A Belfast teenager shot dead by British soldiers in 1975 was “entirely innocent”, a coroner has ruled.
A fresh inquest into the death of Leo Norney, 17, concluded with the finding that he was shot dead by Lance Corporal John Ross MacKay.
The former Black Watch soldier died in 2015.
Coroner Patrick McGurgan found it was likely Mr Norney’s killing was a “deliberate act”, and that Mr MacKay had expressed his intention to “waste” someone on September 13, 1975.
He said the other soldiers with Mr MacKay shot into a Mini car and gave false accounts of what happened out of fear of him to cover up what happened.
Read more:
Leo Norney's family say his reputation has been restored by ruling
Frustrations voiced over Leo Norney inquest delay
He was also critical of the Ministry of Defence, saying Mr MacKay had been convicted of a violent offence and served time in prison prior to the killing of Mr Norney, adding the soldier posed a risk to the public.
“I am satisfied that the deceased Leo Norney was an innocent young man who happened to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time walking home from a night out and was shot dead by Lance Corporal MacKay, who planned to waste someone that very evening and expressed his thought to others in the patrol,” he said.
Counsel for the Norney family Fiona Doherty KC described the findings as “devastating” and thanked the coroner.
The original inquest into Mr Norney’s death in 1976 returned an open verdict.
