NI prosecutors consider Bloody Sunday charges after PSNI submit report
Detectives in the North investigating former British Army soldiers who were involved in the Bloody Sunday shootings have sent a report to prosecutors.
A murder probe into the deaths of 14 civil rights demonstrators shot by paratroopers in Derry in 1972 was triggered after a public inquiry found their killings were unjustified.
PSNI detectives finished interviewing a number of retired British Army soldiers in August.
They have now compiled a report and sent it to Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service (PPS), which will assess whether charges should be brought.
Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison, from the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Legacy Investigation Branch, said: "We can confirm a report has now been submitted to the PPS for consideration. The families have been informed of this development."
Thirteen people were killed by members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment on the day in Derry's Bogside. Another victim died in hospital four months later.
The murder investigation was launched in 2012. It was initiated after a British Government-commissioned inquiry, undertaken by Lord Saville, found none of the victims was posing a threat to soldiers when they were shot.
Following the publication of the Saville report in 2010, then British prime minister David Cameron apologised for the British Army's actions, branding them "unjustified and unjustifiable".
When the first ex-soldier was arrested, a petition calling for British soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday to be granted immunity from prosecution gained tens of thousands of supporters.
The other soldiers involved won a challenge at the High Court in London that prevented detectives taking them to Northern Ireland for questioning.
The seven ex-soldiers were instead interviewed in England and Wales, where they live.
