// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Man loses appeal against murder conviction of British soldier
John McDevitt was jailed for more than 10 years after he was found guilty of the murder of Private Neil Clarke in Londonderry on Easter Monday in 1984
A man who was jailed for the murder of a British soldier in Londonderry more than 40 years ago has had his appeal against his conviction dismissed.
John McDevitt, 61, claimed he was coerced by police officers using oppressive interview techniques into making a false confession to the killing of Private Neil Clarke on Easter Monday in 1984.
Pte Clarke was killed after he exited a military Land Rover that had been attacked with petrol bombs in the Bishop Street area of Derry.
The appeal, which was heard by Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan, Justice Adrian Colton and Justice Stephen Fowler, was rejected after the Court of Appeal in Belfast found that it "must fail on its facts."
McDevitt spent more than 10 years in prison after he was found guilty of Pte Clarke's murder.
In October 2024 the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred McDevitt's murder conviction to Northern Ireland's Court of Appeal following concerns about the credibility of police witnesses.
In April 2024, a further four convictions were then later referred to the Court of Appeal.
The Lady Chief Justice said it was the prosecution's case that McDevitt was an "aider and abettor" who had driven the gunman to and from the scene of the shooting.
She said that during police interviews McDevitt "had provided repeated and detailed false accounts without any pressure being applied on him of his own accord".