" data-large-file="https://madden-finucane.com/files/2026/01/brothers-of-bloody-sunday-victim-william-mckinney_belfast-crown-court-1024x718.webp" class="size-large wp-image-22236" src="https://madden-finucane.com/files/2026/01/brothers-of-bloody-sunday-victim-william-mckinney_belfast-crown-court-1024x718.webp" alt="Brothers of Bloody Sunday victim William McKinney - Belfast Crown Court" width="1024" height="718" /> The brothers of Bloody Sunday victim William McKinney outside Belfast Crown Court
Far-right protester who threatened to kill the brothers of William McKinney during the Soldier F murder trial appears in court.
Ciarán Shiels, solicitor for the McKinney family, confirmed that complaints were made in September 2025 during the first days of the Soldier F trial following a threat which was posted on social media.
"We are simply not going to tolerate any situation in which Bloody Sunday families lives are threatened by a misguided supporter of the vicious psychopath who was licenced to commit mass murder in Derry in 1972 along with other members of the Parachute Regiment.
"This individual has already, in breach of his court bail, publicly attempted indirect communication with the McKinney family since being charged. We are warning him to immediately desist from this behaviour."
A Belfast man appeared in court today accused of sending a menacing message directed at the family of a Bloody Sunday victim.
Dean Portis, 41, is facing prosecution over a social media posting seen by the brothers of William McKinney, one of the victims shot dead by the British Army in Derry.
Portis, of Olive Street in the city, has been charged with two counts of improper use of a public communications network to send a message of a menacing character.
He allegedly committed the offences on September 18 and October 22 last year during the high profile Soldier F trial.
The former member of the Parachute Regiment was accused but ultimately found not guilty of murdering 26-year-old William McKinney on Bloody Sunday.
Mr McKinney was among 13 people shot dead when troops opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Derry's Bogside on January 30, 1972.
Police were alerted to a Facebook posting allegedly attributed to Portis, who also uses the name Dean Martin, early on in Soldier F's trial.
Above a newspaper report and photograph of Mr McKinney's three brothers, Joe, Mickey and John, attending the hearing in Belfast a message stated: "If yous continued to target the British Armed Forces including the PSNI the consequences will be swift and deadly."
The posting added: "Yous have been warned."
Appearing at Belfast Magistrates' Court today, Portis confirmed he understood the charges against him.
An investigating police officer connected him to the alleged offences but provided no further details about the case.
District Judge Anne Marshall adjourned proceedings and released Portis on continuing bail until February 26.
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