A FORMER British paratrooper who was the only soldier ever charged in the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre in Northern Ireland was cleared of murder today.

The verdict was a blow to families of victims who have spent more than half a century seeking justice.

Judge Patrick Lynch ruled at Belfast Crown Court that prosecutors failed to prove that the veteran identified only as “Soldier F” had opened fire on unarmed civilians who were running to safety.

Soldier F had pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder for the deaths of James Wray and William McKinney and five counts of attempted murder for the shootings of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon, Patrick O’Donnell and for opening fire at unarmed civilians.

The judge in the non-jury trial said that the evidence presented against the veteran fell well short of what was required for conviction.

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill said: “The continued denial of justice for the Bloody Sunday families is deeply disappointing.

“Fifty-three years ago, the British Army indiscriminately murdered civilians on the streets of Derry. More than 15 years ago, the then British Prime Minister publicly acknowledged the role of British soldiers on Bloody Sunday.

“Yet not one British soldier or their military and political superiors has ever been held to account,” she said, calling it an “affront to justice.”

Prosecutors said that he fired at fleeing demonstrators on January 20 1972 in Derry, when 13 people were killed and 15 others were wounded in the deadliest shooting of “The Troubles.”

Soldier F didn’t testify in his defence and his lawyer presented no evidence.

A formal inquiry cleared the troops of responsibility, but a subsequent and lengthier review in 2010 found soldiers shot unarmed civilians fleeing and then lied in a cover-up that lasted decades.

Then prime minister David Cameron apologised and said that the killings were “unjustified and unjustifiable.”