Aidan McAnespie: Ex-soldier found guilty of checkpoint shooting

Former worker David Holden has been recovered blameworthy of the manslaughter of Aidan McAnespie successful Tyrone 34 years ago.

The 53-year-old is the archetypal seasoned to beryllium convicted of a humanities offence successful Northern Ireland since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Mr McAnespie was killed by a changeable which ricocheted disconnected the roadworthy and struck him successful the back.

He was walking done a borderline crossing connected his mode to a Gaelic shot match

The justice recovered that Holden had pointed a instrumentality weapon astatine Mr McAnespie and pulled the trigger, portion assuming the weapon was not cocked.

The justice said: "That presumption should not person been made."

He besides told the tribunal that Holden had fixed a "deliberately mendacious account" of what happened.

The justice dismissed the defendant's assertion that his hands had been bedewed from cleaning duties.

The tribunal heard Mr McAnespie was unarmed.

A further proceeding to find the condemnation volition beryllium held successful the caller year.

Holden, who was serving successful the Grenadier Guards and was aged 18 astatine the time, was connected his archetypal time of checkpoint duties.

Mr McAnespie was known to information forces arsenic a "person of interest" - an IRA suspect.

Holden was initially charged with sidesplitting Mr McAnespie successful September 1998.

At that time, unit from the Director of Public Prosecutions met with the elder RUC investigating detective and a forensic firearms adept and decided to retreat the manslaughter charge.

In December 1988, Holden was subsequently charged by the Army nether Section 69 of the Army Act 1955 with the offence of "prejudice to bully bid and subject discipline'' and was fined £370.86 by his commanding officer.

During the trial, defence counsel Frank O'Donoghue KC told Mr Justice O'Hara: "My client, by the property of 19, believed that this substance was down him and helium could prosecute his ain beingness and near subject beingness successful 1990.''

The tribunal heard that successful 2008, the PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team (HET), reviewed the lawsuit of Mr McAnespie and produced a study for his family.

Seven years later, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland invited the manager of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to reappraisal the lawsuit successful airy of the HET report.

In January 2018, the PPS informed Holden that a determination had been taken to prosecute him for Mr McAnespie's manslaughter.