In a significant ruling at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Patrick Lynch determined that prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence to prove the guilt of a veteran identified only as “Soldier F.” The case involved allegations that Soldier F had fired on unarmed civilians as they fled for safety.

Soldier F, who faced charges related to the tragic events of January 20, 1972, had entered a plea of not guilty to two murder charges in connection with the deaths of James Wray, aged 22, and William McKinney, aged 27. Additionally, he was accused of five counts of attempted murder involving Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon, Patrick O’Donnell, and others who were reportedly targeted during the chaos.

In this nonjury trial, Judge Lynch expressed that the evidence furnished by prosecutors was insufficient to meet the threshold required for a conviction. This outcome was particularly disheartening for the families of the victims, who have tirelessly pursued justice for over five decades.

The former lance corporal faced allegations that he had opened fire on demonstrators during a protest in Londonderry, also referred to as Derry. This incident, which resulted in the deaths of 13 individuals and injuries to 15 others, stands as one of the deadliest episodes of “The Troubles,” a tumultuous period in Northern Ireland’s history.

The verdict underscores the challenges in securing convictions in historic cases where evidence may be limited or lacking, leaving many victims’ families still seeking closure.

Prosecutors said that he fired at fleeing demonstrators on January 20, 1972 in Londonderry, also known as Derry, when 13 people were killed and 15 others were wounded in the deadliest shooting of the period known as “The Troubles”.

The event has come to symbolise the conflict between mainly Catholic supporters of a united Ireland and predominantly Protestant forces that wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom.

The killings were a source of shame for a British government that had initially claimed that members of a parachute regiment fired in self-defense after being attacked by gunmen and people hurling firebombs.

While the violence largely ended with the 1998 Good Friday peace accord, tensions remain.

Families of civilians killed continue to press for justice, while supporters of army veterans complain that their losses have been downplayed and that they have been unfairly targeted in investigations.

Soldier F, who was shrouded from view in court by a curtain throughout the five-week trial, didn’t testify in his defence and his lawyer presented no evidence.

The soldier told police during a 2016 interview that he had no “reliable recollection” of the events that day, but was sure he had properly discharged his duties as a soldier.

Defence lawyer Mark Mulholland attacked the prosecution’s case as “fundamentally flawed and weak” for relying on soldiers he dubbed “fabricators and liars” and the fading memories of survivors who scrambled to avoid live gunfire that some mistakenly thought were rounds of rubber bullets.

Surviving witnesses spoke of the confusion, chaos and terror as soldiers opened fire and bodies began falling after a large civil rights march through the city.

The prosecution relied on statements by two of Soldier F’s comrades — Soldier G, who is dead, and Soldier H, who refused to testify.

The defence tried unsuccessfully to exclude the hearsay statements, because they couldn’t be cross-examined.

Prosecutor Louis Mably argued that the soldiers, without justification, had all opened fire, intending to kill, and thus shared responsibility for the casualties.

A formal inquiry cleared the troops of responsibility, but a subsequent and lengthier review in 2010 found soldiers shot unarmed civilians fleeing and then lied in a cover-up that lasted for decades.

Then prime minister David Cameron apologised and said that the killings were “unjustified and unjustifiable”.

The 2010 findings cleared the way for the eventual prosecution of Soldier F, though delays and setbacks kept it from coming to trial until last month.