UK veterans cleared as 1972 IRA killing case collapses

Two former British soldiers have been acquitted of murdering IRA leader Joe McCann in Belfast, after trial collapses within days of starting.

Two former British paratroopers accused of the 1972 murder of an Official IRA leader in Belfast have been formally acquitted after the veterans’ trial collapsed within days of starting. The veterans of the Parachute Regiment – made anonymous by court order – were formally cleared on Tuesday at Belfast Crown Court of the shooting of Official Irish Republican Army (IRA) battalion leader Joe McCann. McCann, 24, was evading arrest when he was shot by paratroopers in the Markets area of Belfast in April 1972 at the height of the conflict known as “The Troubles”, when soldiers patrolled streets of the British-ruled province amid fierce sectarian conflict.