McCartney took part in the civil rights march in Derry on 30 January 1972 , an event widely known as Bloody Sunday . One of his cousins , James Wray , was one of 14 men shot and killed by the 1st Battalion , Parachute Regiment on that march . As a result of this incident McCartney joined the Provisional IRA several months later . On 12 January 1979 at Belfast Crown Court McCartney and another man , Eamonn MacDermott , were convicted of the murder of Detective Constable Patrick McNulty of the Royal Ulster Constabulary , who was shot several times outside a garage in Derry on 27 January 1977 . McCartney was also convicted of IRA membership and the murder of businessman Jeffery Agate in February 1977 , and was sentenced to life imprisonment . The murder convictions were overturned in 2007
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1972)
Raymond McCartney