Victim’s brother says he received death threat

The brother of one of the victims who was shot dead on Bloody Sunday has said his family has received a death threat during the trial of Soldier F.

Soldier F, who denies all charges, has been on trial at Belfast Crown Court for the murders of James Wray, 22, and William McKinney, 26.

They were among 13 people who were shot dead by the Parachute Regiment at a civil rights demonstration in the Bogside area of Londonderry.

The trial, which finished on Thursday, had been ongoing for five weeks.

Mickey McKinney said he attended every day of the trial, except on 9 October, when he met the PSNI with his brothers about the threat on social media.

“Our solicitor contacted the police and we had a meet up with them to make a statement of complaint.

“I lost a night’s sleep over it.”

A spokesperson for the PSNI said: “We do not discuss the security of individuals and no inference should be drawn from this.

“However, if we receive information that a person’s life may be at risk, we will inform them accordingly. We never ignore anything which may put an individual at risk.”

The trial has now finished and the McKinney family has said the most important thing is to prepare for the verdict which will be delivered by the judge next Thursday.