Manus Deery who was 15 when he was shot dead by a British soldier in Derry in 1972. Soldier who fired the fatal shot named earlier this week as William Glasgow
THE family of a Derry killed in cold blood by a British Army sniper 44 years ago have come face to face with the soldier who ordered the fatal shot.
The man, identified as soldier ‘B’, was giving evidence at an inquest into the death of 15-year-old Manus Deery.
He told Derry Coroner’s court that he had not received training in using firearms in built up urban areas.
Manus Deery was shot in the head in 1972 by a soldier who was named on Monday at the start of the inquest William Glasgow who has since died.
On the evening of his death, Manus Deery’s friends said the teenager was celebrating getting his first pay packet and was eating chips before he was shot.
Mr Glasgow maintained, until his death in 2001, that he fired at what appeared to be a gunman 200 metres away.
He missed and the stray bullet killed the teenager.
The Deery family have always disputed the Army’s version of events and believe the teenager was killed unlawfully.
Today, three siblings of Manus Deery were able to see soldier ‘B’ who was with William Glasgow on Derry’s walls when he fired the fatal shot.
The day after the shooting, soldier ‘B’ gave a statement in which he described spotting a man through a telescope carrying a rifle in his right hand.
He said he told Mr Glasgow there was a gunman.
Mr Glasgow also looked through the telescope and then fired at the gunman who he said had just gone into the entrance of an archway at the back of the Bogside Inn.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, and visible only to the coroner and the Deery family, Soldier ‘B’ said on Thursday that his view of the archway was very poor.
He said he was looking over William Glasgow’s shoulder when the shot was fired, heard shouting and saw people in the archway.
Soldier ‘B’ also told the court that he had never seen an SLR rifle – which he was carrying the night of the shooting – fitted with a telescope, and that they just had sights.
However when asked again if his recollection was likely to have been better the day after the shooting, he replied yes.
The inquest, presided over by High Court judge Mr Justice Adrian Colton QC, is expected to finish next week.
Tags: