SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan and SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood have welcomed news that a barrister for the MoD and PSNI today accepted that Derry teenager Manus Deery had not been carrying a weapon when he was killed in the Bogside area of Derry in 1972 and that the shooting breached military guidelines.
Mr Durkan said: “I welcome this long overdue admission of this young boy’s innocence after years of misrepresentation endured by his family, who has consistently stood up for his good name and strived for the truth.”
SDLP Leader and Foyle MLA Colum Eastwood said: “The Deery family have shown great fortitude, dignity and determination in their long struggle for justice.
“This admission from the Ministry of Defence has exonerated Manus and vindicated his family’s decades long stand for his innocence.”