GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER

Today the families of those killed on Bloody Sunday and the family of murdered 15-year-old Daniel Hegarty were told that the British Soldiers responsible would no longer be prosecuted.

Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly has said the decision by the Public Prosecution Service not to proceed with prosecutions adds insult to injury to the families of the victims and is a bad day for justice.

Gerry Kelly said:

“Today's announcement that the prosecutions of former British soldiers in relation to the Bloody Sunday massacre and the murder of a child Daniel Hegarty will not go ahead is outrageous and an insult to the families of those killed.

"The families of the 14 unarmed civilians massacred by British soldiers in Derry that day and the family of Daniel Hegarty have campaigned for justice for almost 50 years with dignity and determination.

“These decisions mean that the British soldiers who gunned down these unarmed Irish civilians will never be held to account.

“The message is clear, British state forces who gunned down peaceful protestors and a child in Derry acted with impunity and are being assisted by the state to get away with murder.

“This decision follows a sustained campaign by the British Tory government to lean on the judicial process with accusations that the Public Prosecution Service was engaged in vexatious prosecutions.

“It comes at a time when the British government is attempting to rewrite the Stormont House Agreement to put its state forces, agents and proxies beyond the law.

“This is the outworking of the proposal for amnesty for British state forces

“That is unacceptable and flies in the face of justice.

"We will continue to stand by the Bloody Sunday and Hegarty families and all those victims of British state violence and cover-up in their search for truth and justice.