A west Belfast man has been cleared of a rioting conviction 44 years after the Ballymurphy massacre in which his brother was among 11 people shot dead by the Parachute Regiment.
Terry Laverty, 61, says he was tortured by British soldiers in 1971 during the unrest before he was found guilty of riotous behaviour and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, based only on evidence from a private in the regiment.
His case was referred back to Belfast county court by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, based on evidence that the sole witness against Laverty had retracted their evidence.
On Tuesday it was announced in court that Northern Ireland’s director of public prosecutions, Barra McGrory QC, was not resisting the appeal.
In a statement issued through the organisation Relatives For Justice, Laverty said: “This is an emotional day. I survived with horrific consequences. My family and I have struggled to get this far. I want to thank my wife and my family who have been there for me throughout the darkest of times as a result of my experiences and who are supporting me to right this wrong.
“My brother John was murdered. I owe it to my family and my brother’s memory to ensure that the lies are challenged and the truth is officially told about what really happened over those three days in August 1971. I believe that the soldier who made reference to killing ‘one Irish bastard’ was the same soldier who killed my brother John.
“My parents went to their grave without the truth being officially acknowledged and told. They had to live with the loss of their son John, and the official lies. I can still see my father standing in the public gallery of the court where I appeared after being tortured. I can’t imagine his anguish bearing up and supporting us all, with John’s body still in the morgue.”
Laverty alleges that he was stripped, beaten and made to run over broken glass barefoot by a soldier in Ballymurphy. He claims the soldier told him he had “already killed one Irish bastard and that another wouldn’t matter”.
The soldier who gave testimony in court on his rioting charges could now be charged with perjury.
Families of the 11 killed by troops in Ballymurphy in August 1971 are campaigning for a public inquiry into the mass shootings. They want to establish if some of the paratroopers who fired at unarmed civilians on the west Belfast housing estate belonged to the same unit that killed 13 people in Derry in the Bloody Sunday massacre six months later.
