The family of a man who was shot dead by the British army in 1974 have condemned the erection in an army barracks of a memorial to the former soldier Dennis Hutchings, who died while on trial for his attempted murder.
John Pat Cunningham, a 27-year-old vulnerable man with learning difficulties who was afraid of soldiers, was killed as he ran away from a British army patrol in Benburb, Co Tyrone.
Dennis Hutchings, a former sergeant in the Life Guards who was in command of the patrol, died while on trial in Belfast last year. The 80-year-old had been suffering from chronic kidney disease requiring dialysis and contracted Covid-19.
He denied charges of attempted murder and of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to the death of Mr Cunningham.
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On Monday, the Newsletter reported a memorial stone had been unveiled and a service held for Mr Hutchings in Palace Barracks in Co Down.
“To go ahead and honour him again just beggars belief,” said Charlie Agnew, nephew of Mr Cunningham. “The memorial shows they have absolutely no concern for the wellbeing or the pastoral care of the families and the people who are left behind and it’s just another two fingers up, to be honest.”
Mr Agnew said he accepted the “right of all citizens to honour and commemorate their dead” but challenged the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) to outline the basis on which it had allowed a memorial to a soldier accused of attempting to murder a vulnerable adult to be erected on its land.
In response, a spokesman for the MoD said the Palace Barracks Memorial Garden was “not an officially recognised MoD memorial.
“Memorials are erected and maintained entirely at private expense,” he said.
Mr Agnew said he was “absolutely astonished they would let this go ahead with the cloud that hangs over Dennis Hutchings in death.
“At no time throughout the dozens of court appearances I went to, no-one has ever suggested that John Pat wasn’t murdered.
“Yet again John Pat, the most innocent of innocent people - as with all the other people in the [UK government’s new legislation to deal with] legacy - are the pawns in the middle who are just being cast aside for point scoring, for political reasons,” he said.
The trial of Mr Hutchings last year was deeply controversial, with unionist politicians and army veterans claiming Mr Hutchings had been the victim of a witch-hunt who should not have been “dragged through the courts” given his age and ill-health.
After his death, the North’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) defended its actions, saying it had been in the public interest and High Court judges had ruled the “evidence was sufficient to put Mr Hutchings on trial.”
