Daniel Hegarty: Soldier B name revealed to bereaved family

Margaret Brady, one of Daniel’s sisters, is pursuing a civil action against the MoD over the alleged unlawful killing of her brother.

She said hearing the soldier’s name for the first time over the phone from her solicitor, Desmond Doherty, was a surreal and emotional moment.

“When I heard his name for the first time, I stopped and I didn’t speak for a couple of seconds and then I broke down and cried, ” Ms Brady told BBC News NI.

“Now, I can say his name now as many times as I want and all the [court] documents are going to be changed and his name is going to be on them.”

She said revealing the soldier’s name after 52 years is “a significant step” for their family.

Both Margaret and her sister Catherine admitted there was an element of sadness in that their parents and their sister, Philomena, died before knowing his identity.

Ms Brady reiterated that their family wished no ill-will towards the deceased soldier or his family and said that by now knowing the name it “adds a human element to the entirety of the tragic events surrounding the death of Daniel”.

“We have never got over Daniel’s death,” she said.

Ms Brady said Daniel’s birthday is next week and they will do what they do every year, visit his grave as a family and place flowers on his headstone.

“We miss him every day and his death wrecked our family, we never really recovered from it,” she said.