AFP/Belfast
A man jailed for the murder of two young British soldiers in Northern Ireland must face a retrial after his convictions were quashed, Belfast’s court of appeal ruled yesterday.
Brian Shivers was sentenced to 25 years in prison last February for killing the soldiers, who were shot dead in 2009 outside their barracks in Antrim in an attack claimed by dissident republicans opposing British rule.
But the appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the verdict was unsafe after Shivers, 47, maintained his innocence and fought his convictions.
Shivers was originally found guilty of setting fire to the getaway car used in the attack at the Massereene barracks, but the court ruled that this was not sufficient proof that he was guilty of murder as a secondary party.
DNA analysis had established a link to matches found in the partially burnt-out Vauxhall Cavalier used by the gunmen.
But Shivers’ lawyers argued that it was legally impossible for him to be convicted of murder because there was no criminal act prior to the murder.
Three appeal court judges said yesterday that it was in the public interest for Shivers, who is terminally ill with cystic fibrosis, to face a retrial on all counts.
Along with the double murder he was convicted of six counts of attempted murder and one of possessing firearms with intent to endanger life.
English soldiers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, were gunned down at the gates of the barracks in March 2009 as they collected a pizza delivery. The republican Real IRA group claimed responsibility for the shooting.
Shivers’s co-accused, Colin Duffy, a high-profile republican, was acquitted of all charges, including the two murders. Northern Ireland’s three decades of sectarian conflict, known as The Troubles, came to an end with a 1998 peace agreement, although sporadic bomb threats and killings by hardline republicans continue.