Aidan McAnespie: David Holden 'a scared young man' during interview

Aidan McAnespie was hit in the back by a bullet as he walked through a checkpoint in 1988

Army veteran David Holden was "a scared young man" during a police interview after a fatal shooting 34 years ago, a retired detective has told a court.

Mr Holden, 52, is accused of the manslaughter of Aiden McAnespie, 23, in Aughnacloy, County Tyrone, in 1988.

The former detective recalled his interview with Mr Holden, who was 18 at the time.

He said he remembered the defendant being "frightened" and "shocked by what had taken place".

The witness told Belfast Crown Court: "He was not loud or bumptious in any sense."

He agreed with Mr Holden's lawyer that the defendant had been consistent in stating he had accidentally squeezed the trigger of the machine gun he was manning.

Mr McAnespie, who was 23, was fatally wounded after walking through a checkpoint on his way to a GAA match in 1988.

He was about 300m away from where the shot was fired.

During cross-examination, Mr Holden's lawyer read out parts of his client's interviews made in the days after the shooting.

Mr McAnespie was walking through a border checkpoint near Aughnacloy, County Tyrone

"He claimed the weapon was left in the cocked position by some of the other soldiers who had handled it during the morning," the lawyer told the court.

"He denied cocking it himself or aiming it at (Mr) McAnespie, whom he knew to be a suspected terrorist.

"He was frank with you that he had squeezed the trigger, but he maintained he was not responsible for cocking the weapon."

The retired officer agreed with the lawyer that Mr Holden never deviated from his explanation and that he had assisted police with their investigation fully.

Mr Holden, whose address has been given as Chancery House, Great Victoria Street, Belfast, was at the time serving as a member of the Grenadier Guards.

The case is being heard by Mr Justice O'Hara without a jury.

The trial continues.