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Feb 12th, 1997
Northern Ireland shootings: The last soldier murdered
For the last 12 years the family of Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick had cause to hope that at least no one else would have to endure what they had been through.
Shot by a sniper as he manned a checkpoint in Bessbrook, south Armagh, in February 1997 he held the tragic distinction of being the last British soldier to be murdered by paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. Until now.
Within months of his killing, the Provisional IRA announced its second ceasefire, paving the way for the Good Friday Agreement and the road toward arms decommissioning.
In the intervening years his death has been the subject of intense controversy, amid claims that it could have been prevented and that he was deliberately sacrificed to save an informer.
But his parents, John and Rita, from Underwood, Notts, have been staunch supporters of the peace process, even facing criticism for doing so.
That support has been tested to the limit. When Bernard McGinn was convicted of the killing in 1999 he was sentenced to a total of 490 years in prison.
He had been found guilty of murdering a total of three soldiers and making the London Docklands bomb among other terrorist charges.
He was out of prison sixteen months later, released under the Good Friday Agreement. His conviction was later quashed when the Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled that he had not been properly cautioned when he was arrested.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/northernireland/4958589/Northern-Ireland-shootings-The-last-soldier-murdered.html
Northern Ireland shootings: The last soldier murdered
For the last 12 years the family of Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick had cause to hope that at least no one else would have to endure what they had been through.
Shot by a sniper as he manned a checkpoint in Bessbrook, south Armagh, in February 1997 he held the tragic distinction of being the last British soldier to be murdered by paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. Until now.
Within months of his killing, the Provisional IRA announced its second ceasefire, paving the way for the Good Friday Agreement and the road toward arms decommissioning.
In the intervening years his death has been the subject of intense controversy, amid claims that it could have been prevented and that he was deliberately sacrificed to save an informer.
But his parents, John and Rita, from Underwood, Notts, have been staunch supporters of the peace process, even facing criticism for doing so.
That support has been tested to the limit. When Bernard McGinn was convicted of the killing in 1999 he was sentenced to a total of 490 years in prison.
He had been found guilty of murdering a total of three soldiers and making the London Docklands bomb among other terrorist charges.
He was out of prison sixteen months later, released under the Good Friday Agreement. His conviction was later quashed when the Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled that he had not been properly cautioned when he was arrested.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/northernireland/4958589/Northern-Ireland-shootings-The-last-soldier-murdered.html
