HET Review Summary Report into the death of William Francis ...

about’, and had been mimicking the actions of a gunman to ‘wind up’
the soldiers at the observation post.
HET Comment: The soldier may have been correct in making this
assumption, but the HET would argue there could have been any one of a
number of other possible explanations. This will be referred to in the
‘HET conclusions’ section of this report.
• Soldier ‘A’ refuted absolutely any suggestion he had acted out of a
sense of revenge for the shooting dead that day of the army
Sergeant. He said he was absolutely horrified that anyone would
think he would be capable of such a thing and added that nothing
could have been further from the truth. He said it had been a ‘spur
of the moment’ situation and there was nothing premeditated about
it.
• He said for all his life he has been more interested in creating
peace than being involved in conflict. He thinks about Mr
McGreanery and his family constantly, and has had many a
discussion with his wife and children about what he did and why.
He said that he hoped that the review process would bring some
resolution to the McGreanery family, and asked that the HET pass
on to them his sincere apologies and regret for what he had done.
• He said at no time did he shout or hear anyone else shout anything
such as “Hurray, we’ve got one”. He also said he was not aware of
anyone shouting anything after the shooting.
The HET also seeks to engage with the original police officers who were
in charge of the investigation. This allows for an insight into the
considerations given to lines of enquiry, and affords the review team an
opportunity to understand the context in which the original enquiry was
conducted. Unfortunately Chief Superintendent Lagan died some years
ago. The original investigating officers have been contacted by letter but
have not taken up the invitation to assist with HET reviews.
The HET will often seek to re-interview civilian witnesses where there
appear to be evidential opportunities in doing so and/or the witnesses
have not had the chance to engage previously with the judicial or
investigative process. Many of the witnesses in this case were
interviewed by officers from the RUC and ultimately gave evidence at the
27/5/2010
44