Shot man was innocent

41-year-old William McGreanery was shot dead by a soldier in Bligh's Lane on September 14, 1971. The soldier, who fired from inside a fortified army position claimed the victim had been aiming a rifle at the military position.

However, the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) have found " that he was not carrying a firearm and he posed no threat to the soldiers."

Also, a report by the city's top policeman at the time, Chief Superintendent Frank Lagan said that the soldier responsible should have been charged with murder. The soldier was a member of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards.

The investigation also revealed that Soldier 'A' was never prosecuted on the advice of the attorney general, who stated: "whether he acted wrongly or not, the soldier at all times was acting in the course of his duty."

The HET report says that the soldier still sticks to his original version of the events, but it continues: "He does accept however, that he made a mistake, albeit an honest one."

The nephew and niece of Mr McGreanery, Billy McGreanery and Majorie Roddy said engaging with the HET was a "difficult and painful process."

SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan responded to the findings of the HET report on the killing and concentrated on the revelation that then Attorney General Sir Basil Kelly held the view that soldiers were effectively immune from prosecution for murder for killings carried out while on duty.

Speaking from Dublin, Mark Durkan MP MLA said: "Many people suspected that these attitudes and motivations existed at the heart of the system. Nonetheless, it is shocking to see them expressed in such explicit terms.

"A lot of the 'anything goes' culture that seemed to go with security forces decisions and practices appear now to flow from this. It was frankly an amazing and appalling attitude.

"I am happy to take up the McGreanery family's request to pursue this matter further. I am meeting An Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD this afternoon and I will present him with a copy of the HET report. I will also be seeking to register and record these findings in Parliamentary terms at Westminster and secure the redress that the McGreanery family deserves."