Almost 50 years after Bloody Sunday prosecutors in Northern Ireland announced a case review, nine more British veterans could face murder and attempted murder charges.
The Parachute Regiment soldiers heard seven months ago that they would not face prosecution over the deaths of 14 civil rights marchers after the shooting in the Bogside area of Londonderry.
But lawyers acting on behalf of relatives whose family members were killed or wounded on January 30, 1972, have handed dossier to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).
Youths confront British soldiers minutes before paratroopers opened fire killing 14 civilians on what became known as Bloody Sunday
British troops search civilians on the day of the Bloody Sunday massacre, January 30, 1972
The 149-page document demands that Northern Ireland’s service overturn its original decision, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Thirteen were killed outright on the day, but one more died later of injuries sustained on Bloody Sunday.
One veteran – who is identified as Soldier F – was the only person charged over the mass shooting.
But the PPS is now reviewing the files relating to the deaths of civilians in the Troubles.
Madden and Finucane Solicitors have lodged a legal challenge to the PPS in a bid to have the soldiers, who cannot be named, being charged.
Lawyers are also asking for three further murder charges and two attempted murder charges be brought against Soldier F.
Families of those who died on Bloody Sunday march this morning through the Bogside in Londonderry, Northern Ireland
The ex-serviceman is a grandfather in his 70s who has already been charged with murdering two protesters.
Other suspects were informed in writing that no charges will be brought, but the PPS has agreed to a review.
A spokesman for the PPS said it was in a position to progress with reviews after it received detailed legal submissions.
It is unlikely that a formal announcement will be made until next year. If the PPS refuses to overturn its original decision, the case goes to court for a judicial review.
An ex-paratrooper who has faced a possible attempted murder charge says that veterans in their 60s and 70s now face further distress.
Sergeant O, 77, was suspected of attempted murder after he dislodged masonry that may have injured civilian protesters when he fired into the air.
He said it was going to be ‘incredibly upsetting’ for those who thought that they had been cleared but now face an ‘agonising’ process.
The pensioner is not among those who face being charged, but he called on the prime minister to stop the review.
Philip Barden, a partner of Devonshires law firm, which is representing 10 Bloody Sunder soldiers said their clients were being put through ‘stress’ by a ‘completely unfair system’.
Seventeen veterans faced a criminal inquiry back in 2012 after a 12-year public inquiry found that none of those shot by soldiers were armed.
It also found that soldiers had ‘knowingly put forward false accounts to justify their firing’.
Victims’ lawyers complained that the PPS erred in law by only bringing charges against Soldier F and concluding that there was no reasonable prospect of convicting any of the others under investigation.
The legal team claims statements given by soldiers to the Royal Military Police should be admissible as evidence along with testimony handed to a March 1972 tribunal.
In March the PPS said that soldiers’ own accounts would be ruled inadmissible in court.
Victims have the right to have PPS decisions reviewed but it is unusual for the service to overturn its own decisions.
Last year it overturned nine out of 186 cases, which equates to five per cent of those it handled.
