Checkpoint death report welcomed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7471825.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The family of a County Tyrone man shot dead 20 years ago has welcomed the findings of a report by the PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team.

Aidan McAnespie was shot by a soldier as he walked through a border checkpoint at Aughnacloy in 1988.

The soldier claimed that his hands were wet, causing him to accidentally fire the machine-gun when he was moving inside a sanger.

The report called this the "least likely version" of what happened.

The 24-year-old Aughnacloy man had just passed through the border checkpoint in the village on his way to a Gaelic football match when he was hit by a bullet.

Forensic evidence suggested the fatal shot ricocheted off the road.

The soldier was charged with manslaughter, but this was later withdrawn.

Mr McAnespie's niece, Una McCabe, said the family will continue to search for the truth.

"The search will continue to go on and continue," she said.

"That involves asking the Irish government to release the information on the whole Crowley Report (an investigation by Deputy Garda Commissioner Crowley into the shooting) to the family and going back to the Ministry of Defence to ask what actually did happen."

The MoD said it had co-operated with the HET inquiry and understands that this did not uncover any new evidence that would warrant further investigation.