Mr Justice O'Hara said he considered the defendant "criminally culpable" beyond any reasonable doubt.
He found that Holden had pointed a machine gun at Mr McAnespie and pulled the trigger, while assuming the gun was not cocked. He said: "That assumption should not have been made."
In his written judgement, Mr Justice O'Hara said he was satisfied the defendant had not cocked the weapon himself before firing it. He said he fundamentally disagreed with the suggestion that it was not exceptionally bad for the defendant to have assumed that the weapon was not cocked. "In my judgement this was the ultimate 'take no chances' situation because the risk of disaster was so great.
David Holden, 53, denied aiming the weapon deliberately at Mr McAnespie "The defendant should have appreciated at the moment he pulled the trigger that if the gun was cocked deadly consequences might follow." The judge told the court Holden had given a "deliberately false account" of what happened. He dismissed the defendant's claim that his hands had been wet from cleaning duties. He also concluded Holden's explanation as to how the weapon came to be fired was "entirely unconvincing" and was a "deliberately false account of what happened".
In the written judgement, he said the defendant had broken two "golden rules", which included never aiming a weapon unless one intends to fire and never increasing the risk of negligent discharge.
The court heard Mr McAnespie was unarmed.