A FORMER British soldier has been charged with manslaughter by gross negligence over the killing of Aidan McAnespie at a border checkpoint in Northern Ireland in 1988.
The case came under review by the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland in 2016.
David Jonathan Holden, 48, was initially charged with manslaughter but the charge was dropped in 1990.
23-year-old Aidan McAnespie was killed in Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone in February 1988.
He had been on his way to a football match at his local GAA club when he was shot by the Grenadier Guardsman who was 18 at the time.
He was killed by one of three bullets fired from a machine gun.
The soldier claimed his hands were wet and his finger slipped on the trigger of his machine gun.
He was fined for negligent discharge of his weapon and medically discharged from the Army.
The family of Aidan McAnespie said, via their lawyers, that they welcomed the decision to prosecute.
