A west Belfast-born British soldier attempted to take his own life after he was subjected to sectarian harassment and intimidation, an employment tribunal has found.
The tribunal in Belfast accepted that Private Patrick Murphy was the victim of sectarian harassment while serving with the Royal Irish Regiment in Portadown in 1998.
During the case, the former soldier told how he was driven to attempt suicide in October 1998 after months of harassment from other soldiers in his platoon.
The 33-year-old from the Riverdale area of Andersonstown will now seek compensation from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Mr Murphy had changed his name from Patrick to Paul and stated his religion as Church of Ireland when he first applied to join the army.
But once his religion was discovered he began getting comments of a sectarian nature directed at him, such as "all Catholics should burn," and "fenian lying here".
He was also referred to as a "sleeper" and "a taig". In addition, his locker lock was smashed and his helmet stolen.
"As a result of the harassment he was experiencing the applicant, on some occasions when he was on duty in the quick reaction force, slept in a Land Rover because of the type of comments which were being directed at him," the tribunal found.
Bottles were also thrown at Mr Murphy's house in the run-up to the July 12 period.
It was claimed that the victimisation was so bad that at one stage he tried to take his own life with car exhaust fumes.
Stephen Ritchie, the barrister representing the MoD, had argued that Mr Murphy faked his suicide attempt and fabricated the campaign of intimidation.
However, the applicant's barrister, Noelle McGrenera, said it had been a serious attempt to take his own life and if he had not received speedy medical attention he would have died.
The tribunal criticised senior army officers for failing to deal with Mr Murphy's complaints.
"While they all professed to take such sectarian problems seriously, their actions belied their words and wherever the direction came from to ignore the applicant's allegations of sectarian abuse, the effect was to leave him feeling isolated and unsupported by his superiors."
Tom Campbell, from Campbell Stafford solicitors firm, last night (Thursday) said that Mr Murphy would be pursuing compensation.
"I think that Mr Murphy will be delighted with the outcome. He took on the might of the MoD and won," he said.
"They produced 38 witnesses to try and prove that he was a liar but he will be delighted that his bravery in taking an action against them has been fully vindicated."
