Ex-soldier convicted of McAnespie killing sentenced this Thursday

A FORMER British soldier convicted of the manslaughter of Aidan McAnespie 35 years ago will not now be sentenced until later this Thursday.

David Holden, 53, shot the 23-year-old as he was walking through the permanent vehicle checkpoint at Aughnacloy.

Holden was convicted of manslaughter in November last year. He is the first British army veteran to be convicted since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

On Friday at Belfast Crown Court, Holden’s sentencing was deferred by Mr Justice O’Hara to allow him more time to consider submissions from the respective legal teams.

He took pleas from both the prosecution barrister, Mr Ciaran Murphy and the defence barrister, Mr Frank O’Donoghue.

The court was told that victim impact statements had been received from surviving family members including Aidan’s siblings, Gerard, Margo, Sean and Vincent McAnespie.

Mr Murphy said the McAnespie family had suffered a ‘profound loss’ as a result of what had happened, and that the long road which it has taken to reach this stage had increased that sadness because many of those involved at the beginning, such as Aidan’s parents, Lizzie and John and sister, Eilish were no longer around.

He said that the court had concluded last November that the defendant was criminally culpable as he had taken the course of action at enormous risk and for no reason.

The court was also told that Holden had lied about the incident, given false evidence to suit himself and expressed no remorse for his actions.

Defence barrister, Frank O’Donohue, said the defendant’s culpability was predicated by the actions and omissions of others which in themselves had contributed to the fatal shooting.

He added that there was a failure on the part of the Ministry of Defence by failing to ensure that the proper checks took place, and said that when the defendant took possession of the general purpose machine gun he was in a ‘wholly unfit state’.

Mr O’Donoghue also said that while Holden had duties to the public and failed to discharge them, the Ministry of Defence had failed to discharge its duty to the defendant.