THE decision to drop murder charges against a former British soldier in connection with the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings in Derry must be quashed, the Belfast High Court ruled on Thursday. 

Senior judges directed the Public Prosecution Service to rethink its ruling that Soldier F should not stand trial.

Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said: “This is a rare occasion where we consider the decision should be quashed and reconsidered.”

However, separate challenges regarding a failure to bring charges relating to six other killings were dismissed by the court.

Thirteen innocent civilians were shot dead by British troops as they took part in a peaceful civil rights March in Derry more than 50 years ago.

Yet just one person, identified only as Soldier F, was charged with murder after years of state cover-up and denials.

But last July, the case against him collapsed, with the the Public Prosecution Service discontinuing proceedings over the killings of William McKinney and James Wray.

Dame Siobhan said that the decision must be overturned, while adding that “little, if anything, of direct relevance to the Soldier F prosecution has changed.”