The controversy surrounding the government’s decision to spend more than £4 million on the legal defence of Soldier F—an ex-paratrooper acquitted of murder and attempted murder charges stemming from Bloody Sunday—has reignited deep divisions in Northern Ireland. The verdict, delivered earlier in October 2025, found Soldier F not guilty of two murders and five attempted murders during one of the most infamous days in the region’s history: January 30, 1972, when thirteen people were shot dead and at least fifteen others wounded at a civil rights march in Derry’s Bogside area.
The scale of public spending, revealed to be £4.3 million and still climbing, has drawn sharp criticism and accusations of double standards, especially from families of the victims and local politicians. Yet it has also prompted a robust defence from government officials and veterans’ advocates, who argue the state owed a duty of care to a soldier it trained, deployed, and ultimately prosecuted.
David Johnstone, Northern Ireland’s veterans commissioner, was forthright about the backlash. According to BBC News, Johnstone described the reaction as “a real double standard,” pointing out that “hundreds of millions of pounds can be spent investigating incidences, like the Saville inquiry, yet when a man who is charged with murder has a proper standard legal defence, people are complaining about it.” He went further, stating, “It is incredulous that there is this level of point scoring following the trial.” Johnstone emphasized the government’s responsibility: “They recruited him, trained him and sent him to Londonderry, they had a duty of care to provide the legal defence process.”
The legal proceedings against Soldier F have stretched over six and a half years, a duration Johnstone said made the high cost unsurprising. The case was heard by a judge alone at Belfast Crown Court over five weeks, with Soldier F’s identity protected throughout by a court order. Notably, he was the only military veteran prosecuted out of 18 former soldiers reported to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) after a sweeping police investigation that followed the Saville Inquiry.
The Saville Inquiry itself, which ran for twelve years until 2010, cost £191 million—with £33 million spent by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on legal fees alone. According to BBC, the lead law firm representing most Bloody Sunday families, Madden and Finucane, received almost £12 million for their work. These figures underscore the extraordinary legal and financial complexities that have followed Bloody Sunday over the decades.
Yet for many in Derry, the government’s outlay on Soldier F’s defence is a bitter pill. Foyle MP Colum Eastwood, who described the spending as “sickening,” told BBC Radio Foyle that the contrast with the support offered to victims’ families was stark. “We have to remember during this whole trial the families had to make their own way to Belfast,” Eastwood said. “They had no support at all from the government. But this guy, who’s been a protected species for 53 years, is getting millions of our money spent on him.”
Eastwood, who obtained the legal cost figures through a parliamentary question, believes the final bill will be even higher once all expenses are accounted for. He argued that Soldier F should not have received such extensive public funding: “Everybody has the same problem if they are charged with a significant and serious crime, they have to find the money to defend themselves. If he was entitled to legal aid he could have applied for legal aid, but the point is our taxpayers’ money is being spent to protect somebody who, in my view and the taxpayers of Derry, shouldn’t be protected by the British government.”
Families of those killed on Bloody Sunday have voiced deep hurt and frustration. Mickey McKinney, whose brother William was among the dead, called the government’s spending “very insulting” and “hurtful.” He told BBC News, “This flies in the face of David Cameron’s apology, it’s very hurtful.” McKinney noted that the families “never had a penny, we never asked for a penny, we haven’t received anything, we travelled to Belfast mostly on the train.”
Tony Doherty, whose father Paddy was also killed that day, said the legal fees had caused “a lot of anger and disgust among the families.” In his words, “It has angered not only the families, but I would argue the whole of the city of Derry, the people of Derry.” Doherty, himself a taxpayer, added, “It’s ironic to think my taxes have gone in some way to sustaining this man’s defence at the high court.” He labeled the spending “a scandalous misuse of public funds.”
On the other side of the debate, Ulster Unionist Party assembly member Doug Beattie defended the government’s actions, telling BBC News NI that the Ministry of Defence was right to support Soldier F’s legal defence. He acknowledged, “This is a huge amount of money, as was the £192 million spent on the Saville Inquiry.” Beattie argued, “This is an employer putting in defence of an employee, an employee they sent to Northern Ireland knowing full rightly that they had not done all that they should have done to make sure that he was trained properly for deploying to that type of environment.” He pointedly remarked, “The only people who benefited from any of this has been the lawyers.”
Soldier F’s prosecution was a rare event. Of the 18 former soldiers reported to the PPS following the Saville Inquiry, he was the only one charged. The five attempted murder charges related to the shootings of teenagers Joe Mahon (16) and Michael Quinn (17), as well as Joseph Friel (20), Patrick O’Donnell (41), and an unknown person. The case’s history was convoluted: after the initial decision to prosecute in 2019, the case was dropped two years later following the collapse of another veterans’ trial, only to be revived in 2022 after a legal challenge.
Johnstone, the veterans commissioner, also referenced the release of prisoners after the Good Friday Agreement, noting, “Those shouting the loudest now about justice, had no issues with terrorists being let out of jail, without serving their natural justice.” He added that veterans “would not stand for being blamed for the Troubles” when, in his view, “90% of the killings were done by terrorists.”
The debate over how public money is spent on justice, legacy, and accountability in Northern Ireland is far from settled. The case of Soldier F has exposed raw wounds, competing narratives, and the ongoing challenge of reconciling the past with the demands of the present. As legal bills continue to mount and emotions run high, the legacy of Bloody Sunday—and the question of who pays for justice—remains as contentious as ever.
