PPS appeal feels like 'Amnesty by attrition', claims brother of Bloody Sunday victim

The brother of one of the 14 who was killed on Bloody Sunday in 1972 has accused the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) of attempting to bring in “amnesty by attrition”.

Liam Wray, who lost his brother James on that horrific day, was speaking after the PPS declared their intention to appeal to the Supreme Court, the High Court's quashing of the dropping of murder charges against Soldier F.

Back in March, the High Court ruled that the PPS should rethink their decision that Soldier F should not face trial for the murder of both James Wray and William McKinney.

However, the PPS have decided to contest that verdict in the United Kingdom's highest court.

The UK Government in Westminster recently announced plans to try and stop all prosecutions of British soldiers in relation to alleged offences committed during The Troubles and Liam Wray views this move by the PPS as a “delaying tactic” to get “amnesty for soldiers via the back door”.

He said: “I said it a few years ago and I said it last year as well – what we are experiencing is amnesty by attrition.

“As each year goes by and as each delay goes on, what little witnesses are what memories are there. Each delay ensures less witnesses (alive) and less clear memories.

“Our family's view that this is a back-door method for getting an amnesty (from prosecution) for Soldier F and all other soldiers.

“What has happened is of no surprise – from our past dealings with the PPS our confidence in them is zero. We believe they were not intending to pursue this (prosecution of Soldier F) with vigour.

“Who knows how long it will be before we get a date for the Supreme Court hearing? You might have other shenanigans coming into play with other legal challenges being put in before that happens.

“It is horrendous when you think about it. There's no doubt as to what happened on Bloody Sunday yet the relatives of those killed are dancing on a pinhead just to get justice. It's just the same old 'same old'.

“At the end of the day, this is about the murder of my brother and thirteen others that day. My brother was a 22-year-old man with his future ahead of him.

“He was shot twice in the back – one which brought him down and the other when he was lying down on the ground.

“If they can't deliver justice with all the evidence that is out there, then nobody should be applauding the PPS.

“At best they're incompetent. At worst, they're malicious.”

Mr Wray stated that if confidence in the PPS was already at a low citing the way in which they have gone about the case against Soldier F since day one.

^{James Wray (22) was shot twice and killed on Bloody Sunday on January 30, 1972}

He added: “Put it this way, I am not surprised. From our initial dealings with the PPS at the very start, our family's view was that they were not sincere in what they were pursuing – that was our gut feeling.

“We never had a meeting with them that we were satisfied with anything that they told us. I'll give you examples of that – in the initial proceedings that went on and the commital stages in the Derry Courthouse, the families couldn't hear the proceedings.

“We complained about that and we were given excuses along the lines of 'oh it's because of the acoustics et cetera'.

“After us hearing nothing of what went on in the intial proceedings, they would then have sat with us in a room to 'explain' to us what went on. During that, it was quite apparent that the PPS were happy for the court proceedings to take place in Belfast – which we didn't agree with.

“We put in a submission ourselves – as we had the opportunity to do that. It was only after that that the PPS put in their own submission telling us that because of 'security grounds' that the hearing couldn't be heard in Derry – that turned out to be false.

“The second example was when Soldier F got the interim anonymity. The PPS didn't challenge that and we had to hound them and ask them 'why aren't you doing this?'. But they were letting that interim order go unchallenged until we put pressure on them.

“So the Wray family's view was that at no time did we have any confidence in the sincerity of the PPS. We didn't expect that much of them – there's still a lot of political shenanigans that's going on with regard to law and justice.”

In response, the PPS replied that by making an appeal to the Supreme Court, it was necessary to take steps to seek clarity on a number of issues on how prosecutors exercise their responsibilities.

A spokeswoman said: “We recognise the disappointment felt by those families affected by the decision to discontinue proceedings against Soldier F.

“However, having considered the Divisional Court ruling carefully, the PPS believes it necessary to now take steps to seek clarity on a number of legal issues raised, via an appeal to the Supreme Court. This is required because of the potential impact of the ruling not just on the Bloody Sunday case, but on how prosecutors exercise their responsibilities in line with the Code for Prosecutors in all future cases.

“The PPS decision to pursue an appeal in this case was taken for entirely proper reasons including an assessment of the legal merits and also the wider implications of the Divisional Court’s ruling for future cases.”