document: NIreland man acquitted over 1977 murder of soldier NIreland man acquitted over 1977 murder of soldier -LRB- AP -RRB- DUBLIN -LRB- AP -RRB- -- A 60-year-old Northern Ireland man has been acquitted on charges he helped to kidnap , imprison and murder an undercover British soldier who was abducted from a border pub in 1977 . The killing of Capt. Robert Nairac , who tried to pass himself off as a Belfast IRA man during intelligence-gathering missions , remains a mystery of the Northern Ireland conflict . Six IRA men served prison sentences for Nairac 's killing , but his body was never found . Police arrested Kevin Crilly in 2008 after he told the BBC that he had driven an IRA gunman to the spot where Nairac was killed . But on Friday , a Belfast judge ruled that prosecutors failed to prove that Crilly knew Nairac was going to be killed , or that a clump of bloody hair found in a Crilly family car was Nairac 's .
extractive_keyphrases: abducted served prison sentences ireland man prosecutors imprison british soldier family murder robert nairac gunman nireland acquitted intelligencegathering missions found belfast ireland man during police dublin 60yearold crilly body mystery charges nairac friday ira men helped
abstractive_keyphrases: prison sentences northern ireland british