26-07-2025
My dying father was dragged through the courts after serving in the Troubles. It has to stop
The son of an elderly Troubles veteran has demanded Labour keep a law protecting former servicemen from prosecution.
John Hutchings warned planned changes to the Legacy Act would mean 'taking dying people through the courts' like his father had been for actions taken decades ago in the line of duty.
He urged the Government to 'stop persecuting soldiers who were trying to defend Britain', adding that 'these guys are far too old to prosecute'.
Dennis Hutchings, from Cornwall, died in 2021 aged 80 while on trial over the death of John Patrick Cunningham, a 27-year-old man with learning difficulties, in County Tyrone in 1974.
The veteran of the Life Guards regiment was determined to clear his name, despite suffering from kidney failure and requiring dialysis several times a week.
He died alone after contracting Covid in Belfast and the trial collapsed, six years after Mr Hutchings was arrested in 2015.
The 2023 Legacy Act put an end to fresh historical inquests into deaths that occurred in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, as well as civil actions.
It was launched by Boris Johnson, who said the law would 'draw a line under the Troubles', and supporters said it remedied an imbalance in the treatment of both sides of the conflict.
But Labour is pressing ahead with repealing elements of the Act that protected veterans from prosecution, arguing it is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland Secretary, has argued that the legislation cannot remain in place in its current form, as it is unpopular with victims groups and political parties there.
In his first major intervention on the proposals, Mr Hutchings said allowing further inquests would be 'ridiculous', and described to The Telegraph the toll of the trial on his father.
He described seeing his father in court in the final week of the trial: 'I thought 'he's got a week to live'. He was literally, physically drained. He was drawn, thin in the face.'
The veteran's son said: 'He would have probably done that court case, finished it, got acquitted, put his arm in the air as a celebration and then probably would have died within a few days anyway. I think he was that ill, that frail at the end.'
Mr Hutchings warned: 'You're dragging people through the courts like this. That's what they're doing. They're taking dying people through the courts. It's ridiculous.'
Dennis Hutchings was arrested at home in 2015 over the death of Mr Cunningham, who had been running away from an Army patrol when he was shot in the back and killed in 1974.
He claimed he shot high over Mr Cunningham's head just to get him to stop and that another soldier – known only as Soldier B, who had since died – told him that it was he who had fired the fatal shot.
No ballistics evidence exists to prove who fired the fatal shot. Mr Hutchings was investigated at the time and subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing.
His son recalled to The Telegraph flying back home to Britain from Belfast on the Friday before his father died, intending to travel back in time for proceedings to restart the following Monday.
'I got a phone call on the Sunday, just saying don't come back,' he said, as his father had contracted Covid. His father died in hospital the following Tuesday.
'What he should have been doing at his age of life is probably sitting at home reading his books, being in his lovely house, enjoying time with his friends, not fighting in court in Northern Ireland,' Mr Hutchings added.
One of the more controversial elements of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement was the offering of pardons to IRA terrorists in jail and comfort letters who were on the run.
The Government's Northern Ireland's veterans' tsar told The Telegraph last month that up to 70 former soldiers could face court if Labour presses ahead with its plans.
In a parliamentary debate earlier this month, Labour MPs were supportive of the plans to repeal the Act, which had been part of the manifesto.
But some backbenchers urged ministers to provide clarity about what it would be replaced with, and what protections veterans would receive under new laws.
Mr Hutchings, 61, warned that veterans who are emotionally or mentally vulnerable 'will struggle to cope', something that his defiant father was all too aware of.
'I think because he knew he was really ill, he was basically doing it for the other soldiers that were coming behind him.'
He said of his father's case: 'I don't think he thought it was going to take three or four years, I don't think he knew he was going to be so ill at the end that he was on dialysis.
'But I think originally, when we used to go to London for the demonstrations and all the other stuff, I think it gave him at his age in life something to fight for, to stay alive for.'
Dennis Hutchings was supported by Johnny Mercer, a former veterans minister, who accompanied him to Belfast and helped to enact the 2023 legislation.
The former minister and ex-Army captain spoke at the veteran's funeral, which took place on Armistice Day in 2021 and was attended by thousands of veterans from across the country.
Mr Mercer delivered a eulogy, in which he condemned 'grotesque spectacle of what happened to Dennis in a Belfast court', describing him as 'the quintessential British non-commissioned officer'.
Asked if he had a message for the Government about their plans to reverse the Act, Mr Hutchings said: 'These guys were young boys sent out there to do a very tough job.
'Most of them are fantastic guys. Stop prosecuting them and just look at the rest of the problems that this country has and try and deal with that first instead of wasting money on this. These guys are old and frail. Leave them alone.'
Dennis Hutchings had been a familiar face at veterans' protests up until his death, but with the prospect of the Legacy Act being undone, the demonstrations started again without him.
But his son said: 'I think my Dad, even though he would have been found not guilty in court, would be beside them now, still fighting for every single one of them.'
He added: 'I think he would just carry on doing that until he did pass away. I think he would be up in London, in court with the guys behind him fighting their cases as well.'
