23-year-old died on way to match

Aidan McAnespie was shot as he walked through a checkpoint

Aidan McAnespie was 23 when he was shot dead by a British soldier as he walked through a border checkpoint at Aughnacloy, County Tyrone, more than 20 years ago.

The Aghaloo Gaelic Football Club member was on his way to a match when he was killed on 21 February 1988.

The soldier who shot him claimed his hands were wet, causing him to accidentally fire his machine-gun when he was moving inside a sanger.

Forensic evidence suggested the fatal shot ricocheted off the road. The soldier was charged with manslaughter, but this was later withdrawn.

He was later fined for negligent discharge of the weapon and in 1990 was given a medical discharge.

Last year, a report published by the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Historic Enquiries Team said the soldier's description of events was the "least likely version" of what happened.

It said the fatal shot had been fired from a distance of 283 metres.

"The chances of it being un-aimed or random seem so remote in the circumstances that they can be virtually disregarded," the HET said.

The day after the killing, the Irish government appointed Garda deputy commissioner Eugene Crowley to investigate the incident.

The results of the investigation were received by the Minister for Justice Gerard Collins on 8 April 1988, but have never been published.

Before his death, Mr McAnespie had claimed he had been threatened on several occasions by security force members.

In 1995, Aidan McAnespie's Gaelic Football Club was formed in Boston Massachusetts. The team wears the same colours as the Tyrone county team.

On Monday, Mr McAnespie's family welcomed Secretary of State Shaun Woodward's apology for the killing on behalf of the British government.