A British former paratrooper was acquitted on Thursday of five counts of murder, more than a half-century after his unit killed 14 unarmed Roman Catholic civilians in Northern Ireland on Bloody Sunday, one of the deadliest days in the sectarian violence known as the Troubles. Referred to only as Soldier F because his identity is protected under court order, the former paratrooper had been charged decades after the events of Jan. 30, 1972, after the relatives of those killed pushed for a trial. The court proceedings, which took place in September, served as a painful reminder of the killings, for which David Cameron, then the British prime minister, formally apologized in 2010. Judge Patrick Lynch wrote on Thursday that he believed Soldier F had participated with three others in the killings that day in the city of Derry. Judge Lynch said the soldiers “were responsible for the deaths and woundings.
