British soldier Lee Clegg (30) was acquitted yesterday of murdering Belfast teenager Karen Reilly, but was called a liar in the process.
Clegg was, however, convicted of attempting to wound Martin Peake, who was also shot dead when the paratrooper and his patrol opened fire on the stolen Vauxhall Astra car he was driving and in which 18-year-old Ms Reilly was a passenger.
In his 189-page judgment, Mr Justice Kerr at Belfast Crown Court continually dismissed Clegg's version of the shooting on September 30th, 1990 as "untruthful and incapable of belief".
He said Clegg's claims of where he was when he opened fire on the car as it sped along the Glen Road in west Belfast "were a farrago of untruths, born out of the desperate need to distance himself as much as possible from Aindow".
Clegg had claimed that he opened fire after he had seen Pte Chris Aindow being struck by the car, a claim Mr Justice Kerr dismissed as "unquestionably wrong". The judge said the car was at least 57 feet from Clegg when he decided to fire and, "the car cannot have reached Aindow, therefore, when Clegg decided to fire - Clegg is unquestionably wrong in his account of these matters".
Mr Justice Kerr said he did not believe Clegg's claim that his last shot was fired into the wing of the car.
Clegg claimed that when the car passed him he did not look after it but instead put the safety on his rifle and crossed to Aindow and still did not look back when he heard further shots being fired.
"This is, quite simply, unbelievable," said the judge, who added later: "I am further convinced that this untruthful account was given by Clegg because he wished to create the impression that he could not have fired after the car."
Mr Justice Kerr said Clegg had also "concocted the story about being briefed about an imminent terrorist threat as an ex post facto attempt to bolster his claim to have fired because he believed that Aindow had been struck by the car".
The judge also concluded that Aindow was assaulted by members of his patrol "and that its purpose was to cause an injury which would appear to have been inflicted by the car".
If Clegg's claim that he knew nothing of the attack were true, "it would be the most remarkable coincidence".
Despite Mr Justice Kerr's findings that Clegg had lied about the briefing, where he was when he fired, why he fired, and that he had not fired after the car, in the last three pages of his judgment he outlined his conclusions for acquitting him of murder.
He ruled initially that the prosecution failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Clegg had not believed the car presented "a real and immediate danger to him or other members of his patrol".
The prosecution claimed that the fatal shot which killed Ms Reilly was fired through the rear of the car, but Mr Justice Kerr said he could not be certain Clegg fired the shot, although "it is very likely he did".
But when convicting Clegg of attempting to wound Mr Peake, he said Clegg's claim that he did not even look at the retreating car was a "deliberate lie" and therefore he had fired on it.
But he added: "I cannot be satisfied that Clegg's bullet struck Karen Reilly, but I am fully convinced that he fired after the car intending to hit and disable the driver" and that he fired the shot when there was no danger to himself or his patrol.
Clegg has been freed on continuing bail in military custody and will be sentenced later for the attempted wounding.
Clegg's legal adviser, Mr Simon McKay, said later that in a room off Belfast Crown Court the lance corporal wept in the arms of his mother, Wynne, and step-father Mr Jack Johnston.
He said his acquittal was "the right decision and at long last Lee's conviction for murder no longer exists".
The case was a "totally overwhelming experience for him and his family" and they were determined to clear his name completely by appealing his conviction for attempting to wound Martin Peake, he said. Ms Reilly's father left the court without saying a word after listening to the 4 1/2-hour judgment.