be used if these people knock on my door.”
You have my immense thanks and respect. Many of my relatives serve or have served in RUC, UDR, British Army.
If the Gestapo knock on your door, you only say two words: “No comment”.
“That my letters to various members of this government, and those in power at the time, have not even been acknowledged shows the disinterest by the authorities. They are a disgrace.”
Cameron, May et al pretend to support military and repeatedly say the witch-hunts will end – platitudes. They see you as “thick squaddies” as you don’t have an Oxbridge PPE.
Their reprehensible behaviour will come back to haunt them.
.
@LR – I’ve omitted most of my thoughts as they may be too strong. Outrage doesn’t come close to the anger I have.
I live in NZ, but couldn’t a direct appeal be made to their CO? And who is that now? and who was it then?