BELFAST: A court in Northern Ireland has found a former British soldier guilty of killing a man at a border checkpoint during the period of sectarian violence in the province known as “The Troubles”.
David Holden, 53, was convicted of manslaughter at Belfast Crown Court over the 1988 killing of Aidan McAnespie, 23, who was shot in the back as he crossed the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Friday’s conviction is the first of former British military personnel for historic offences in Northern Ireland during the Troubles – decades of communal violence in the region over British occupation – since the signing of 1998 peace accords.
Such prosecutions are deeply divisive in Northern Ireland where the legacy of the violent conflict – which first escalated widely in the 1960s – continues to cast a long shadow. –Agencies
