A former British soldier will be tried for the murder of two men killed during the 1972 “Bloody Sunday” disturbances in Londonderry, Northern Ireland’s second-biggest city, after a judge refused to dismiss the charges against him.

A former British soldier has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering two men on Bloody Sunday more than half a century ago. In June, lawyers for the ex-paratrooper known as Soldier F applied to have the case against him dismissed ahead of his trial. Judge Mr Justice Fowler dismissed the application at Belfast Crown Court on Friday.

A former British soldier accused of two murders on Bloody Sunday has pleaded not guilty as he was formally returned for trial after an attempt to get the case thrown out was refused.

A former British soldier on Friday pleaded not guilty to murdering two men during the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre, one of the most significant events in Northern Ireland's decades-long conflict.

Soldier F is accused of murdering James Wray and William McKinney when members of the Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 civil rights protesters in 1972.