Dennis Hutchings is due to stand trial in Belfast on 9 March 2020, despite having been given a letter in 1974. As a result, Mr Hutchings is considering an application in London for permission to proceed with a judicial review, as to the government’s uneven policies on legacy and veterans, relying upon articles 6 and 14 of the European convention on human rights.
Mr Hutchings has instructed McCue and Partners, a firm which recently succeeded in the Hyde Park bombing case, and Austen Morgan of 33 Bedford Row Chambers, author of the book 'Tony Blair and the IRA' London 2016.
This case exists in the context of the Northern Ireland troubles, during which 3,720 people died - 90 per cent at the hands of terrorists, and 10 per cent – some 361 – at the hands of the security forces. 22 years after the Belfast agreement, Mr Hutchings' proposed challenge would be to the fact that, while all the former were unlawful and only a minority of the latter were unlawful, former terrorists are walking free, while a succession of aged (and often ill) soldiers, are facing the prospect of prosecution.
The matter has been reported in the media: Daily Mail
There is also a Crowd Justice page, accessible here.