an army veteran in northern ireland has been found guilty of a fatal shooting during the troubles. former soldier david holden shot aidan mcanespie in the back at an army checkpoint in 1988. david holden is the first soldier to be convicted in connection with a killing from the conflict in northern ireland since the conflict itself was going on. this case goes back to 1988. aidan mcanespie was 23, he was walking through a border checkpoint on his way to a game like football match in county tyrone when he was fatally wounded. a bullet struck him in the back, and that bullet was fired by david holden. the fact that holden had been the soldier that fired the bullet was never in dispute, but what holden had claimed was that he fired the shot accidentally. he was in an army watchtower, he was in charge of a machine gun,
let s cross to belfast and to our ireland correspondent chris page. just remind us of the background to this. ., , , this. david holden is the first soldier to this. david holden is the first soldier to be this. david holden is the first soldier to be convicted - this. david holden is the first soldier to be convicted in - soldier to be convicted in connection with a killing from the conflict in northern ireland since the conflict itself was going on. this case goes back to 1988. aidan mcanespie was 23, he was walking through a border checkpoint on his way to a game like football match in county tyrone when he was fatally wounded. bullet struck in the back, and that bullet was fired by david holden. the fact that holden had been the soldier that fired the bullet was never in dispute, but what holden had claimed was that he fired the shot accidentally. he was in an army watchtower, he was in charge of a machine gun, and he
sense of the machine gun was pointing the wrong direction, he tried to put it back in the right position, his hands were wet from cleaning duties, he had just carried out, and he said his fingers slipped onto the trigger. the judge he dismissed those claims. he said in fact holden had given a deliberately false account. he said holden had pointed the gun at aidan mcanespie, aidan mcanespie heard, the court heard, been a person of interest to the military northern ireland at the time, and thejudge said that holden deliberately pulled the trigger. however, holden thought that the gun was not cocked, in other words, he didn t expect it would actually fire live rounds. thejudge said that didn t expect it would actually fire live rounds. the judge said that he found holden guilty of gross negligence, manslaughter, because he said it should have been apparent that holden was handling a lethal weapon, and therefore that a death