Derry Journal: The Saville Report

■ Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

■ Tel: 02871 272200

■ Website: www.derryjournal.com

■ Est. 1772

■ 64 PAGES

■ £1.00 (ROI €1.45 inc VAT) GB £1.15

SPECIAL EDITION: THE SAVILLE REPORT

INNOCENT

“The victims of Bloody Sunday have been vindicated. The Parachute Regiment has been disgraced. Widgery’s great lie has been laid bare.

The truth has been brought home at last.” - Bloody Sunday Families

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

2

TUESDAY, 15th JUNE, 2010

Truth and justice at last The 38 year family campaign to prove the innocence of those killed and wounded on Bloody Sunday has been well and truly vindicated with the publication of the report of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.

Lord Saville reached the conclusion that the people of Derry have known for decades: that all those killed and wounded were innocent and that all the shootings by the Parachute Regiment were entirely unjustifiable.

As the families of the dead themselves declared: “The victims of Bloody Sunday have been vindicated. The Parachute Regiment has been disgraced. Widgery’s great lie has been laid bare. The truth has been brought home at last. It can now be proclaimed to the world that the dead and the wounded of Bloody Sunday, civil rights marchers, were innocent one and all, gunned down in their own streets by soldiers who had been given to believe they could kill with perfect impunity."

The truth of Bloody Sunday has always been known to the people of Derry. It is something we have known for 38 years. It was a massacre carried out in broad daylight in full view of hundreds of eyewitnesses, including scores of independent media witnesses. Irish people, North and South, have known for years that unarmed civil rights demonstrators were murdered in cold blood by British paratroopers.

If Bloody Sunday was a defining day in the history of the Troubles, let us hope the publication of the Saville Report will be a transformative and cathartic moment for the people of Northern Ireland.

Today, it is important that we pay tribute to the families and relatives of the victims who waged a heroic campaign for their loved ones. Their steadfast vision and dignity in their quest for the truth has been admirable.

Tragically, only one parent of the victims has survived to see this day and to hear the British prime minister’s open and full apology on the back of this important report. Lawrence McElhinney epitomises the dignity and determination of all the families who have struggled and strived to exonerate their loved ones and have the truth proclaimed.

At times it may be hard and at times it may be harsh, but the truth always provides the basis upon that which is bad can be remedied and that which is good can be made better.

It is said that "truth is the first casualty of war". By the same token, as we emerge from conflict, establishment of truth, thereby ridding society of past-throughto-present injustices, should become a hallmark of a new society.

For almost forty years on, the relatives of those innocent men gunned down on Bloody Sunday, backed by the people of Derry, remained steadfast in their demands: we simply wanted truth, justice, and most important of all, closure.

At long last, Lord Saville has given us this.

Today we remember fourteen men who lost their lives at the hands of Britain's so-called military elite: Jackie Duddy, Hugh Gilmour, Michael Kelly, Michael McDaid, John Young, William Nash, Kevin McElhinney, William McKinney, Jim Wray, Gerald Donaghey, Gerald McKinney, Barney McGuigan, Patrick Doherty and John Johnston. We also remember the Bloody Sunday wounded - those still alive today and those who died before they could see the truth set free.

We have overcome.

Mickey McKinney, brother of William McKinney, the Derry Journal employee shot dead on Bloody Sunday, salutes the crowd in Guildhall Square as the Bloody Sunday families gather on stage after the release of the Saville Report. (1506SL62) Photo: Stephen Latimer

‘Widgery’s great lie is laid bare’

Derry. We may hope that from today we can begin to bind up those wounds. But we recognise, too, that the issues arising from the Report go wider and deeper than Derry’s concerns."

Representatives from the Duddy, Gilmour, McDaid, Young, McElhinney, McGuigan, Johnston, Donaghey and Nash families quoted from the relevant sections of the report which claimed the innocence of their relatives.

Liam Wray, brother of 22-year-old Jim, said the report had "vindicated the Wray family and the people of Derry We always knew the truth, now the world knows the truth."

By Theresa Casey theresa.casey@derryjournal.com

The families of victims of Bloody Sunday dramatically tore up the Widgery Tribunal report yesterday after they gave their reaction to the Saville report.

A representative from each family spoke to the thousands gathered in the city centre to declare the innocence of all those killed or wounded on January 30, 1972.

The first to take the stage was Mickey McKinney, brother of 26-year-old Derry Journal employee William McKinney who was murdered in Glenfada Park on Bloody Sunday.

He said that it was an historic day for Derry and paid tribute to the support shown to the families over the last 38 years, telling the crowd that "today we stand among friends."

The son of 31-year-old Patrick Doherty, John took to the stage after a minute's silence was observed by the crowd.

He said: “The victims of Bloody Sunday have been vindicated. The Parachute Regiment has been disgraced. Widgery’s great lie has been laid bare. The truth has been brought home at last.

“It can now be proclaimed to the world that the dead and the wounded of Bloody Sunday, civil rights marchers, were innocent one and all, gunned down in their own streets by soldiers who

GRATITUDE

THE NEWS IS OUT!. . .A loud cheer goes up in Guildhall Square as someone from inside the Guildhall gives a thumbs up. 1606JM10 (Photo: Jim McCafferty)

had been given to believe they could kill with perfect impunity."

Mr Doherty added: “Bloody Sunday wounded

He said the gratitude the family owes to the people of Derry “can never be expressed in words.”

John Kelly, the brother of 17-year-old Michael who was murdered at the rubble barricade on Rossville Street, thanked everyone who had accompanied the families on "our march for justice."

He said the report was “very long and very detailed” however what mattered for the families above all else was the "innocence of our loved ones."

Mr Kelly said that "those gunned down on Bloody Sunday were ordinary, decent Derry people ... that was the verdict we wanted and that is the verdict we have got today."

This special edition was compiled by ‘Journal’ editorial staff - Martin McGinley, Bernie Mullen, Sean McLaughlin, Michael McMonagle, Ian Cullen, David Wilson, Theresa Casey, Erin Hutcheon, Mary McLaughlin, Claire Allan, Tina Curran, Catherine Doran, Sheena Jackson, Laurence McClenaghan, Julieann Campbell, Pat McArt, Donna Pryce, James Fulton, Jim McCafferty, Stephen Latimer, Phil Gamble, Patricia McLaughlin and Deirdre Deeney. Thanks to everyone who contributed including Lorcan Mullen, Hugh Gallagher and Glenn McIntyre.

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

3

‘SUNDAY’VICTIMS KILLED BY 'UNJUSTIFIABLE FIRING'

Jean Hegarty, sister of Kevin McElhinney, rips up the Widgery report outside the Guildhall yesterday.

Fourteen civilians killed on Bloody Sunday died as a result of "unjustifiable firing" by British soldiers, the long-awaited Saville Inquiry has declared.

British Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Common that the inquiry said none of the casualties posed any threat to British troops.

He said the inquiry found that the first shots were fired by British troops, no warnings were given, and some of the soldiers lost control.

Mr Cameron told MPs: "What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable.

It was wrong." He added that ""what happened should never have happened".

"The Government is ultimately responsible for the conduct of the armed forces. And for that, on behalf of the Government, indeed on behalf of our country, I am deeply sorry."

The inquiry found that the sol-

diers of the Support Company who went into the Bogside, where the march was taking place, did so "as a result of an order which should not have been given" by their commander.

It concluded that, "on balance", the first shot in the vicinity of the march was fired by British soldiers.

None of the casualties was carrying a firearm and, while there was some shooting by republican paramilitaries, "none of this firing provided any justification for the shooting of civilian casualties".

In no case was any warning given by the soldiers before opening fire and the Support Company "reacted by losing their self-control ... forgetting or ignoring their instructions and training".

The result was a "serious and widespread loss of fire discipline".

Afterwards, many of the soldiers involved "knowingly put forward false accounts in order to seek to

Donaghey ‘probably’ had nail bombs

Saville’s key findings: The Saville report’s detailed review of the events of January 30, 1972 in Derry catalogued scenes of horror that included the image of unarmed victims shot dead as they tried to crawl away.

The key findings are:

■ The firing by soldiers of 1 Para caused the deaths of 13 people and injury to a similar number, none of whom was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. This also applied to the 14th victim, who died later from injuries.

■ Despite the contrary evidence given by soldiers, it concluded that none of them fired in response to attacks or threatened attacks by nail or petrol bombers. The report added that no one threw, or threatened to throw, nail or petrol bombs at soldiers.

■ The accounts of soldiers

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were rejected, with a number said to have "knowingly put forward false accounts”.

■ Members of the Official IRA fired a number of shots, though it was concluded it was the paratroopers who shot first on Bloody Sunday.

■ Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, second in command of the Provisional IRA in Derry in 1972, was "probably armed with a Thompson submachine gun", and though it is possible he fired the weapon, this cannot be proved. The report concluded: "He did not engage in any activity that provided any of the soldiers with any justification for opening fire."

■ Lord Saville concluded the commander of land forces in Northern Ireland, Major General Robert Ford, would have been aware that the Parachute

Regiment had a reputation for using excessive force.

But he would not have believed there was a risk of paratroopers firing unjustifiably.

■ The commanding officer of the paratroopers, Lieutenant Colonel Derek Wilford, disobeyed an order from a superior officer not to enter troops into the Bogside.

■ Lord Saville found his superior officer, Brigadier Patrick MacLellan, held no blame for the shootings as, if he had known what Col Wilford was intending, he might well have called it off.

■ No blame was placed on the organisers of the march, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association.

■ Neither the British nor Northern Ireland governments planned or foresaw the use of unnecessary lethal force.

justify their firing".

The inquiry found that some of those who were killed or injured were clearly fleeing or going to the assistance of others who were dying.

The simple thumbs-up from relatives inside the imposing Guildhall in Derry heralded the apology from the Prime Minister and jubilation among thousands gathered to hear the verdict of the longest inquiry in UK legal history.

John Kelly, whose brother Michael was shot dead, symbolically ripped up a copy of the "whitewash" Widgery Report into the killings as the families pronounced their loved ones innocent.

"Our struggle was for the truth and for justice which only truth can bring. Let the light of that be your guide, the light of justice, let justice be the light, let justice be done to the heavens. Thank you, we have overcome," he said.

Deputy First Minister and Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness pictured talking to the media outside the Guildhall yesterday.

McGuinnesses denies gun claims Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has firmly denied having a sub-machine gun in the Bogside on Bloody Sunday.

When asked about the Saville finding that it was probable that he had the weapon, he said: "No".

He said the report had cleared everybody in the city.

"He (Lord Saville) fully pointed the finger of blame for what happened directly at the British Parachute Regiment," he added.

There had been speculation over how the report would account for the death of 17-year-old Gerald Donaghey.

Nail bombs had been found in the pockets of the dead teenager, but after people tending to his wounds said they had not seen any devices, there were claims the bombs had later been planted on the youth by security forces.

The report concludes the nail bombs were "probably" in his possession when he was shot, but adds: "However, we are sure that Gerald Donaghey was not preparing or attempting to throw a nail bomb when he was shot; and we are equally sure that he was not shot because of his possession of nail bombs. He was shot while trying to escape from soldiers."

The report found that the teenager was a member of the IRA's youth wing, but said he was killed by a bullet that had passed through victim Gerard McKinney.

The soldier, known only as Private G, had "falsely denied" firing the shot and "must have fired knowing that Gerard McKinney was not posing a threat".

The report also recounts how some soldiers had their weapons cocked in contravention of guidelines, that no warnings were issued by Paras who opened fire, and, while some may have been in fear of attack, the report concludes: "We found no instances where it appeared to us that soldiers either were or might have been justified in firing."

The report added: "Despite the contrary evidence given by soldiers, we have concluded that none of them fired in response to attacks or threatened attacks by nail or petrol bombers.

"No one threw or threatened to throw a nail or petrol bomb at the soldiers on Bloody Sunday."

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Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

4

An epic moment in the history of Derry

‘We have overcome’

By Erin Hutcheon erin.hutcheon@derryjournal.com

Thousands of people gathered in Guildhall Square yesterday afternoon witnessing the epic moment when Jean Hegarty ripped up the Widgery Report.

It was the end of an emotional day for both the families and the people of Derry as the truth of what happened on Bloody Sunday was finally revealed to the world.

The day began with lawyers for the family entering the Guildhall to get their glimpse of the Saville Report. Shortly afterwards members of the Bloody Sunday families walked from the Bogside to the Guildhall accompanied by hundreds of well wishers where Lord Saville’s report was finally made available to them.

The next group of people to see the report was a selected batch of local and international journalists who read the 60 page summary document secured in a room in the City Hotel.

In the meantime thousands of local people who lined Guildhall Square and the surrounding streets watched on as members of the Bloody Sunday families waved from

inside the Guildhall. Several members of the families were seen to give the thumbs up.

At 3.30pm. as David Cameron’s speech was shown on a wide screen television, the people of Derry roared and cheered throwing their arms in the air as he apologised for what happened in January 1972.

Many local people were moved to tears clutching each other and celebrating a day this city has waited almost four decades for.

As the families made their way to a podium at the front of the Guildhall they received rapturous applause from the thousands of people who came to support them.

Kay Duddy, sister of Jackie Duddy then asked the crowd to observe a minute’s silence for all those killed in the last forty years.

Families representing the dead and injured then made their own statements to the crowd, each of them quoting from the Saville Report and shouting the word “innocent.”

The day’s events were aptly brought to an end with John Kelly triumphantly declaring to the crowd - “We have overcome.”

Relatives of the Bloody Sunday families, arrive in Guildhall Square for the announcement by British Prime Minister, David Cameron.

(1506SL104)

Marchers finish walk to Guildhall

By Sheena Jackson sheena.jackson@derryjournal.com

As thousands gathered at Free Derry corner to finish the original ill-fated march to Guildhall Square the victims of Bloody Sunday were denied, the only sound audible above the low murmur of the anxious crowd was that of a lone helicopter in the sun soaked skies.

SDLP Nobel Laureate John Hume and Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams were among those who joined the march towards the Guildhall ahead of the publication of the Saville Report.

“This is a massive day for Ireland and for Derry and particularly for the people who were murdered here,” the Sinn Fein President told the ‘Journal’, surrounded by press.

“People have set out quite clearly what they want is the truth. Sin é.

Pure and simple as that. We want the truth.”

It was an emotional moment for Long Tower man, Michael Gallagher, who had marched with civil rights campaigners on January 30, 1972.

“This day means a lot to me, but it’s so much more for the families,” said the 58-year-old. “I have mixed memories from the day of the march. I remember the shootings,

but I don’t remember where I was.

It was 30-odd years ago and you forget a lot of things, but this is for the families. It’ll be nice to finally get to finish this.”

Bridget Harkin - niece of John Johnston who was the 14th person shot on Bloody Sunday and who died four months later - was anxious to get to the Guildhall.

“I was 22 at the time and we were reared with Johnny down in the Bog. It’s just so sad, it’s so emotional and I can remember that day so well,” she recalled, in the basking heat. “I was at home and I watched the men walking over to Shantallow as they were going on a men’s retreat. It was so eerie and then hearing people crying and the commotion when people were told they had brothers shot. It was just awful.”

As the marchers walked down Rossville Street, with relatives clutching placards bearing the photographs of the dead, bearing the motto "Set the Truth Free", they continued in silence onto William Street where they tore through a massive banner referring to the Widgery Inquiry.

Hordes of media watched the marchers who, amid emotional scenes, arrived at Guildhall Square to thunderous applause and cheers.

Among those waiting was Creggan man, William Doherty who was on the original march.

“We were down for the weekend from Antrim where I was working at the time and I had missed all the other marches and I just happened to be off that weekend,” he recalled, choked with emotion.

“The last person I was talking to was Barney McGuigan and Gerry McKinney. I was asking Gerry if he was off for the weekend and he said, ‘aye every weekend’. I was talking to him and Barney before we came to the barricades and we were all at Glenfada Park behind a wall. The next thing I knew Barney was dead and Gerry and I went home because I knew my mother and my wife would be worrying.

The last person I saw was young (Michael) McDaid lying. It was terrible. It all happened that quick and was total chaos as far as I was concerned.”

He added: “It’ll always stick in my mind but I live in Derry now and I can see a great change in it. I never went to the Inquiry because all I saw was dead people, but I knew there was never any gunmen that day. Then the news started to coming through and we couldn’t believe it. The last words my mother had said was ‘come back’ and I did, but 13 didn’t.”

5

THE REACTION: The abiding image for many of that dreadful January day in 1972 was of a then young priest waving a white handkerchief covered in blood while behind him a group of men carried a fatally wounded Jackie Duddy. In subsequent interviews with the international media that priest, Fr. Edward Daly, decribed the shootings as murder, a statement he said yesterday had caused him ‘a lot of suffering over the years’.

Now retired a clearly emotional Bishop Daly told the ‘Journal’ yesterday: “I’m relieved and delighted for the families.They have waited a long time for this, and I’m glad they’ve lived long enough to see it.

“It is good that the truth has finally emerged. They (the victims) have all been cleared and vindicated. It’s wonderful to see it. I have always known that they were innocent, now the world has seen it.”

Dr Ken Good, the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, who has been widely praised for his even-handedness in recent times, acknowledged that the ways in which people on different sides of the community had viewed the events of Bloody Sunday “had been a source of pain and tension over the past three decades”.

However, he added: “As a consequence of this Report and of what will flow from it, we all now have the possibility of moving forward together with a more accurate and shared appreciation of one of the key moments of our turbulent and troubled shared history. Let us reach out to one another across our community and build upon this understanding.”

The reaction from the DUP’s Gregory Campbell was not so conciliatory.

Speaking in Westminister after British Prime Minister David Cameron statement, the East Derry MP commented: "There have been 10,000 other bloody days in Northern Ireland's recent history. There was murder and mayhem caused by the

Derry has ‘overcome this day’

Mona Duddy, shows her emotions as the findings of of the Saville report are relayed to the crowd.

(1506SL37) Photo: Stephen Latimer

Provisional IRA in the days, weeks and months before Bloody Sunday."

He added: "We did not need a £200 million inquiry to establish that there was no premeditated plan to shoot civilians on that day."

The former long serving MP for Foyle, John Hume, was clearly in a very different frame of mind: “The people of Derry have always known that everyone shot on Bloody Sunday was entirely innocent. With the publication of the Saville Report, the British state has acknowledged their innocence and that its army murdered on that day. Now the world knows the truth that Derry has always known.”

‘Stain lifted’ Speaking about the wider implications of the Saville Report for the city, Derry's first citizen, Colum Eastwood told this paper: "I think this is a black stain lifted off the city.

We've lived under the shadow of Bloody Sunday for too long now. I think the city can move forward in peace and confidence into a better future. We are dealing with the past and are doing so in a proper and mature fashion. Saville allows people the opportunity to move forward and I think that is what they'll do."

Deputy First Minister, Martin

McGuinness, who was singled out for mention by Lord Saville, was of the opinion that the real message of the report was that the Widgery Report had been consigned to the waste bin.

“This is a momentous day for Derry. It is a day of extreme historical significance, a day where the families have been vindicated.

“Every single person in this city has been found not to have been contravening anything or doing anything that would have justified what happened.

“It is an absolutely momentous day for Derry and one of the better days in the long history of this city,” he said.

Denis Bradley, who was a priest in Long Tower Church at the time, admitted he was very nervous before seeing the report and very emotional reading it.

Mr Bradley said he hoped the city, while never forgetting the events of Bloody Gerry Adams and John Hume in conversation as they wait for the news from the Sunday, would now be able to move on Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday at the Guild Hall in Derry yesterday afternoon. and 'not be embittered by it any more.'

And Donegal politician, Cecilia Keaveney, who was born in Derry, said the Saville Report once and for all cleared up the historical facts: “The declaration of the innocence of those murdered and injured, alongside the unconditional apology by the British Government, is vitally important. The first shot was fired by the British army. Those shot were not armed and did not pose a threat. There was no conspiracy. These are all equally important phrases contained in the Saville Report.

Bishop Seamus Hegarty, Bishop of Derry, said Lord Saville’s ‘strong words’ had left no in doubt about his findings.

He added: “It was immensely moving to watch the relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims respond to the report today. I was struck by their sheer dignity and their palpable relief that the long wait was now over. Two key words came across again and again: ‘innocence and justice.’ May God bless the relatives and friends of the victims. Today is their day and it is a very significant day for the people of Derry.”

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Promises kept And close to tears Derry’s MP Mark Durkan summed up the feelings of many when he told a hushed House of Commons yesterday:"Relatives will stand at the graves of victims and their parents to tell of a travesty finally arrested, of evidence vindicated and of promises kept.

"And when they do so, they can invoke the civil rights anthem ‘We Have Overcome’. We have overcome this day."

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Bishop Edward Daly pictured among the Bloody Sunday Relatives after the Reading of the Saville Report.

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Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

6

‘What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable... It was wrong.’

British Prime Minister David Cameron With permission Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement.

Today my Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is publishing the report of the Saville Inquiry... the Tribunal set up by the previous government to investigate the tragic events of 30th January 1972 - a day more commonly known as Bloody Sunday.

We have acted in good faith by publishing the Tribunal’s findings as quickly as possible after the General Election.

Mr Speaker, I am deeply patriotic.

I never want to believe anything bad about our country. I never want to call into question the behaviour of our soldiers and our Army, who I believe to be the finest in the world.

And I have seen for myself the very difficult and dangerous circumstances in which we ask our soldiers to serve.

But the conclusions of this report are absolutely clear. There is no doubt.

There is nothing unequivocal. There are no ambiguities. What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable.

It was wrong.

Lord Saville concludes that the soldiers of Support Company who went into the Bogside “did so as a result of an order... which should not have been given” by their Commander.

On balance the first shot in the vicinity of the march was fired by the British Army.

That “none of the casualties shot by soldiers of Support Company was armed with a firearm”.

That “there was some firing by republican paramilitaries .. but... none of this firing provided any justification for the shooting of civilian casualties” And that “in no case was any warning given before soldiers opened fire”.

He also finds that Support Company “reacted by losing their self-control... forgetting or ignoring their instructions and training” with “a serious and widespread loss of fire discipline”.

He finds that “despite the contrary evidence given by the soldiers... none of them fired in response to attacks or threatened attacks by nail or petrol bombers”...

And that many of the soldiers “knowingly put forward false accounts in order to seek to justify their firing”.

Clearly fleeing

What’s more - Lord Saville says that some of those killed or injured were clearly fleeing or going to the assistance of others who were dying. The report refers to one person who was shot “crawling...away from the soldiers”...

Another was shot, in all probability, “when he was lying mortally wounded on the ground”...

And a father was “hit and injured by Army gunfire after he had gone to...tend to his son”.

For those looking for statements on innocence, Saville says: “The immediate responsibility for the deaths and injuries on Bloody Sunday lies with those members of Support Company whose unjustifiable firing was the cause

of those deaths and injuries.”

And - crucially - that “none of the casualties was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, or indeed was doing anything else that could on any view justify their shooting.”

For those people who were looking for the Report to use terms like murder and unlawful killing, I remind the House that these judgements are not matters for a Tribunal - or for us as politicians - to determine.

Mr Speaker, these are shocking conclusions to read and shocking words to have to say.

But Mr Speaker, you do not defend the British Army by defending the indefensible. We do not honour all those who have served with distinction in keeping the peace and upholding the rule of law in Northern Ireland by hiding from the truth.

So there is no point in trying to soften or equivocate what is in this Report.

It is clear from the Tribunal’s authoritative conclusions that the events of Bloody Sunday were in no way justified.

I know some people wonder whether nearly forty years on from an event, a Prime Minister needs to issue an apology.

For someone of my generation, this is a period we feel we have learned about rather than lived through. But what happened should never, ever have happened.

The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and the hurt of that day - and a lifetime of loss.

Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly.

‘I am deeply sorry’

The Government is ultimately responsible for the conduct of the Armed Forces.

And for that, on behalf of the Government - and indeed our country - I am deeply sorry.

Mr Speaker, just as this report is clear that the actions of that day were unjustifiable... so too is it clear in some of its other findings.

Those looking for premeditation, those looking for a plan, those looking for a conspiracy involving senior politicians or senior members of the Armed Forces – they will not find it in this report.

Indeed, Lord Saville finds no evidence that the events of Bloody Sunday were premeditated … he concludes that the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland Governments, and the Army, neither tolerated nor encouraged “the use of unjustified lethal force”.

No cover-up

He makes no suggestion of a Government cover-up.

And Lord Saville credits the UK Government with working towards a peaceful political settlement in Northern Ireland.

Mr Speaker, the Report also specifically deals with the actions of key individuals in the army, in politics and beyond … including Major General Ford, Brigadier

“

In the words of Lord Saville “What happened on Bloody Sunday strengthened the Provisional IRA, increased nationalist resentment and hostility towards the Army and exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed. Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland.

MacLellan and Lieutenant Colonel Wilford.

In each case, the Tribunal’s findings are clear.

It also does the same for Martin McGuinness, It specifically finds he was present and probably armed with a “sub-machine gun” but concludes “we are sure that he did not engage in any activity that provided any of the soldiers with justification for opening fire”.

Mr Speaker, while in no way justifying the events of January 30th 1972, we should acknowledge the background to the events of Bloody Sunday. Since 1969 the security situation in Northern Ireland had been declining significantly.

Three days before ‘Bloody Sunday’, two RUC officers – one a Catholic – were shot by the IRA in Londonderry, the first police officers killed in the city during the Troubles.

A third of the city of Derry had become a no-go area for the RUC and the Army.

And in the end 1972 was to prove Northern Ireland’s bloodiest year by far with nearly 500 people killed. And let us also remember, Bloody Sunday is not the defining story of the service the British Army gave in Northern Ireland from 1969-2007.

This was known as Operation Banner, the longest, continuous operation in British military history, spanning thirtyeight years and in which over 250,000 people served.

Our Armed Forces displayed enormous courage and professionalism in upholding democracy and the rule of

”

law in Northern Ireland.

Acting in support of the police, they played a major part in setting the conditions that have made peaceful politics possible … and over 1,000 members of the security forces lost their lives to that cause.

Without their work the peace process would not have happened. Of course some mistakes were undoubtedly made. But lessons were also learned.

Once again, I put on record the immense debt of gratitude we all owe those who served in Northern Ireland.

Mr Speaker, may I also thank the Tribunal for its work – and all those who displayed great courage in giving evidence.

I would also like to acknowledge the grief of the families of those killed. They have pursued their long campaign over thirty-eight years with great patience.

Nothing can bring back those that were killed but I hope, as one relative put it, the truth coming out can set people free.

John Major said he was open to a new inquiry. Tony Blair then set it up. This was accepted by the Leader of the Opposition. Of course, none of us anticipated that the Saville Inquiry would last 12 years or cost £200 million. Our views on that are well documented.

It is right to pursue the truth with vigour and thoroughness … but let me reassure the House that there will be no more open-ended and costly inquiries into the past.

But today is not about controversies surrounding the process. It’s about the

substance, about what this report tells us. Everyone should have the chance to examine the complete findings and that’s why the report is being published in full. Running to more than 5,000 pages, it’s being published in 10 volumes.

Naturally, it will take all of us some time to digest the report’s full findings and understand all the implications.

The House will have the opportunity for a full day’s debate this autumn – and in the meantime I have asked my Rt Hon Friends the Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland and Defence to report back to me on all the issues that arise from it.

Mr Speaker, this report and the Inquiry itself demonstrate how a State should hold itself to account … and how we are determined at all times – no matter how difficult – to judge ourselves against the highest standards.

Openness and frankness about the past – however painful – do not make us weaker, they make us stronger.

That’s one of the things that differentiates us from terrorists.

We should never forget that over 3,500 people – people from every community – lost their lives in Northern Ireland, the overwhelming majority killed by terrorists.

There were many terrible atrocities.

Politically-motivated violence was never justified, whichever side it came from. And it can never be justified by those criminal gangs that today want to drag Northern Ireland back to its bitter and bloody past.

No Government I lead will ever put those who fight to defend democracy on an equal footing with those who continue to seek to destroy it. But neither will we hide from the truth that confronts us today.

In the words of Lord Saville - “What happened on Bloody Sunday strengthened the Provisional IRA, increased nationalist resentment and hostility towards the Army and exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed. Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland.”

These are words we cannot and must not ignore. But what I hope this report can also do is to mark the moment when we come together, in this House and in the communities we represent. Come together to acknowledge our shared history, even where it divides us. And come together to close this painful chapter on Northern Ireland’s troubled past.

That is not to say that we must ever forget or dismiss that past. But we must also move on. Northern Ireland has been transformed over the past twenty years … and all of us in Westminster and Stormont must continue that work of change, coming together with all the people of Northern Ireland to build a stable, peaceful, prosperous and shared future.

It is with that determination that I commend this statement to the House.

7

‘I want to enjoy this day’

By Laurence McClenaghan laurence.mcclenaghan@derryjournal.com

John Kelly salutes the thousands of Derry people packed into Guildhall Square to hear the findings of the Saville Report. (1506SL100) Photo: Stephen Latimer

McKinney family: ‘The whole world knows we were lied about’

Regina McLaughlin, daughter of murdered Gerard McKinney, said she was "elated" with the findings of The Saville Inquiry.

Father of eight Mr. McKinney was murdered aged just 35 years old.

Saville's report states: "There is no doubt that Private G was the soldier who at a range of only a few yards fired at and mortally wounded Gerard McKinney in Abbey Park. His shot passed through Gerard McKinney’s body and also mortally wounded Gerald Donaghey."

"Neither William McKinney nor Gerard McKinney was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury."

Mrs. McLaughlin told The Journal:

"In our view, and in the words of Saville, Private G shot my father with no justification. My father was providing no threat when he was murdered with his hands in the air.

"All day I have been thinking about my mammy, Ita O'Kane. I was thinking about the family when I stood looking out on Guildhall Square.

"I'm over the moon I can't say anything else. I'm over the moon that my father has been cleared. He was innocent and I'm delighted for my mammy, for all my brothers and sisters, for my father's brothers and sisters who have lived with the stigma down all these years.

"Saville said he was 'deliberately targeted' which speaks for itself."

Asked how she had felt throughout the ordeal of yesterday morning, Regina replied: "I was very calm going into the Guildhall. I had put my faith in God and thank God I did because he came through for me.

"Saville told me nothing I didn't already believe but now the world knows my father was an innocent man. The closure for us as a family is now the whole world knows he was innocent. The whole world knows that we were lied about, the government lied, the soldiers lied, Saville even said Soldier G lied and that he shot my father when he had his hands in the air despite soldier G’s denials that he had not even fired his gun."

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Regina McLaughlin, Kevin McKinney and Sadie O'Kane with their copies of the Saville Report. (1806PG33) Photo Phil Gamble

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For John Kelly, who has been to the forefront of the campaign, yesterday was a day for jubilation.

He has campaigned for 38 years to clear the name of his brother Michael, just 17 years old when he died.

He told the ‘Journal’: "We done a great job and we put them in their place. We finished them off.”

But there was sadness, too: "Justice hasn't been done in that you can't bring my brother back. My children grew up never knowing my brother. Never knowing the beautiful, warm character he was. But justice has been done in that it has been recognised that he was innocent. Today the lie of Widgery has been put to rest."

Mr. Kelly emerged from the Guildhall with his fist clenched and punching the air with joy.

Asked to compare how he felt walking into the Guildhall as compared to walking out, he replied: "We

were very anxious, very uptight naturally, after 38 years that is to be expected.

Once we got through the doors, sat down and our solicitor read us a few sentences, the smile came to our faces. We knew that they had been declared innocent and justice was seen to be done."

This campaign has concluded what has been a life long fight for justice for his murdered brother - so what next for John and the Kelly family?

"If it had taken another 38 years, we would have continued the fight for the truth.

"This is something that we have campaigned hard for. I don't know what is next. I want to enjoy this day first. I want to get over this day first. The families have worked very, very hard for this for all these years "We're here and we'll deal with the future after we talk to the solicitors.

"This was the answer I was looking for."

LIG AN FHÍRINNE SAOR Solidarity wishes to the Bloody Sunday families.

Your steadfastness, determination and dignity has inspired other victims of state murder and given them hope that they will see justice for their loved ones.

Sinn Féin pledges its continued support in the quest for justice.

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

8

Saville Report: Reactions from Guildhall Square, Bond St. and Inishowen Buncrana has its say...

In the early afternoon sunshine, Guildhall Square, the original intended destination of the anti-internment marchers on Bloody Sunday, played host to scenes of cathartic joy involving a cheering crowd of thousands. Around 7pm last night, a smaller, more diffuse gathering wandered the Square, apparently soaking up the enduring atmosphere of the occasion. The ‘Journal’ asked some of them for their views on the day’s events and also sought the reaction of people in Inishowen.

Angela McGowan: “We’re delighted with the outcome after all these years, we knew a lot of the people affected. It’s just great, after so many years.” (1806PG42)

Seamus O’Donnell: “It’s a tremendous day, I’m overjoyed. Being on the march, knowing a lot of the facts myself, I knew the Widgery Report was total lies. I’m sitting here, just taking it all in.” (1806PG40)

Caoimhe Forbes: “It’s a victorious day for the people of Derry.” (1806PG41)

Sean Gibbons: “It’s a cracking result for the families.”

(1806PG44)

Dervla McLaughlin: "I would hope that it would bring it to a conclusion for people in Derry and I think it is a good thing for the people of Derry."

(1606JM34)

Gerard Doherty: “It’s lovely to see it sorted out. A lot of people had different opinions, but hopefully this is it done.” (1806PG45)

Mary McCloskey: “It’s just a great decision for the families; a long time waiting, but it’s great, a great feeling.” (1806PG43)

Catherine O’Doherty: "I haven't read the report yet but I would like to think that this report will give closure to both sides of it. I think it will put it to rest after this. I remember being a student at the time and it certainly shocked everybody in the whole country and Inishowen people very much.

There would have been a lot of people who had families or relatives who died there. And people would have known the families that were involved.

(1606JM36)

Ciaran MacLochlainn: "It is a long time wait for justice but it has finally arrived".

(1606JM35) LEFT: Ray Lannon: "I just hope the families can get peace now with the result of this, it should bring them closure.

Hopefully after 38 years there will be peace with the families and all the people in the area that have suffered as a result of Bloody Sunday."

(1606JM33)

Cautious welcome for Saville in loyalist community

Nigel Gardiner, of loyalist ex-prisoners group Epic, said Bloody Sunday was " wrong and should never have happened."

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Saville's findings were last night given a cautious welcome in Derry's loyalist Bonds Street community last night but many told the 'Journal' they were reluctant to express a view in public.

Local resident Andrew Little says no one can deny that yesterday's report " put the truth out there" but he says it also raises a number of areas of concern for loyalists.

"There are questions over the role of Martin McGuinness.

The report says he was active on that day and that puts a question mark over his role as Deputy First Minster."

He says many loyalists would also have problems over the cost of Saville and called for similar inquiries into other Troubles related deaths.

"People find it hard to understand the cost involved, too many people think it’s a total waste of money. I think even nationalists would say that.

Now there should be inquiries into other things that happened, Bloody Friday, Omagh, even the killing of Billy Wright."

Nigel Gardiner, of loyalist exprisoners group Epic, told the 'Journal', Bloody Sunday was "wrong and should not have happened."

He said he had heard very few views expressed locally but said the report may allow Derry's nationalist and loyalist communities to move closer together. " I haven't heard too much reaction from people but in my

own opinion Bloody Sunday was wrong and it should not have happened. That has been vindicated today. " I now think reciprocation is required. We need a hand extended to the Protestant community who for a large part have become alienated by Bloody Sunday."

He says he had initial fears over the cost of Saville. " At the beginning I had problems with the cost because I didn't see it going anywhere, but the victims and relatives, who fought a long and arduous campaign, have been totally vindicated. " I am also mindful of what David Cameron said about there being no further inquiries. Now you have to ask, does this cause problems within the protestant community in regard to the hurt they have suffered in atrocities on the Shankill Road, or Enniskillen to name but a couple. " But we must also now ask, is it time to move on, not to ever forget, but to move on."

Mr Gardiner says it is important to look forward in the wake of Saville.

"We are now vying for the City of Culture, that is something we all must work for. But Londonderry can no longer be a cold house for the Protestant community."

The 'Journal' canvassed the opinions of other residents’ many said the report was a "good thing" - but they declined to speak publicly.

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

9

‘Jim will be doing a jig in heaven’

By Sheena Jackson sheena.jackson@derryjournal.com

When Liam Wray took to the stage in a sun drenched Guildhall Square yesterday afternoon, in front of thousands of supporters, he knew his big brother, Jim, who was gunned down on Bloody Sunday was with him in spirit.

“Jim was “specifically targeted while posing no threat, and shot in the back,” said Liam.

"As he lay there, defenceless and dying, he was deliberately shot again. The Saville Report stated clearly that there was no justification for either of these two shots. Now the world knows the truth," he said.

Speaking after the world heard his 22-year-old brother was innocent, an emotional Mr. Wray explained what Lord Saville’s report meant not just for his brother or their family, but for the whole of Derry.

“It might only have been a couple of hours that we were in there, in the Guildhall, but it seemed like 48 years. It was just so long, but it’s the end of that process and all I can say is that it has been worth it. If it had of taken another 38, it would have been worth it.”

Having fought for justice to clear his brother’s name along with the families of the 13 other Bloody Sunday victims, Mr. Wray told the ‘Journal’: “We always knew the truth, but

"Send the costs to Widgery" - Young family

By Laurence McClenaghan laurence.mcclenaghan@derryjournal.com

Speaking on the steps of the Guildhall, Leo Young, said he believed the Saville findings would bring his family a sense of closure - a sense which has been missing for the last 38 years.

Mr. Young has long been campaigning to clear the name of his brother, John, who died at the Rossville Street barricade. John was 17 years old.

Asked if there was a sense of closure for the Young family, Leo replied: "I would say there is because I don't think there will be prosecutions. To be honest I don't care if there are prosecutions or not. I wouldn't care one way or another.

My brother was declared innocent and that is what we set

An emotional Leo Young, whose brother John died on Bloody Sunday, after the findings of the Saville Report were published.

out to do."

A delighted Leo, who was speaking with his wife by his side, said: "I can't express what I feel now. It has been a big weight on us and our family for 38 years. They have now said they were innocent which we knew from the start. John has been completely vindicated. The soldiers were completely damned for their lies and their deceit. It was them and their lies that kept the tribunal going.

"People have argued about the cost but the costs should be sent to Widgery as he caused all that. If he had done his job right in the first place, we wouldn't be here today."

now the whole world knows the truth. This means the vindication of what the people in Derry and the families have been saying for 38 years - that our relatives, and they may call it unjustifiable in legal terms, but it means they were murdered. It means the truth has been exposed and now the opportunity for justice can take place.

There is an opportunity for the people who say they are in government, for the people who say that things are wrong and have to be pursued, that opportunity is now here and the world knows through this Inquiry and what the Prime Minister of Great Britain said, our relatives were innocent and they were murdered.

“I remember my brother as a loving human being.

He was six foot one and every inch of that was a lovely human being,” he said, choked with emotion, wiping tears away. “I remember a brother that I have lost and I’ll never get back but, as I have said, I always felt Jim’s presence

there and his presence is here today. It’s a great day and there are celebrations in Derry and there are celebrations in heaven. He’s up there in heaven doing a jig.

What better day could you have?”

Mr. Wray said his family expects the PSNI and the Public Prosecution Service to look at the findings in Lord Saville’s report.

“Clearly, and I am speaking in relation to my own brother, Jim was fleeing Glenfada Park and was brought down by one shot that was targeted at him deliberately, while he lay on the ground and the probability that he was shot again and that was shot was also unjustified. In the terminology of legal jargon, unjustified means it wasn’t warranted and means it was illegal which means it was murder. I will be looking for prosecutions in the sense that these services now need to do their job. Jim was a big warm loving human being. I knew, Derry knew and now the world knows he was innocent."

Liam Wray, brother of Jim Wray, celebrates as he leaves the Guildhall yesterday.

"I never saw any nail bombs on Gerard" Speaking about a portion of Saville's report which stated that: "Gerald Donaghey probably had nail bombs in his pocket, but he was not preparing to throw them when he was shot," Mr. Young, who was in a car with Gerard en route to hospital said: "As far as I'm concerned, until the day I die, I never saw anything in Gerard Donaghey's pockets.

"In the car, as he was lying across my chest I never saw any nail bombs. If I had saw them I would have stopped the car - why would you take bombs to Altnagelvin Hospital."

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Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

10

Paul Doherty - holding an image of his late father Patrick Doherty - takes part in yesterday’s march from the Bogside to the Guildhall.

Families of those killed on Bloody Sunday arrive at the Guildhall yesterday for their first glimpse of the Saville Report.

Loved ones of those murdered and wounded on Bloody Sunday arrive at the Guildhall.

Tuesday morning - A man walks past a mural in the Bogside commemorating the Bloody Sunday shootings.

The £195m Saville Report on the events of Bloody Sunday is finally delivered to the Guildhall in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

A man walks past Free Derry Wall in the Bogside area of the city yesterday.

Security guards lock the gates of the Guildhall in the early hours of Tuesday morning as the £195m Saville Report on the events of Bloody Sunday is finally delivered 12 years after the inquiry started.

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

11

Army chief backs apology The apology by British Prime Minister David Cameron over the Bloody Sunday killings has been endorsed by the British Army’s Chief of the General Staff.

General Sir David Richards said the innocent civilians who died on Derry’s darkest day did nothing which could justify their shooting. He added that “lessons” had been learned from the atrocity.

The British Army chief said he fully supported the report's description of the day as "a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland".

Gen Richards added: "The report leaves me in no doubt that serious mistakes and failings by officers and soldiers on that terrible day led to the deaths of 13 civilians who did nothing that could have justified their shooting.

"The Prime Minister has apologised on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom, the Army and those involved on the day, and I fully support that statement.”

He added that the “tragic events of Bloody Sunday” should never be forgotten.

"In the 38 years since that tragic day's events, lessons have been learned. The way the Army is trained, the way it works and the way it operates have all changed significantly.”

However, the army boss maintained that “the overwhelming majority” of the military personnel deployed in North over the 38 years of Operation Banner conducted themselves with “utter profesLESSONS LEARNED...General Sir David Richards. sionalism, restraint and humanity”.

Saville and govt ‘one eyed’ - Maginnis In exchanges in the House of Lords yesterday, Ulster Unionist Lord Maginnis of Drumglass accused the Saville inquiry and the Government of being "one-eyed" in its emphasis on just 13 of the 180 violent deaths in the North in the year preceding Bloody Sunday.

Lord Maginnis, an Ulster Defence Regiment major from 1970 to 1981, said: "As someone who was on duty on January 30 1972, I deeply regret the death of 13 people in Derry on that day.

"But I cannot be as magnanimous or as one-eyed as I feel Saville and indeed, I am sorry to say, this government has been in the way it has received Saville.

"Before Bloody Sunday, 180 people died in Northern Ireland, victims of terrorism. The 13 deaths are regrettable, but no more regrettable than the other 167, the other 94% of the people who died that year."

Lord Maginnis, who was his party's security spokesman in the Commons, went on: "The deaths in Derry have been investigated at a cost of almost £200 million when in fact we all knew the answer and we all knew that a huge error had been FOR SALE made."

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Lord Maginnis said that was the background against which the Saville Report should be seen, and he urged people not to "dismiss" the many deaths that had not been the subject

of such costly inquiries.

Lords Leader Lord Strathclyde, who had repeated the Prime Minister's statement to peers, acknowledged that the circumstances had been "tense and bordering on critical".

He said Bloody Sunday should not be allowed to define the 38 years of UK military operations in Northern Ireland.

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Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

12

The Mayor of Derry Councillor Colum Eastwood marching with the Bloody Sunday families to Guildhall Square.

(1806PG05) Photo Phil Gamble

Patrick Young, brother of Bloody Sunday victim John Young, greets Eamonn McCann at the Bloody Sunday monument.

Included is John Kelly whose younger brother, Michael, was also murdered on Bloody Sunday. (1806PG01) Photo Phil Gamble

Families gather at the Bloody Sunday monument yesterday morning. (1806PG03) Photo Phil Gamble

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness speaking to the press at Guildhall Square. (1806PG11) Photo Phil Gamble

Families begin the march from the Bloody Sunday monument to Guildhall Square. (1806PG04) Photo Phil Gamble

Joe Mahon and Mickey Bridge - both wounded on Bloody Sunday - pictured in the Bogside yesterday.(1506SL10) Photo: Stephen Latimer

Liam Wray and Kay Duddy - who both lost brothers on Bloody Sunday - pictured arriving at the Guildhall. (1806PG13) Photo Phil Gamble

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

13

“I don’t want to see my father’s killer behind bars”

By Erin Hutcheon erin.hutcheon@derryjournal.com

Tony Doherty, whose father Paddy was murdered as he tried to crawl to safety in the shadow of Rossville Flats on Bloody Sunday, says the person who killed his father should not spend one day in jail.

Speaking to the ‘Derry Journal’ on the steps of the Guildhall yesterday afternoon, an emotional Mr Doherty said that, even if prosecutions were to follow the publication of the Saville report, he does not want to see his father’s killer behind bars.

“That’s something I believe,” he said.”I’ll not be chasing British soldiers up and down the island of Britain or anywhere else, but I do expect to be treated with equality before the law.

“Today David Cameron gave us the words ‘unjustified’ and ‘unjustifiable’ those are the words we have been waiting to hear since January 30, 1972.

“The people of Derry have been absolutely brilliant. The victims of Bloody Sunday have been vindicated

and the Parachute Regiment have been disgraced. Their medals of honour have to be removed.

“The truth has been brought home at last. It can now be proclaimed to the world that the dead and wounded of Bloody Sunday, civil rights marchers one and all were innocent, gunned down in their own streets by soldiers who had been given to believe that they could kill with perfect impunity.

“The Parachute Regiment are the front line assassins of Britain’s political and military elite.

“The report of the Saville Tribunal confirms this, it was the Paras’ mission in Derry to massacre people, they would have known that murder was what expected.

“Bloody Sunday wounded Derry very, very badly, we may hope that from today we can bind up those wounds.

“When the state kills its citizens, it is in the interests of all that those responsible be held to account. It is not just Derry, or one section of the people, but democracy itself which needs to look out.

"The British people need to know, the Irish people need to know, the world now knows."

Mr Doherty said British Prime Minister David Cameron had “taken responsibility” for the issue.

“The apology was vital,” he said. “I did not expect him to use the words that he did.

“After 38 years, I feel a great sense of pride and a sense of vindication.

There’s a probable sense that we have experienced humanity at its worst and today we have seen humanity at its best.”

Asked if he felt the families could now move on, Mr Doherty said: “I think for many people in Derry the issue of moving on was always stuck on the accusations that were made against the dead and wounded of the day. What has happened today will give the people the opportunity to reflect.

“We have to digest what Saville has said; clearly in the body of the report there are findings that I think any prosecution service would be uncomfortable with, because Lord Saville has

Tony Doherty and Minty Thompson on the steps of the Guildhall. (1806PG32)

said that all of the killings were unjustified, he said all of the people were killed in circumstances where there was no fear or panic on behalf of the

‘Kevin is innocent’

By Sheena Jackson sheena.jackson@derryjournal.com

“Kevin is innocent”.

These are the three words that the family of 17-year-old Kevin McElhinney who was killed on Bloody Sunday have been waiting almost four decades for the world to hear.

“It’s like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders, amazing,” said Kevin’s big sister, Jean Hegarty, of the findings of Lord Saville’s report.

Kevin McElhinney was shot from behind as he tried to crawl to safety in the Rossville Flats. He was shot close to the flats' front entrance, near to the rubble barricade, and was dragged inside by some people sheltering there. He was unarmed.

Only 23 at the time and in Canada with a young family of her own, Jean heard the news just hours after the shootings that a handful of people had been killed during rioting in Derry, but she thought little of it after it was reported the dead were “gunmen and nail bombers”.

It was only early the next morning that she was woken to the news that her teenage brother had been involved.

“Kevin was shy and quiet and a bit of a pest as all wee brothers are,” she said.

“Everybody in the family misses him, no one more so than my par-

ents. He was the middle child and the heart was taken out of the family when Kevin was killed. All of us miss him in our separate ways and collectively. There is always somebody missing.“ “It’s a great day for our family because Kevin’s name has been completely cleared and the rest of the people have been completely cleared. It’s a great day for Derry to have this shadow lifted from us.”

As the hordes of media filed away from the Guildhall, Mrs Hegarty said she and her siblings would be going to Kevin’s grave to lay flowers. She said her father, Lawrence, the only surviving parent of the victims, would be “elated” with the news. As for her “quiet and shy” brother, she said: ”Oh, I think Kevin would be delighted, absolutely.”

As the family take time to digest the hefty 5,000 page report, Mrs. Hegarty said: “That’ll take a long time.

“If prosecutions are indicated, if there is evidence in there that needs to be followed, then that is up to the authorities to be doing that. It’ll take us time to digest it and all of that is for another day.

“This is just a great day and I want to thank everyone for their support.

“We know that all the way the city has been behind us and we couldn’t have done this without them.”

She added: “The world knows the truth now.”

soldier involved.

“This is a key statement and may have great value in how this is used in the future.”

‘Derry’s been vindicated to rest of the world’ Damien Donaghey

Bloody Sunday survivor, Alana Burke, salutes the thousand of people gathered in Derry's Guildhall, as she reads out the names of the wounded. (1506SL60) Photo: Stephen Latimer

‘I’m ecstatic’: Alana Burke One of only two women injured on Bloody Sunday has said that she is 'ecstatic' about the findings of the Saville Inquiry.

Alana Burke was just 18-yearsold when she was crushed by an armoured personnel carrier in the courtyard of the Rossville Flats.

Yesterday, Alana said that, while it had been a very long journey for her and the families of other victims, the publication of the report was an 'unforgettable day.'

'While we were in the Guildhall, it was very, very tense to start with. But once we got the gist of the report and knew everything was going to be OK, that the vindications

were going to be across the board, it was such a relief."

She admitted that it was a day of 'mixed emotion' for her.

"After what happened to me on Bloody Sunday, I had to go through a lot medically. My injury was complicated and I was told I would never have children.

"However, I have a son Gareth who was in an accident three weeks ago. At the the minute he is in intensive care. I got up on the podium and spoke for him today."

Alana paid tribute to the people of Derry and 'the support they have given us which has just been brilliant. They have got behind the Bloody Sunday families for so long."

Speaking outside the Guildhall amid beaming smiles and tears of relief, Damien Donaghey, the first man shot on Bloody Sunday, said the city and those that were killed or injured, were finally vindicated.

He said: “It is unbelievable. I went in there this morning and we heard many people saying this and that. We all knew, the whole of Derry knew that everybody was shot deliberately. Derry was vindicated today to the rest of the world.”

The 5,000 page report was summarised to 60 for the families who were given hours to digest the summary before it was made public at 3.30pm. Mr Donaghey said the full report was huge. “By the time we got in, the solicitors had everything marked out for us. We knew in the first half hour but had to sit for the rest of the two hours. We were stuck in the Guildhall watching the march. Everybody was hugging each other.

“It is just unbelievable here today. It just shows the support the Bloody Sunday people have.”

Mr Donaghey said he was surprised by the words from Prime Minister, David Cameron. “He gave it to them. And it was a Conservative government that did it in 1972.

“No one wounded was posing a threat of death of serious injury or intended wounding or anything else that would justify their shootings. We are all innocent.”

Mr Donaghey said the Paratroopers were still a reckless force today. He said: “They killed 11 people in Ballymurphy, they killed two on the Shankilll Road.

Where else have they gone to in the world and killed people? Wherever they go they kill people steady.

“When you look at soldier ‘F’ he shot four people and wounded three other people. There will be justice for the families, hopefully. I don’t think we will ever get a soldier in court, but get something done to them.”

‘Bring murder charges against Paras’: ‘Sunday’ wounded

By Laurence McClenaghan laurence.mcclenaghan@derryjournal.com

Mickey Bridge, who was wou nded on Bloody Sunday, has called on the Director of Public Prosecutions to have "a serious look at the report" and bring murder charges against the Paratroopers.

He also said that the report didn't follow the chain of command to the top.

"There is evidence to suggest that what happened reached higher than the soldiers on the ground. The evidence of complicity higher up in the British

establishment is their attempted cover up of what happened here 38 years ago.

"You don't brand the victims - blatantly label them guilty to the world - to cover for wayward soldiers."

Calling for prosecutions to follow the conclusions of the Saville Report, Mr. Bridge, who was wounded by paratroopers in the car park of the Rossville Flats, said: "You do wrong and you expect to get punished for it by the law.

"The director of public prosecutions will have to look very, very seriously at this now.

"There is at least one soldier guilty of multiple murder. It is quite plain that numerous soldiers are also guilty of perjury - Saville makes that quite clear."

Stating that the report brings some closure to him: "After a long battle, we did get vindication. We did get it confirmed that we were innocent and we did get it confirmed that we were shot unlawfully.

"This is vindication of what we have been trying to do for 38 years. It has been a long and difficult journey.

"Even this morning it was a difficult journey to the Guildhall. We had put

our trust in the Law Lords before and we know what happened then. I don't think this report went where it should have went. If what happened here was soldiers running amok then they would have been taken to task, even privately.

What the British establishment did to us in their attempts to cover up Bloody Sunday stuck with us for 38 years."

Mr. Bridge claimed: "There is a paper trail which leads to the then Prime Minister, - at least there was."

"All the people in the government had to have known what was going to happen on that day all those years ago.

They were discussing shooting 'lead rioters,' as they referred to them, only days before Bloody Sunday. You just can't ignore the evidence."

While admitting that the apology by British Prime Minister David Cameron “meant a lot, “they have now accepted that what happened was totally wrong and out of order. But, he suggests; "The Prime Minister of Britain could have apologised in 1972 because the evidence was there in 1972.

"What I am going to do now is read the report and find out how Saville has come to his conclusions."

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

14

HAMILL’S BEAT Norman Hamill

Justice is truth in action “Let justice be done, though the world perish,” said Roman Emperor Ferdinand. It’s a good principle yet in practical terms any decision to prosecute soldiers will be a difficult one for the Public Prosecution Service. On balance, I believe where there is sufficient evidence; prosecutions should happen even though no soldier is likely to serve a single day in prison as a result. This is because all other prisoners were released following the Good Friday Agreement.

The criminal law applies to soldiers as it does to everyone else. Obviously it will take time for lawyers to digest the detail of Lord Saville’s Report. A sufficient degree of recklessness can amount to a crime. I am relieved, however, that blame was not exclusively fixed on low-ranking young soldiers while their military lords and masters walked away blame free. The ‘elite’ Parachute Regiment was drafted into Derry against advice from the city’s wise and experienced police commander. The report establishes that the soldiers actually moved into the Bogside on the orders of Colonel Derek Wilford contrary to the instructions he had been given from his superiors. He should not escape the consequences of his fateful decision.

Truth at last Yesterday the sun shone on Derry. It was in stark contrast to that winter day in 1972. It was a privilege to be in Guildhall Square on an emotional day to witness history in the making.

Not since the early days of the Troubles had we seen a turnout of the world’s media anything like it. The march led by relatives of those killed and injured on that fateful day broke through the symbolic barricade at the bottom of William Street and turned the corner into Waterloo Place before sweeping on to the Guildhall. They turned a corner metaphorically as well as literally. In a sense the 1972 march has finally reached its destination. Truth so long denied has now been officially uncovered.

The first indication that all the dead and injured were to be exonerated came when relatives gave the ‘thumbs-up’ from the Guildhall windows.

Then David Cameron spoke to the British House of Commons as frankly as anyone had dared to hope. Relatives of the dead and injured then emerged from the Guildhall and spoke with great dignity. The reaction of Catholic and Protestant clergymen and most politicians was generous and gracious. It will take some time to absorb the detail of the report but yesterday was a good day. It is a time for healing.

Bloody Sunday poured petrol on the flames of war

Marchers burst through a banner depicting the discredited Widgery Tribunal. (1806PG24) Photo Phil Gamble

The tragedy of Bloody Sunday has been an open wound for too long. Now at last the healing process can start.

When it comes to suffering there’s no such thing as a hierarchy of victims no matter how much some might wish it to be otherwise. Pain and grief are the same for everyone.

And to a greater or lesser degree, by attitude, act or omission, we all (everyone over a certain age and generations past) helped to create the conditions for conflict.

But Bloody Sunday was different from other violence. It has to be different when state forces, charged with preserving law and order, themselves break the law even though the resulting human suffering is always the same.

Some have sought to limit the ramifications of Bloody Sunday by describing it as just another tragedy in a long litany of tragedy.

To do so is wrong. But without detracting from the significance of the day it is fair to point out that it happened in terribly troubled times. Many people on all ‘sides’ had already suffered a great deal.

Bloody Sunday didn’t start our troubles. It did, however, mark the start of my time in the police.

Three days before Bloody Sunday 70 ‘rookie’ police officers ‘passed out’ of the RUC Training Centre in Enniskillen. I was one of them. The

troubles were already well underway. Internment without trial had been introduced the previous August and that was another disaster. Eleven police officers and many others had been killed in the previous five months.

On the morning of our passing out ceremony we heard that two more officers had been killed and a third injured. There had been a shooting in Derry. My younger brother, Desmond, was to attend the Enniskillen ceremony along with my parents. He was already a serving officer here. Shortly before he finished duty earlier that morning he was directed to go to Altnagelvin Hospital.

There in the mortuary were the bodies of Sergeant Peter Gilgunn, 27, and Constable David Montgomery, 20. They had been shot and fatally injured as they drove up the steep hill to Rosemount RUC Station in an unmarked Ford Cortina. Constable Charlie Maloney was wounded.

Two other officers were extremely fortunate to escape injury. Two IRA men had stepped out from side streets and opened fire as the Cortina passed, hitting it 17 times.

When I had a chance to chat to my guests, after the ceremony, my brother told me how sad he had felt to see two colleagues lying lifeless in the mortuary. They were the first

police officers to be killed in Derry for over 50 years. (Incidentally, just over two months later my brother was himself killed in a road accident. He too, died aged 20.)

My squad left Enniskillen on Thursday 27th January 1972. Two days later, Requiem Mass for Peter Gilgunn was held in St Patrick’s Church at Pennyburn. Incidentally, he was a Cavan man and a fluent Gaelic speaker. Most of the congregation were police officers.

‘City convulsed’

The following day was Bloody Sunday. The city was convulsed.

Yesterday we finally had the truth about what happened after the largest and most expensive judicial inquiry in the history of these islands. Most people here already knew that army discipline seriously broke down that day.

Bloody Sunday made an already grim situation much worse. It poured petrol on the flames of war.

I arrived in the city, along with four or five other raw recruits, a couple of weeks after the event. After leaving Enniskillen we’d been in Belfast learning life-saving skills in the swimming baths at Templemore Avenue. We were all unarmed and had received no firearms training, although it did follow a few weeks later. The force was still officially unarmed but by that stage firearms had already been widely re-issued

for personal protection.

Not for the first time in its history the ‘Maiden City’ was a war zone.

The army had bases all over the place. They had permanent checkpoints on every street corner and on Craigavon Bridge. They had built countless sangars with sandbags, concrete blocks and sheets of corrugated iron. They were effectively in charge of what passed for law and order. More often than not, it was grave disorder. Even the military didn’t venture into ‘Free Derry’. (Except on Bloody Sunday.)

Behind makeshift barricades and white lines, they were no-go for the army or police. It wasn’t until the following summer that the army moved in with overwhelming strength in Operation Motorman.

For any young officer moving from training to the street is a big challenge. To make the transition into a war-zone, dominated by the army (and in ‘Free Derry’ by the IRA) was almost overwhelming. Derry was like Bagdad at its worst.

Most of the city was seething with anger. It was all a bit surreal. A few long-serving officers still lived on the cityside. In conversations over the years some these ‘old hands’ told me they recognised how seriously things had changed for the worse on Bloody Sunday. Sadly very many more killings were to follow over the next 30 years or so.

15

‘Relieved and delighted for the families’– Bishop The man associated with the most iconic image of Bloody Sunday, the priest waving the Bloody Handkerchief, yesterday described his emotions as one of immense relief - for the families and for himself Bishop Edward Daly who was with the Bloody Sunday families after they received Lord Saville’s report, said he had been carrying the load of what happened that fateful day for the last 38 years.

“I’m relieved and delighted for the families,” Bishop Daly told the ‘Journal.’ “The families have waited a long time for this, and I’m glad they’ve lived long enough to see it.

“It is good that the truth has finally emerged. They have all been cleared and vindicated. It’s wonderful to see it. I have always known that they were innocent, now the world has seen it.”

Bishop Daly, who now dedicates his life to working with the terminally ill, said he didn’t believe in the term “closure.”

“When someone dies, you never

get closure,” he said. “People learn to deal and cope with things but they still remember their loved ones.”

He explained how yesterday’s events began with tension and apprehension as the families waited to see Lord Saville’s long await-

‘Momentous day for Derry’ – McGuinness Sinn Féin leader Martin McGuinness has said yesterday was “an absolutely momentous day” in the long history of Derry.

Speaking after the findings of Lord Saville’s report, which described the murders of 14 people on Bloody Sunday as “unjustifiable,” Mr McGuinness said it was one of the “better days” ever seen in the city.

The Deputy First Minister spoke at a press conference alongside Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams where the pair said the Saville report confirmed what the people of Derry have known for 38 years.

Mr McGuinness said: “This is a momentous day for Derry, a day where the families have been vindicated.

“Every single person in this city has been found not to have been contravening anything or doing anything that would have justified what happened,” he said.

Mr Adams commended the families for their long campaign.

“It is a wonderful day for Ireland and for anyone in the world who is interested in justice,” he said.

Lord Saville’s report suggested that Mr McGuinness may have been armed with a Thompson sub machine gun on Bloody Sunday but also found that he did nothing that could have provided any justification for the paratroopers opening fire.

Mr McGuinness denied that he had been armed on the day.

ed report.

And he said the statement by British Prime Minister David Cameron had given the family’s comfort.

“It was a very powerful statement,” he said. “I’m grateful to Lord Saville and to the others.”

‘Truth has won out’ – Hume Nobel Laureate John Hume has welcomed the British Government’s acknowledgment that “its army murdered” on Bloody Sunday.

The former SDLP leader and Foyle MP made the comments following the publication of the Saville Report into Bloody Sunday and the subsequent Westminster addresses by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Mr. Hume told the

‘Journal’: “Today is a day when the truth has won out.

“The people of Derry have always known that everyone shot on Bloody Sunday was entirely innocent. With the publication of the Saville Report, the British state has acknowledged their innocence and that its army murdered on that day.

Now the world knows the truth that Derry has always known.”

He added that he was

“proud” to stand side by side with the Bloody Sunday families in Guildhall Square as the findings of Lord Justice Saville were announced yesterday afternoon.

He described Lord Saville’s report - which followed the inquiry announced when he was still an MP in 1998, as a “tremendous outcome for the long campaign which the families have carried through”.

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

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A.F.N. CLARKE wrote a book, ‘Contact’, later made into a film, about his experiences serving as an officer of the Parachute Regiment in the North in the 1970s. Here he gives his reaction to the Saville Report.

REFLECTIONS ONATRAGEDY If on 23rd February 1972, anyone had said to me that I would be writing an article in the ‘Derry Journal’ thirty-eight years in the future, I would have sought to have that person committed. Because on that day seven innocent civilians died in the Parachute Regiment Brigade Officer’s Mess, five women and two men. It was a retaliatory attack against the Regiment whose 1st Battalion had killed thirteen innocent civilians in the Bogside in Derry just three weeks earlier, and wounded many more. The eternal tit-fortat in a struggle for civil rights and freedom, about which few of us in England had any understanding.

My name is Anthony Clarke and on that day in February 1972, I was a Lance Corporal serving in the Depot The Parachute Regiment prior to going to Mons Officer Cadet School. I heard and felt the blast and saw the horrendous result.

Subsequently I served two tours in Northern Ireland as a Platoon Commander - 1973 in the Shankill Road area of Belfast and 1976 in Crossmaglen.

Those are the bare facts that hide the legacy that has stayed with me ever since. On 11th August 1976 I was evacuated from Crossmaglen to Musgrave Park Hospital Belfast in the last week of my Battalion’s tour of duty with severe internal bleeding. Many months in and out of various hospitals resulted in the

complete removal of my large bowel and subsequently sixteen surgeries over the last 33 years. I am simply one of the statistics that in the intervening years has grown into a very long list affecting families in Northern Ireland, Eire, Wales, Scotland and England. A statistic that luckily survived when many did not, including one of my soldiers who was killed by a bicycle bomb in Crossmaglen Square, another senseless statistic in a war that should never have happened.

In the book ‘The Art of War’ Sun Tzu wrote ‘There is no instance of a country having benefitted from prolonged warfare’. What he wrote 2,500 years ago stands true today.

Eventually all the warring factions, by the laws of attrition, have to agree to cease fighting and to talk peacefully in order to attain a measure of compromise, so that the citizens of that war-torn country may return to their lives and raise their families without the threat of death and destruction. Not an easy task when the legitimate grievances of the oppressed are not addressed by the occupying force.

On Tuesday, 15th June 2010 the Saville Inquiry Report into the Bloody Sunday killings was published for all to read, statements were made by politicians, and the media eagerly searched for some controversy to sell more newspapers, attract more viewers to their websites or gain greater radio and television ratings. For the people directly affected by the tragedy of Bloody Sunday it will make little difference to their lives, except to rightly proclaim the innocence of those killed in the Bogside on 30th January 1972. Those words typed on sheets of paper will be consigned to a dusty archive, and those who remain responsible will heave a sigh of relief and go about their lives as if nothing had happened. Responsibility will probably never be apportioned to senior offi-

The Paras in William Street in Derry’s Bogside in 1972.

cials in the Government and the Army; indeed those that should admit responsibility will continue to either remain silent or to vehemently deny the facts.

Much has been written, and much will be written, about Bloody Sunday and about the Parachute Regiment, of which there will be speculation, invention and perhaps somewhere the truth peeking through the agendas of whomever is writing about that day.

That the deaths of those innocent civilians is an abhorrence, an act of deliberate insanity, is not in doubt.

That the Parachute Regiment should never have been used in what was a policing situation is also not in doubt. But the official acceptance of those facts does not bring back the dead. It does little to ease the

“That the deaths of those innocent civilians is an abhorrence, an act of deliberate insanity, is not in doubt.

pain and suffering of the families of the victims both in Derry and in Aldershot. What occurred on 30th January 1972, ordered by Army Commanders and their superiors in the British Government, affected the lives of many thousands of people for decades.

‘Move forward’

While we cannot change the past, it is essential that we move forward and create a different future; a future of peace and reconciliation where people can live, work and play together, demonstrating how previously warring factions can agree to disagree, and come together to work towards a common goal - the peace and prosperity of their neighbourhood, city, county and country.

At the end of April 2010, I had the privilege of being invited to participate in an exhibition at the Tower Museum in Derry, an exhibition created by East London schoolchildren with the help of the Eastside Community Heritage and The Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Foundation for Peace. I met some family members

of the victims of Bloody Sunday. A former Para in Derry, in the Bogside, if not entirely accepted, was greeted with a graciousness that was truly humbling. That some would have wished to do me harm there is no doubt, but a majority were open to listen to what I had to say, and to see that not all Parachute Regiment soldiers are the monsters of 30th January 1972.

Most of us found the events of that day horrifying and lived to reap the whirlwind the perpetrators created.

There were no winners from that day, just a great many damaged people and we must all do everything in our power to now repair that damage and create an example of Peace and Reconciliation in Derry, as embodied in the Peace Bridge. But simple words of peace and reconciliation are meaningless unless backed by positive action.

That is the challenge we all now face.

“Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind”.

John Donne 1572-1631 AFN Clarke www.voyagesforpeace.com

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

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‘Our brother William McKinney is innocent’

“We took on British establishment and we won” - Kay Duddy

By Tina Curran tina.curran@derryjournal.com

By Tina Curran tina.curran@derryjournal.com

The brothers of William McKinney gave a passionate speech on the steps of the Guildhall yesterday as the 27-year-old, killed at Abbey Park as he tried to help the wounded, was vindicated.

Speaking from outside the Guildhall, William’s brother, Mickey McKinney, said: “My 27-year-old brother was murdered by British Paratroopers on Bloody Sunday.

This is an historic day for Derry. I would like to thank you all for your patience as we have all had patience over these past 38 years, but today the waiting has come to an end. This is a very challenging and traumatic time for the families and we couldn’t have done it without your encouragement and support. We now stand here today among friends.”

Joe McKinney added: “I am the brother of William McKinney who was murdered. He was shot in the back and fatally wounded.

There is no evidence to suggest that he was in possession of any form of weapon.

Our brother William McKinney is innocent.”

Another brother, John McKinney, said the mood inside the Guildhall had been one of disbelief and the families were ecstatic.

“I can’t believe it,” he said. “It is shocking Cameron apologising to the families. We actually had a hint early on with officials who were saying that we would get an apol-

A jubilant Mickey McKinney after the findings of the Saville Report were published.

ogy. It is a great day for the people of Derry.

“William was shot in the back as he tried to help someone. He posed no threat and they deliberately killed him.

“We always knew what the truth was. It is hard to take in when you have a Law Lord telling you what happened, what we will never forget. You always remember a brother. Our lives will change now and we can get on with rest of our lives. It is hard to believe we can stop campaigning.

“It is brilliant here today. It needed all this.

It had to involve the people of Derry and they came out and backed us. We were watching the march on TV and we were able to hear all the roaring outside.

Everybody was itching to get out. It was a great feeling to come out and tell everybody.

“We have to digest the report now and see what else he has written. The families will meet later and try to take in what has happened.”

Kay Duddy’s brother, 17-year-old Jackie Duddy, was shot dead at the Rossville Flats.

He had been running alongside the then Father Edward Daly when he was gunned down.

Speaking yesterday outside the Guildhall, the tears of relief and joy were hard to fight back as Ms Duddy asked the thousands of people, joined together to witness history in the making, to spend a minute in silence.

“I am so happy and relieved and overjoyed with that report today,” she told the Journal, “and to hear David Cameron standing up and declaring them innocent and making no excuses for the army.

“It is out there now. He said it and I am so happy that they finally accept the truth.”

Ms Duddy, along with other members of the Duddy family, and the families of others killed on Bloody Sunday, were given copies of the report before it was made public to the rest of the world. “There was a sombre mood today when we went into the Guildhall,” Ms Duddy said. “It was surreal. It was hard to take in.

“We took on the British establishment and got the truth for our loved ones. The people of Derry have been tremendous. Their support has been overwhelming.”

Ms Duddy paid tribute to the people of Derry saying the atmosphere at the Guildhall Square yesterday was “unbelievable.” She said: “This is just for the people of Derry, for the people that suffered, the ripple effect, people that lived with survival guilt.

“Thank you to the people of Derry.”

Kay Duddy, Jackie Duddy's sister, who was killed on Bloody Sunday, cheering as she leaves the Guildhall yesterday afternoon.

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Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

21

Emotional Durkan tells Commons:

‘We have overcome this day’ Derry’s MP yesterday fought back tears in the Commons as he read out the names of 14 men who were killed on Bloody Sunday Mark Durkan said the publication of the longawaited Saville Report came on a "day of deep emotion" for the city.

Mr Durkan told the Commons: “The people of my city didn’t just live through Bloody Sunday, they lived with it since.

“Each and every one of the victims are all absolutely and totally exonerated by today’s

report, as were all of the wounded.

“These men were cut down when they marched for justice in their own streets. On that civil rights march they were protesting against internment without trial. But not only were their rights taken. Their innocent memory was then interned without truth by the travesty of the Widgery tribunal.

The Foyle MP then quoted from poet Seamus Heaney's ‘The Road To Derry’, telling a hushed Commons chamber: "My heart besieged by anger, my mind a gap of danger;

"I walked among their old haunts, the home ground where they bled; "And in the dirt lay justice like an acorn in the winter; "Till its oak would sprout in Derry where the thirteen men lay dead."

Choking back tears, he concluded: "Perhaps the most important and poignant words from today will not be heard here or on the airwaves.

"Relatives will stand at the graves of victims and their parents to tell of a travesty finally arrested, of evidence vindicated and of promises kept.

"And when they do so, they can invoke the civil rights anthem ‘We Have Overcome’. We have overcome this day."

Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to Mr Durkan and said he had always fought for victims' families "in a way that is honourable and right".

He said: "You're right that the Widgery Report is now fully superseded by the Saville Report.

"This is the report with the facts, with the details, with the full explanation of what happened and it should be accepted as such."

McAliskey: Why did Maudling lie?

By Lorcan Mullen lorcan.mullen@derryjournal.com

Bernadette McAliskey, nee Devlin, the prominent civil rights activist famous for her post-Bloody Sunday assault on the British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling, has welcomed the report’s vindication of the victims and the bereaved, praising “the tenacity and bravery of the families in hanging in there.”

However, McAliskey questioned the report’s treatment of the events of Bloody Sunday as an isolated incident.

And, when speaking to the Journal, wondered why “if there’s no-one to blame but a handful of soldiers, why did Reginald Maudling lie?”

The former MP, attending a parliamentary debate on 1st February 1972, was enraged by Maudling’s assertion that troops had fired on “those who were attacking them with firearms and bombs.”

The Saville report now officially discred-

its Maudling’s account. McAliskey responded at the time by crossing the floor of the House, pulling the Home Secretary’s hair with one hand and striking him with the other as he stood at the despatch box.

McAliskey maintains that the subsequent ‘Widgery whitewash’, and the long drawn-out efforts of the British establishment in covering up what Saville has now accepted, played a significant role in exacerbating the already inflammatory impact of Bloody Sunday on the North’s security situation. She asserted that “given what people have ended up settling for, without Bloody Sunday, and the lies and cover up, the whole thing might have been over by ‘73. It was a twenty minute incident, but it changed the lives of people for a very long time.”

The erstwhile People’s Democracy firebrand believes the Saville report may well have closed off the possibility of full governmental accountability:

“The British government should have been held to account at The Hague, but Saville had no remit to hold his government to account. The government and military leadership have got off scot free...I wonder how I would feel as one of those soldiers carrying all that weight.”

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Borderland Reunion Night Relatives of the those killed on Bloody Sunday, hold up the Saville Report to those waiting in Guildhall Square. (1506SL107) Photo: Stephen Latimer

Bishop Good to meet families in Bogside The Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Right Reverend Dr Ken Good, is to make a special presentation to the Bloody Sunday families in the Bogside this morning.

Speaking following the publication of Lord Saville’s report, the findings of which he hailed as an opportunity for “further healing” of community relationships in Derry, the Bishop said it was important that society “listened carefully” to the despair of the Bloody Sunday families.

Dr Good acknowledged that the ways in which people on different sides of the community had viewed the events of Bloody Sunday had “been a source of pain and tension over the past three decades”.

However, he added: “As a consequence of this Report and of what will flow from it, we all now have the possibility of moving forward together

with a more accurate and shared appreciation of one of the key moments of our turbulent and troubled shared history. Let us reach out to one another across our community and build upon this understanding.”

However, Dr Good did make reference to the £191m cost of the tribunal - the most expensive in British legal history.

“We are aware that the cost and length of this Inquiry has been an issue. I am also deeply conscious of the desire of families of all who have lost loved ones in our Troubles to have a meaningful review of the tragic circumstances in which the lives of their loved ones were lost.”

Bishop Good will make a presentation to representatives of the Bloody Sunday families at the Bloody Sunday Memorial in Rossville Street today at 10.30am.

Friday 2nd July Following the huge success of the Borderland Reunion night on Saturday 27th March at the City Hotel - its back by popular demand!!

The phenomenon of the showbands that swept across the country throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s created Ireland’s first superstars. Who can forget the likes of Dickie Rock, Joe Dolan, Brendan Boyer and the Royal Showband?! Now we are bringing the memories back and reliving the Hucklebuck, Walking from the Candy Store to the Chapel on the Hill and of course “Oh me, Oh my, You make me sigh you’re such a Good Looking Woman”.

Commenting on the forthcoming event Rachel Bruce, Community Fundraiser in the Hospice said “We were aware of the huge popularity of the showbands and the buzz that surrounded the showband scene so decided to recreate the magic (and mayhem) of Borderland here in the city.

The mere mention of “Borderland” evokes flashbacks to good times for so many. The entertainment on the night will be provided by the Midnight Showband including the likes of Trevor Burnside, Les Thompson, Robert Goodman, Gary McKeever, Eddie Doherty and the Mallet Sisters on backing vocals. With tickets priced at £8 we are hoping to attract a huge crowd of “punters” to the event at the City Hotel and have a packed out house. All the monies raised from this event will enable the Hospice to continue providing specialised palliative care services to those terminally ill with cancer or other life limiting illnesses as well as support and guidance to their family and loved ones. Events such as Borderland Reunion form an extremely important part of the fundraising calendar for the hospice and we are appealing for a big turnout on the night.”

Tickets for the event can be purchased from Foyle Hospice Fundraising Centre, 61 Culmore Road (028) 71359888 or The City Hotel, Queens Quay (028) 71365800 PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT IS STRICTLY LIMITED TO 300 TICKETS

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

23

The families of the Bloody Sunday dead arrive for the reading of the Saville Report at Derry's Guildhall on Tuesday morning. (1506SL01) Photo: Stephen Latimer

Legal representatives including Lord Gifford QC, Greg McCartney, Paddy MacDermott and Ciaran Mallon, QC, arrive early on Tuesday morning for the reading of the Saville Report. (1506SL04) Photo: Stephen Latimer

Kay Duddy arrives at the Guildhall for the reading of the Saville Report on Tuesday morning. (1506SL07) Photo: Stephen Latimer

Joe McKinney holds up a "Set The Truth Free" poster bearing a photo of his brother William who was murdered on Bloody Sunday, as the families made their way to the Guildhall. (1806PG06) Photo: Phil Gamble

Tension builds as Bloody Sunday relatives gather at the Guildhall on Tuesday morning in anticipation of learning the findings of the Saville Report. (1806PG12) Photo: Phil Gamble

Relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday make their way along William Street on Tuesday morning. (1506SL06) Photo: Stephen Latimer

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

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Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

26

Bloody Sunday - how the awful nightmare happened The afternoon of Sunday January 30, 1972, is one which will live in the memory of the people of Derry for generations.

It began with an anti-internment march organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and ended with the murder of innocent civilians by the British Army’s Parachute Regiment.

The ill-fated march set off from the Bishop’s Field in Creggan before making its way along Central Drive, Linsfort Drive, Iniscarn Road, Southway, along the Lone Moor Road, down Creggan Street, and into William Street.

The organisers of the march had originally planned for it to proceed through Waterloo Place and on to Guildhall Square where Bernadette Devlin and Labour peer Fenner Brockway and others were due to address the crowd.

However, after being told that the march would be stopped at William Street, it was decided the speeches should take place at Free Derry Corner in the Bogside.

As the march made its way down William Street, a section of the crowd broke off from the main body of marchers and ran towards RUC and British Army lines and began throwing stones.

The soldiers responded with rubber bullets and water cannon.

Shortly before 4 pm, 15 year-old Damien Donaghy was shot and wounded on William Street. He was the first person to be shot on the day.

The paratoopers who shot him fired from the rear of a Presbyterian Church on Great James’ Street. They had been manning an observation point when they were spotted by a group of young people throwing stones.

59 year-old John Johnston was

Rossville Street and on waste ground to the north of the Rossville Flats.

At 4.10 pm, members of C Company of 1 Para ran into William Street on foot while ten army vehicles carrying the battalion’s Support Company moved into Little James’ Street. These were led by two Armoured Personell Carriers (APC) carrying the 18 man Mortar Platoon.

The first APC stopped at waste ground near Eden Place while the second moved on to the courtyard of Rossville Flats.

Panic

■ The body of one those gunned down in the Bogside lies on the pavement covered with a blanket.

walking past at the time and was not involved in the stonethrowing but he, too, was shot twice. He died four months later.

A single rifle shot was fired at the paratroopers’ position after Mr Donaghey and Mr Johnston had been shot.

At 3.55 pm, Colonel Derek Wilford, the Commander of 1 Para, requested permission to send his troops into the Bogside and the order was given at 4.07 pm to send the soldiers in through Barrier 14 at William Street but with the express order “not to conduct a running battle down Rossvile Street.”

Most of the marchers had left the area but many remained on

■ Paratroopers run for cover under a hail of stones at William Street.

The presence of the troops so deep inside the Bogside caused panic and the remaining marchers ran towards Free Derry Corner.

Some paratroopers arrested the fleeing marchers at this stage while others started shooting, firing 42 rounds in ten minutes.

17 year-old Jackie Duddy was shot in the back as he ran along Chamberlain Street to escape from the soldiers.

Members of the paratroopers’ Anti-Tank Platoon moved to Kells Walk while other troops supported the Mortar Platoon. The soldiers at Kells walk opened fire on a number of people standing behind a rubble barricade, shooting a number of men dead.

17 year-old John Young, 18 yearold Michael McDaid, 19 year-old William Nash and Michael Kelly (17) were shot at the barricade, within seconds of each other.

Hugh Gilmour (17) was shot as he ran towards the barricade but ran on and died a short distance away.

Two men were then shot dead as they tried to crawl away from the scene, 17 year-old Kevin McKinney, who died between the barricade and the Rossville Flats, and 31 year-old Patrick Doherty, who was shot as he crawled between the flats and Joseph Place.

William Nash’s father, Alex, was shot and wounded at the rubble barricade as he tried to go to his son’s aid.

Terrified civilians who had been sheltering behind a gable wall at Glenfada Park close to the rubble barricade tried to move between the blocks of the flats towards Abbey Park.

A number of paratroopers moved into the courtyard at Glenfada Park and opened fire, killing 22 year-old James Wray, 35 year-old Gerard McKinney, 17 year-old Gerard Donaghey, and 26 year-old William McKinney. James Wray was shot twice, including one when he was laying wounded, face down on the ground.

Even the Widgery Tribunal into the events of Bloody Sunday found

■ Damien ‘Bubbles’ Donaghy receives emergency treatment after being shot while trying to pick up a rubber bullet at William Street.

■ British Army pigs storm into the Bogside as scores of people congregate at a makeshift barricade built across Rossville Street.

that the firing in Glenfada Park “bordered on the reckless.”

At the Rossville flats, civilians sheltering from the gunfire heard an injured man calling from help and one of them, 41 year-old Bernard McGuigan,

walked out into the courtyard holding a white hankerchief to find the injured man but was shot dead.

In all, 13 people had been killed and a 14th died four months later from his injuries.

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REAL PEOPLE REAL LIVES It is important to remember the real stories behind the victims of Bloody Sunday. Each of those who died on January 30, 1972, had busy lives, girlfriends, hobbies and families whose lives were torn apart forever by Bloody Sunday. In this feature - a touching portrait of the victims' lives before that tragic day - we are introduced to a photographer, a golfer, a student, a prankster, and ten other boys and men who we learn are very much like our own fathers, sons, brothers and friends.

William McKinney was twenty six years old and the oldest in a family of ten. Willie worked as a compositor with the Derry Journal. Quiet by nature, he was nicknamed 'the professor' by his family. He was interested in music, particularly Irish music and Jim Reeves, and he also played the accordion. However, his true passion was photography and, having got a film camera one Christmas, he often screened cartoons for his younger brothers and sisters. At the time of his death Willie was going steady and had just passed his driving test. He supported the civil rights campaign and had been at Magilligan the week before Bloody Sunday. He was murdered in Glenfada Park.

Michael McDaid was twenty years old and lived in Tyrconnell Street, the second youngest of a family of twelve. He worked as a bar man in the Celtic Bar and was an affectionate young man, very close to his parents and especially close to his young nephews, regularly taking his family on runs to Donegal on Sundays. Michael was murdered at the rubble barricade on Rossville Street.

John Young was seventeen years old at the time of Bloody Sunday. He was born at Springtown Camp, the youngest of a family of six, and worked in John Temple's menswear shop. John had a passion for showbands and roadied for The Scene showband. In 1971 he witnessed the murder of Annette McGavigan by the British Army in Derry. He was murdered as he sought safety at the rubble barricade on Rossville Street.

Patrick Doherty was thirty one years old, married to Eileen and father of six children between eleven years and seven months old. He worked in Du Pont. A strong supporter of the civil rights movement, Paddy was an active member of the association and attended all the protests in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He had also been at Magilligan the week before Bloody Sunday and witnessed the brutality of the Paratroop Regiment. He was murdered as he tried to crawl to safety in the shadow of Rossville Flats.

Kevin McElhinney was seventeen years old and the middle child in a family of five. He had a keen interest in athletics and soccer and worked at Lipton's supermarket from the time he left school, never missing a day. Kevin helped look after his home for six months as his mother recovered from a heart attack. He regularly attended dances but didn't smoke or drink and was learning to drive in the hope of getting a car. Kevin's real passion was music, especially T-Rex. Kevin was murdered as he sought shelter at the rubble barricade in Rossville Street.

Hugh Gilmour was just seventeen years old when he was killed on Bloody Sunday. Hugh lived in the Rossville Flats and was the youngest of a family of eight and son of a former Derry City player. He had worked as a trainee tyre fitter in Northern Ireland Tyres in William Street. Living in Rossville Flats Hugh found himself at the forefront of the civil unrest that swept the north in 1969, and he contributed to the defence of the Bogside in August 1969. He was also an avid Liverpool supporter, went to the pictures every Friday night with his friends and had just bought a car and was learning to drive. Hugh Gilmour was murdered just yards from the safety of Rossville Flats.

Gerald Donaghey was just seventeen years old and the youngest of three children when he was killed on Bloody Sunday. Gerald was orphaned at the age of ten when his mother and father died within the space of four weeks.

Gerald witnessed first-hand the creation of the civil rights movement in Derry and was involved in the civil unrest that was so common at the time. He was sentenced to six months for rioting in the Bogside and was released on Christmas Eve, 1971. Gerald Donaghey was murdered as he tried to escape the paratroopers in Glenfada Park. After his death, he was acknowledged as a member of Na Fianna Éireann.

Jackie Duddy was seventeen years old when he was killed on Bloody Sunday. He was born at Springtown camp into a family of fifteen and the family later moved to Creggan. Jackie worked as a weaver at French's factory but his real passion was boxing. He was a member of Long Tower Boxing Club who had fought throughout Ireland and represented the club in Liverpool. Jackie had no interest in politics and attended the march against his father's advice, for the craic.

He was the first person murdered on Bloody Sunday as he ran through Rossville car park, with Fr Daly running at his side.

William Nash was nineteen years old and the seventh child in a family of thirteen. He worked with his father on Derry docks and loved country and western music. William had just celebrated his brother Charlie's success at the National Boxing Championships in Dublin and the marriage of his brother James. He was murdered at the rubble barricade in Rossville Street.

John Johnston was fifty nine years old and had worked as a draper all his life. He was well dressed and quiet by nature and had been a keen supporter of the civil rights movement, attending as many marches as he could. His other passion was golf; he was a member of Lisfannon Golf Club and once won the captain's prize, which was a prized possession. John Johnston was hit by the first shots fired in William Street on Bloody Sunday and died five months later from his injuries.

Jim Wray was twenty two years old when he was killed on Bloody Sunday. He was the second oldest in a family of nine and had worked in England for some time, becoming engaged to an English girl. Outgoing by nature, Jim went to the castle Bar on a Friday night and the Embassy dance hall on a Saturday. Jim attended the civil rights marches in Derry and the entire family had gone to the march on 30 January after attending mass together. Jim was shot and wounded in Glenfada Park, before being executed as he lay on the ground unable to move.

Gerald McKinney was thirty five years old, a devoted husband to his wife Ita and father of eight children, the youngest of which, also called Gerald, was born eight days after his father's murder. Other than his family, Gerry's main interests were soccer and roller skating. He managed a junior soccer team and ran the Ritz roller skating rink on the Strand Road. Gerald worked in John McLaughlin's on the Strand Road and had no particular interest in politics.

He was murdered in Glenfada Park.

Barney McGuigan was a married family man and the father of six children. He was forty one years old when he was killed on Bloody Sunday. Barney worked in the BSR factory and as a general handyman at Cedric's factory on Carlisle Road. He had no real interest in politics but attended many of the early civil rights marches in the city. Barney was murdered as he went to aid the fatally injured Paddy Doherty.

Michael Kelly was seventeen years old and the seventh child in a family of thirteen. He had been training to be an electrical engineer and spent his weeks in Belfast, returning to Derry at the weekends. Michael had a very sweet tooth and was a keen pigeon fancier. At the age of three he had been in a coma for weeks and his family was told not to expect him to recover.

Michael had no interest in politics and the Bloody Sunday march was the first he had ever attended. He was murdered at the rubble barricade in Rossville Street.

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On Bloody Sunday, thirteen marchers were shot dead in broad daylight in the Bogside, and a further fifteen wounded, one of whom later died of his injuries.

Those shot were branded gunmen and nailbombers by the British government. In this feature, the ‘Journal’ remembers all those who were injured, many of whom did not live to hear Saville’s findings or see the truth set free.

Patsy McDaid was 25 years-old when he was wounded on Bloody Sunday. Moments after helping carry the injured Peggy Deery to safety, Patsy was shot in the back as he sought refuge from the incoming fire. His experiences on January 30, 1972, have remained with him.

Mickey Bridge was 25 years-old and a march steward on Bloody Sunday. The Bogside had just descended into pandemonium marchers fleeing advancing troops and running for shelter towards the Rossville Flats and Free Derry Corner - when he was shot by a paratrooper.

Joe Mahon had just turned 16 years-old when he was shot and wounded on January 30, 1972.

When the shooting began, Joe found himself trapped in Glenfada Park. He was shot and feigned death after witnessing the execution of Jim Wray just a few feet away from where he lay.

Damien ‘Bubbles’ Donaghey was the first person shot on Bloody Sunday and, almost forty years later, the physical and psychological effects of January 30, 1972, continue to plague him.

Alana Burke was just 18 years-old when she was badly injured on Bloody Sunday. Crushed by an armoured Saracen as she and hundreds of others fled the advancing British paratroopers, Alana sustained serious, lifechanging injuries and the trauma of her ordeal has yet to fade.

Patrick O’Donnell (deceased) was a 41 year-old family man at the time of Bloody Sunday and was shot and wounded in Glenfada Park. Despite his injuries, he was arrested and ill-treated before being released to seek medical attention.

26 year-old Joseph Friel was at Free Derry Corner when the shooting began on Bloody Sunday. He was trying to make his way home to the Rossville Flats when he was shot in Glenfada Park.

Patrick Campbell (deceased) was 51 years-old and married with a family. He was shot as he sought shelter at Joseph Place.

Michael Quinn was 17 years-old and still at school when he was shot on Bloody Sunday. He had become trapped in Glenfada Park and was shot as he tried to escape the paratroopers' advance.

Daniel Gillespie (deceased) was 32 years-old and married with a young family. He was wounded in Glenfada Park and lay unconscious as the shooting continued.

Michael Bradley (deceased) was 22 years-old when he was shot in the courtyard of the Rossville Flats after witnessing the murder of Jackie Duddy.

Peggy Deery (deceased) was the only woman shot on Bloody Sunday. She was 33 years-old and the mother of 14 children and her husband had died just four months before Bloody Sunday.

Daniel McGowan (deceased) was 38 years-old and married with six children. He had not attended the civil rights march on January 30, 1972, and was shot while carrying the wounded Patrick Campbell to safety.

Alexander Nash (deceased) was 51 years-old when he was shot on Rossville Street as he attempted to go to the aid of his son William who was murdered that day.

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Anightmare never to be forgotten Derry journalist Charles Haslett (right) - who passed away just last year - was one of the large press corps which covered the Bloody Sunday march. In this article, first published in 1992, he recalls the events of that day when thirteen men were shot dead and another fifteen people wounded as BritishArmy paratroopers opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in the Bogside.

Time, it’s said, inevitably takes the fine edge off recollection. That, in the main, is true.

But most people will at some time in their lives experience an event which sears the mind so deeply as to defy the passing years.

Such an event for many Derry people was Bloody Sunday, 30th January, 1972, when British soldiers opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in the Bogside.

Assigned to cover the march on that day, I watched it assemble at Bishop’s Field in Creggan. The parade, the organisers announced, would end with a rally at Free Derry Corner and not the city centre as originally planned. It was a route which did not find favour with a section of the crowd which shouted its insistence that it should proceed to the Guildhall.

A ban on parades throughout Northern Ireland imposed the previous August, was still in operation and Army barriers were already in position at William Street, Little James street and Sackville Street to contain the marchers in the Bogside and prevent them reaching the City Centre.

Set against that background it appeared that a clash was more than likely although the consensus of opinion among local Pressmen on the ground was that at worst, there would be another bout of rioting, a not unusual occurrence in the Bogside at the time.

I accompanied the march towards the William Street area and at one stage noted that a sizeable crowd of young people had positioned itself ahead of the lorry carrying the Civil Rights Association officials.

Stewards appealed on a number of occasions to them to join the march by getting behind the lorry, but the appeals were ignored.

At the junction of William street and Rossville Street this group continued straight ahead in the direction of the Army barrier as the lorry turned towards Free Derry Corner. With the late Tom Cassidy, editor of the “Journal”, I followed the group as far as Chamberlain Street corner. The street ahead was packed with people right up to the barrier and stones were thrown at the soldiers who replied with rubber bullets during the ensuing fifteen minute confrontation.

The crowd began to break up when a water cannon was brought into use.

In a statement to a member of the Treasury solicitor staff, acting for the Widgery Tribunal some days after the event, I said: “I felt the crowd were dispersing and I saw no reason to suppose there would be any undue trouble.”

Four dead, three wounded Within half an hour I was to find myself in Glenfada Park where Lord Widgery was later

death toll.

Shots were still being fired as I attempted to leave the Bogside area via Fahan Street.

Again I was forced to throw myself to the ground, encouraged to keep low by a small group of men sheltering at the gable end of the house, It took several minutes to crawl in their direction before I felt safe to get up and walk round the corner.

Back to the old City Hotel I discovered colleagues there had anything but the full picture of what happened. One of them greeted me with: “Two dead. The Paras must have gone berserk.” Information from official sources was slow in coming through apparently.

‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’

■ The scenes of utter panic and confusion witnessed by Charlie Haslett at Abbey Park.

to hold that Army firing “bordered on the reckless.” Four men were shot dead and three more wounded in that area as the Paras swept into the Bogside.

As the crowd began to disperse from the William Street barrier we went via Chamberlain Street and Eden Place to Rossvile Street. Stones were being thrown at the Little Diamond Street barrier and the air was thick with CS gas.

Efforts to verify reports in the area that two men had been shot in William Street led me to Glenfada Park and as I walked through the Square there, I heard a volley of shots.

Immediately I looked to the left through an alleyway and saw a number of soldiers running along Rossville Street in the direction of Free Derry Corner. I had no idea where the shots were being fired from but they caused panic among a crowd of about thirty people in the Park. They scattered in all directions and I joined about fifteen of them sheltering in a nearby house.

Five minutes later I left by the rear door and as I did so I was confronted by a youth in a distraught condition calling for an ambulance. He directed me towards the front of the house and from there I saw two men lying motionless in the Square. I was joined by several others and as we approached the men more shots rang out. Again I could not see who was firing and did not know if the shots were aimed at us - we just threw ourselves flat on the ground.

More shots followed as two Knights of Malta first aid attendants approached and

they too ended up lying on the ground beside the injured. The younger of the men I later learned he was Gerard Donaghy - was pulled clear of the area by people crawling on their hands and knees and carried into a house in the Park. He had been shot in the abdomen and Dr. Kevin Swords who examined him determined that he was still alive and advised he was be taken to the hospital as soon as possible. I helped carry him out to a car for the journey.

The second man Gerald McKinney was taken from the scene by ambulance.

There was a rush for phones when I told him I saw at least three times that number dead an unofficial reports in the Bogside were putting the death toll as high as twelve.

Driving home in the small hours of the following morning, I spotted a bill advertising the film showing that week at a local cinema: “Sunday, Bloody Sunday.” It described the events of the previous day perfectly.

During the time I was in the Bogside that afternoon I did not see any civilians armed with guns or bombs of any sort, nor had I heard shooting before the Army moved into Rossville Street.

Identify another victim I was then asked to go to a house on the area where I was told I could help to identify another victim. What I found there brought the full horror of it all home to me in a very personal way.

The body I was shown was that of a former workmate “Journal” compositor William McKinney. I had spoken to him in Rossville Street just before the shooting started.

The fourth victim in Glenfada was James Joseph Wray (22).

Those of us who were in Glenfada Park were, of course, unaware of exactly what was happening in Rossville Street - it was not a day for moving freely. But we could have hazarded a guess, judging by the sound of heavy gunfire coming from that direction.

It was the evening before the full picture emerged adding another nine victims to the

■ The body of the fatally wounded Gerry McKinney at Abbey Park.

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■The march sets off from Central Drive in the Creggan Estate.

■ Marchers carry the fatally wounded body of Patrick Doherty at the Rossville Flats.

WHAT HAPPENED THAT TERRIBLE DAY

■ Soldiers are pelted with stones at Barrier 14 at William Street.

■ A Knight of Malta tries desperately to help one of those shot at Abbey Park.

■ The scene at William Street not long before the Parachute Regiment stormed into the Bogside where they killed 13 people and wounded another 15.

■ A man is assaulted by a paratrooper at waste ground near Pilots Row.

■ A wounded Michael Bradley is stretchered to an ambulance at Rossville Street.

■ One of the dead is covered with a blanket close to the rubble barricade at Rossville Street.

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Bloody Sunday - The Supreme Atrocity In this article, first published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in 1992, former ‘Journal’editor Frank Curran (right) argues that there would have been no deaths on Bloody Sunday if the British had accepted the advice of the then local RUC commander that the march be permitted to reach the Guildhall without army intervention.

The supreme atrocity visited on Irish people during the Troubles happened in the dark month of January 1972. It was committed by the British Crown Forces. It was a day of infamy and shame for the British Army and nation.

It is also a matter of record that the event which shocked the civilised world - and which continues to haunt British people of goodwill was not only condemned but actually welcomed by some people in the Unionist community.

The memories and savagery of Bloody Sunday sear the Derry people. Many in official circles do not like Bloody Sunday mentioned.

“Oh, surely it is time to forget that matter, so many years have gone by”, they plead. It is a vain hope. Bloody Sunday was murder of such magnitude that it will never be forgotten and never forgiven until the British admit that the action of the thugs of the First Parachute Regiment constituted mass, cold-blooded and pre-meditated murder. Nationalist leader Eddie McAteer said at the time “there is a river of blood between England and us”.

He was right because from Bloody Sunday stemmed so many other atrocities in the years ahead. There are people in their graves who would probably be alive today if Bloody Sunday had never happened. Let anyone who doubts the validity of that judgement just reflect on this fact - in 1969 there were 15 deaths from violence; in 1970 the total was 25; in 1971 the figure had risen to a frightening 173; but, in 1972, the death toll reached a sickening 474. The paras killed far more than 13 people when they mowed down unarmed civilians in the Bogside.

The British compounded their massacre (the blueprint for their Chinese military counterparts in Tianamen Square many years later) by distributing world-wide a shocking posthumous calumny on the Derry victims. The Ministry of Defence issued a claim that four of the dead were on an IRA wanted list. That canard was launched throughout the USA by the British Embassy.

On 4th February, four days after the massacre, I wrote an article in the “Journal” stating flatly that the “four wanted men” propaganda was a lie. I called it a “posthumous calumny on the dead”. My sources were impeccable, showing that at least some people in official circles were ashamed and angered by the actions of the paras.

But it was not until 13th March, at the beginning of one of the days of the Widgery Whitewash (it was called an Inquiry officially of course), that Mr. E. Gibben QC, Chief Counsel for the Army, rose to admit the malicious conspiracy to besmirch the dead. Mr. Gibben said that the allegations against four of the dead were “totally untrue” and added: “I am authorised on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and General Ford to express regret”.

They were the only words of regret uttered by either the Army Legal Team or by General Ford throughout the Inquiry.

Major General Ford was commander-in-chief of land forces and he was in William Street when the paras were unleashed to make their murdering sweep into the Bogside. Why a man in so eminent a position was on the streets at

investigation. The official story that they were the only experienced regiment available would be laughable if the context was not so tragic.

Wilford’s Myopia

■ The body of one of those murdered on Bloody Sunday is covered with a sheet.

■ Major General Robert Ford, the British army's Commander of Land Forces in the North in 1972.

Lieutenant-Colonel Derek Wilford, officer in command of the paras, claimed to Widgery that 200 shots were fired at his troops. Yet he saw only one shot fired by a solder. He must have been suffering from a massive attack of myopia.

Colonel Wilford also shared with General Ford a lapse of memory. Neither in evidence was he able to say whether the infamous canard about the “wanted” men was true or false. They apparently had so little regard for accuracy that they never bothered to check the truth or otherwise of a claim that, if true, could have bolstered their stories of troops coming under considerable fire.

Another major actor in the drama was the inquiry Chairman, the Right Honourable Lord Widgery OBE, TD, the Lord Chief Justice of England. A squat-figure, he sat impassively most of the time, but never excited any confidence in the Derry witnesses that he would produce a report that was impartial, or that would apportion blame for the massacre where it rightly reposed. My observations about his first appearance were that “his arrival in a British Army helicopter looked rather like a visiting team bringing their own referee with them”. I had no reason to review that initial feeling later.

The man who was a British Army Commander in Derry on Bloody Sunday, Brigadier Andrew Patrick McLellan, MBE, illustrated his comprehensive knowledge of the city whose peace he was supposed to uphold by describing the centre of Derry as “a Protestant commercial area”.

Were the IRA involved?

■ Colonel Wilford, who commanded 1 Para in Derry on Bloody Sunday.

all is a question that will doubtless provoke historical probes when the definitive analysis of all that happened both before Bloody Sunday and during it comes to be written.

And, of course, who made the decision to deploy the paras in Derry that day will also give the historical detectives much food for

One of the controversies both then and after was whether, as the British Army brass claimed, the IRA were active in the Bogside to the extent that 200 shots were fired at soldiers.

I believe that two or three gunmen with revolvers were in the Bogside and they fired a few shots. But the claim about the IRA was a figment of the imagination, and apart from the fact that careful investigation by journalists from many parts of the world did not corroborate the Army allegations, I have one chilling comment. It is that, if the IRA had been present in force, there would have been army casualties. As it was, not a single soldier could claim to have experienced even a close escape from any of the mythical 200 shots.

Another significant fact bearing on Army claims of subversive action against them was that, of the scores of people arrested in the paras’ arrest operation, not one carried any weapon or even anything that could have been identified as being capable of being used as a weapon. On the law of averages, if people with guns had been roaming the Bogside, somebody with a gun would have been caught in the net.

A telling point is that not a single one of the wounded was carrying a gun or a bomb, and the army never at any time tried to insinuate they were. You see, calumny against dead peo-

ple is always easier than lies about live people who can defend themselves.

The general tenor of Widgery’s verdict is well known in Derry and it is not necessary for me to detail it. I would like to refer to one section in his report which strangely did not get the attention it deserved. It contained a nasty implication not at all in keeping with what is supposed to be the duty of a judge i.e. to deal with established facts, and not indulge in personal fantasy to bolster what he wants to be the truth.

Lord Widgery stated that “another difficulty is that there is no certainty that the known casualty list is exhaustive”. Later, he continued, “there is a widely held belief that, on some previous occasions when shots have been exchanged in Londonderry, casualties among the IRA or their supporters have been spirited away over the border to the Republic.

Even a remote possibility that this occurred on 30th January increases the difficulty of trying to match a soldier’s account of why he fired”.

The facts are that the Army picked up all the casualties and for anyone to have tried to “spirit away” a body in the general panic would have been madness. Lord Widgery in that passage was ensuring explanations for some of the soldiers shooting accounts which could not be matched with truth.

Summary of conclusions 1. There would have been no deaths on Bloody Sunday if the British had accepted the advice of Chief Superintendent Frank Lagan, Commander of the RUC, that the march be permitted to reach the Guildhall without army intervention.

2. No evidence was produced to support the Army contention that 200 shots were fired at soldiers.

3. All the deceased were innocent civilians.

4. The verdict expressed by seven Derry priests that the shootings were “wilful murder” was borne out by the evidence.

5. The verdict delivered by the Derry Coroner, former British Army Major Hubert O’Neill at the subsequent Inquest that the shootings were “pure unadulterated murder” was a correct assessment of the day’s events.

6. Lord Widgery prostituted his elevated position to uphold the political imperatives of the British establishment and to ensure that none of the murderers would ever be prosecuted.

7. The paras that day became the third element in a trinity of villainy, earning a place in Irish history equal to Cromwell’s men at Drogheda and the Black and Tans during the Anglo-Irish war.

8. The Bloody Sunday killers, it might be thought, got away with their murders. But, perhaps, the words of England’s greatest scribe might let us hope that they did not escape unscathed. Shakespeare reminded us all that “conscience doth make cowards of us all”.

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Bloody Sunday: what they had to say about it 38 years ago

‘‘

“Sunday is a make or break day for the cause of Civil Rights and the release of the internees.

Any rioting, any trouble or any incident must be confined to members of the British Army.

They disgraced themselves at Magilligan last Saturday with their unprovoked savagery. DO not let them disgrace you, the City of Derry and the whole democratic cause.”

Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association Organiser Kevin McCorry appealing for calm in the days before the march.

“If this march is allowed to continue we are resolved to hold a similar march and rally at the earliest possible opportunity. The Queen’s writ must run in every part of City, and the law must be administered fairly to all sections of the community.

The Foyle Democratic Unionist Association, who said they would hold a counter rally if the anti-internment march was allowed to go ahead. They called off their rally after discussions with Police and Army Chiefs.

“We accuse the Colonel of the Parachute Regiment of wilful murder. We accuse the Commander of Land Forces of being an accessory before the fact. We accuse the soldiers of shooting indiscriminately into a fleeing crowd, of gloating over casualties, of preventing medical and spiritual aid reaching some of the dying.

Part of the statement made by seven Derry priests following the killings.

British Army get out of Northern Ireland after today’s violence, the better for everyone concerned. It is the only way to achieve peace.”

Fr Edward Daly on the Bogside murders.

■ British soldiers come under attack from stone throwers at William Street.

■ A paratrooper arrests a man in the city’s Bogside.

We deplore the action of the Army and the government in employing a Unit such as paratroopers who were in Derry yesterday. These men are trained criminals. They differ from terrorists only in the veneer of respectability that a uniform gives them”.

A further extract from the priests’ statement.

“Soon after they were deployed at 4.10 p.m. they came under nail bomb attack and a fusillade of fire, 50 to 80 rounds from the area of Rossville Flats and Glenfada Flats. Fire was returned at gunmen and nail bombers. Subsequently as the troops deployed to get at the gunmen, the latter continued to fire. In all a total of over 200 rounds was fired indiscriminately in the general direction of the soldiers. Fire continued only to be returned at identified targets.”

Firing bordered on the reckless

After Sunday’s massacre, the sooner the British Government, if it has not sold out to Stormont completely, takes such as its paratroopers out of the sight of the minority in this area, the less prolonged will such an outrange on that people’s feelings be. And so far as its attitude to Stormont is concerned, after this no amount of political manoeuvring on the British Government’s part need hope to redeem such an odious and disreputable regime in the Six county minority’s eyes.”

Derry Journal editorial after the killings.

A man walked out into the road in front of the flats in the Bogside. There were a number of people lying injured in the road and he was obviously going to help them. He had both his hands in the air and was waving a handkerchief.

Suddenly there was a burst of fire and the man fell shot through the head. He was obviously dead.

Journalist Simon Winchester on the shootings at Glenfada Park.

This ghastly and deliberate holocaust of innocent civilians by armed criminals, the dregs of the British Army, sets a river of blood between his country and England.

Statement by Nationalist Party MPs, Eddie McAteer and Roderick O’Connor.

■ The march makes its way along Westland Street.

A statement issued from British Army Headquarters in Lisburn after the killings. Not one soldier was wounded in the incident.

“It was simple massacre. There were no petrol bombs, no guns, no snipers, no justification for this well organised slaughter.

Derry’s Blood Sunday will be

remembered as the British Army’s greatest day of shame.

Mr. Eddie McAteer, leader of the Nationalist Party.

“A 16 year-old boy was shot beside me and others were badly injured by the firing. I crawled and gave him the Last Right for there was no hope of saving his life. The quicker the

“I was one of the original 1st Battalion of the Paras. They were tough men but they would never have done what the present 1st Battalion did in Derry.

We were never taught to fire at random as they did.”

Derry man Francis McCloskey, a former member of the paras who returned his British Army, medals after Bloody Sunday.

“Mr. McGuigan eventually said “I can’t stand this anymore I am

going out. They would not shoot me with a handkerchief in my hands.” He went out and was shot in the head.”

Geraldine Richmond, giving evidence to the Widgery Tribunal, describing the last minutes of the life of Barney McGuigan.

“There would have been no deaths if those who organised the illegal march had not thereby created a highly dangerous situation in which a clash between demonstrators and the security forces was almost inevitable.”

Britain’s Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, in his findings on the Bloody Sunday killings.

“Firing bordered on the reckless.”

Lord Widgery’s famous description of the shooting at Glenfada Park which left four men dead.

“Widgery didgery” A local description of the Widgery Tribunal.

“It’s like blaming a man shot walking down the street for walking down the street.”

Foyle MP John Hume’s response to Lord Widgery’s assertion that the march organisers were to blame for the deaths.

“It strikes me that the Army ran amok that day and they shot without thinking what they were doing. They were shooting innocent people. These people may have been taking part in a parade that was banned but I don’t think that justifies the firing of live rounds indiscriminately. I saw without reservation: it was sheer unadulterated murder.”

Derry’s Coroner Hugert O’Neill.

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MURDERED ‘JOURNAL’ MAN REMEMBERED:

Willie was a true friend and a good workmate Former Derry Journal employee John McManus recalls his workmate Willie McKinney who was among those murdered on Bloody Sunday.

It wasn’t planned or arranged but, on the afternoon of Sunday, 30th January, 1972, I met up with workmates Willie McKinney, Joe Martin and Noel McBride at Bishop’s Field, Creggan, to participate in the Civil Rights march on Anti-Internment.

I remember it as a dry, cold but bright day and we enjoyed the long walk from Creggan down through the Bogside area and, as we went, we exchanged stories and listened to “Big Noel” with his endless catalogue of jokes.

What lay in store approximately one hour after the march left Creggan was never on our minds or, I suppose, on the minds of any of the other marchers.

The first real sign of impending danger came as the march went down Creggan Street and turned into William Street. On the flat roofs of the GPO Sorting Office, British Army marksmen lay at the ready with rifles trained on the marchers.

As we approached the junction of William Street/Rossville Street, we could see that further down at the Chamberlain Street corner youths were throwing stones and bottles at soldiers manning the army barricade of military vehicles that was there to seal off our passage to the city centre.

I remember someone from the organising committee, with the aid of a hand-held megaphone, calling the marchers to assemble at Free Derry Corner for a meeting.

CS gas

A short time after that, the air was filled with CS gas and rubber bullets as the Army tried to keep the youths at bay.

In the utter confusion of the situation, I got separated from my three colleagues. Just minutes after that, all hell seemed to break loose as the Brits opened up on the marchers.

Early that evening, reports and the names of

■The nightmare of Glenfada Park with an injured Joe Mahon lying on the footpath. William McKinney lies directly in front and Jim Wray [feet only visible] to the right hand side. Photo: Trevor McBride.

people murdered and injured began to circulate in the area. I heard that someone from the Journal had been shot. The word on the ground was that he was a photographer. So I never suspected that Willie McKinney could be among the dead.

I had overlooked the fact that Willie was a keen amateur photographer and was carrying nothing more sinister that day than a small camera slung around his neck.

At work on Monday morning, ‘the boss’, the late Frank McCarroll, broke the sad news to the assembled members of staff, confirming our worst nightmare - our colleague Willie was among the dead.

I remember the news was received in silence, stunned disbelief and in tears of sorrow - we had lost a member of our working family.

To say that anyone had enthusiasm for work

The Road to Derry

by Seamus Heaney

(Air: 'The Boys of Mullaghbawn') On a Wednesday morning early I took the road to Derry, Along Glenshane and Foreglen and the cold woods of Hillhead.

A wet wind in the hedges and a dark cloud on the mountain, And flags like black frost mourning that the thirteen men were dead.

The Roe wept at Dungiven and the Foyle cried out to heaven, Burntollet's old wound opened and again the Bogside bled.

By Shipquay Gate I shivered and by Lone Moor I enquired, Where I might find the coffins where the thirteen men lay dead.

My heart besieged by anger, my mind a gap of danger, I walked among their old haunts, the home ground where they bled.

And in the dirt lay justice like an acorn in the winter, Till its oak would sprout in Derry where the thirteen men lay dead.

that Monday would be a gross over statement; an evil deed had been visited on all the dead and injured on Bloody Sunday and, as the local newspaper, we had a responsibility to tell the truth of what really did happen on that fateful day.

In a way, it was as if we were here to speak for our friend and workmate and, indeed, for all the other sad and sorrowful homes in our city that had been bereaved as a result of the murderous actions of the British Army.

Willie McKinney was a young man of excellent character and integrity, a compositor and an excellent practitioner of his trade. He was a good and honest friend to those of us who knew him in his short life and will be forever remembered by the staff members of 1972.

This article appeared in the Derry Journal supplement in 1997 to mark the 25th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

The Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Seamus Heaney, released this previously unpublished song about Bloody Sunday to the Derry Journal.

'The Road To Derry' was originally written at the request of Luke Kelly, the late vocalist with Dubliners.

It was published for the first time in 1997.

In a footnote to his song, Heaney revealed that he wrote four stanzas about his journey to Derry on the day of the funerals, with the suggestion that they might be put to the air of 'The Boys of Mullaghbawn' "But nothing ever came of it", he told the ‘Journal’ in 1997.

"I spoke to Luke about it on one occasion, and I remember his saying that he thought the air I had suggested was too slow.

"Anyway, I think it is in order to reprint this abbreviated version now, twenty five years after the drive from Belfast to Derry on the day of the funerals."

Heaney previously publised a poem called 'Casualty' in 'Field Work' (1979) which deals with the Derry massacre.

■ Willie McKinney enjoying a family day out.

■ Willie McKinney (on left) at work in the Derry Journal with colleague Michael Quigley.

■ Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney.

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DERRY BURIES ITS DEAD

■ Mourners make their way to St Mary’s Church in Derry’s Creggan Estate.

■ Bishop of Derry Dr Neil Farren presides at the funeral Mass at St. Mary’s.

■ St. Mary’s Church, Creggan, is packed to capacity for the funerals of the Bloody Sunday dead.

■ Grieving loved ones make their way to the Requiem Masses at St. Mary’s Church.

■ Just a section of the massive crowd which turned out for the funerals of those murdered on Bloody Sunday.

■ Cardinal William Conway, Primate of All-Ireland, leads mourners to St. Mary’s Church.

■ Another grieving family making their way to the Requiem Masses in Creggan.

■ Gerry Fitt, Paddy O’Hanlon and Austin Currie, of the SDLP, who were among thousands to attend the funerals.

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Saville: the 12 year quest for truth and justice

In this article, Journal News Editor Sean McLaughlin takes a look back at the Saville Inquiry, focusing on its key players and some of the dramatic evidence which emerged during the marathon oral hearings in Derry and London.

In January 1998, when Tony Blair announced his intention to set up an inquiry to investigate the events of Bloody Sunday, it was expected to last no longer than 18 months.

Fast forward to June 2010 – more than 12 years later - and the long quest to find out the truth of what really happened in the Bogside on January 30, 1972, is, at long last, to be revealed with the publication of Lord Saville's report.

The traumatic events of Bloody Sunday cast a long shadow over the people of Derry. The Inquiry itself was to become a major part of the lives of thousands of people in the city and beyond.

The historic inquiry into the Bloody Sunday killings, one of the most violent, emotive and painful episodes of recent Irish and British history, began on March 27, 2000 with a promise that the truth would be sought whatever the political consequences.

Counsel for the Inquiry, Christopher Clarke QC, insisted at the opening session in Derry's Guildhall: "What happened - whatever the truth of the matter - was a tragedy, the pain for which many have endured down the passage of years. The tribunal's task is to discover as far as humanly possible in the circumstances, the truth.

"It is the truth as people see it.

Not the truth as people would like it to be, but the truth, pure and simple, painful or unacceptable to whoever that truth may be."

Lord Saville himself was adamant that the new inquiry was a fresh start: “We are not sitting as a court of appeal from the Widgery Inquiry," he said, adding: "It would be foolish for us to ignore the fact that there are allegations that some of those concerned in the events of Bloody Sunday were guilty of very serious offences, including murder."

Mountain of evidence

To sift through this mountain of evidence, Derry’s historic Guildhall was transformed into one of the most high-tech courts in the world.

It was filled with television screens and equipment for a state-of-theart sound system. Among the innovations was a virtual reality model of the Bogside the way it was on that fateful day.

In the Guildhall’s main hall (pic-

tured), the tribunal, chaired by Lord Saville, was perched on a dais while in front of them sat some 70 lawyers, among them some of the most eminent QCs in the land Lord Anthony Gifford, Michael Mansfield, Edmund Lawson [now deceased], Edwin Lawson and the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Allan Green.

For the families of those who died on Bloody Sunday, the announcement of the new inquiry was the culmination of years of tireless campaigning in an effort to find out the truth.

For many of the lawyers who turned down other work to concentrate on the inquiry, it meant putting their personal and professional lives on hold.

But it wasn't just those with a vested interest in the Inquiry who were affected by it. A mini industry grew up around it with hotels, bars, cafes and taxi firms enjoying a commercial spin-off from one of the most wide-ranging inquiries ever set up.

Turning to the evidence itself, while there were many stand-out days, arguably the most dramatic took place in London in October 2003 when a former paratrooper was told he faced allegations of

murdering four people on Bloody Sunday, and possibly of killing more.

Soldier F, who retired with the rank of sergeant-major in 1988, had previously told the inquiry that he had killed two nailbombers and a man carrying a pistol. But in a dramatic cross-examination by Michael Mansfield QC, the former paratrooper also admitted shooting Bernard McGuigan (41) during the civil rights march.

Members of his family wept at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster as Soldier F admitted he had shot him dead.

Mr McGuigan, a father of six and a resident of the Creggan estate in Derry, was waving a white handkerchief at the time he was shot in the head as he took cover en-route to help another victim of the shooting, Patrick Doherty.

Victim’s wife helped away

Lord Saville ordered a brief halt to proceedings as emotions ran high among 20 members of the McGuigan family in the public gallery. Mr McGuigan's widow Bridie had to be helped away, sobbing uncontrollably.

Soldier F was shown two photographs of Mr McGuigan's injuries.

Mr Mansfield said: "If you have no recollection, there is no way that you can stand here today and suggest that you did not shoot this man, is there?"

Soldier F: "No." Mr Mansfield: "Would you, for the benefit of his wife, who is here, and his six children, finally accept and recognise we will come to whether you meant to do it in a moment, but that is what you did; are you happy to, or are you prepared to, at least accept that?"

There were gasps as Soldier F replied: "Yes." Another day of drama at the inquiry – this time for entirely different reasons – took place at the Guildhall in November 2003 when a former Official IRA man collapsed in the witness box.

Known to the inquiry only as OIRA 4, the witness had been describing how he fired at soldiers from the end of Chamberlain Street. He said he only fired after it was clear that the Army was shooting into the car park of the Rossville Flats and that at least one person had been hit.

Thirty minutes into his evidence, OIRA 4 slumped forward in the witness box.

Edwin Glasgow QC, who represents most of the Bloody Sunday paratroopers, ran to the witness box as another barrister remarked: “I am not sure the witness is well.”

Glasgow lifted the IRA man and laid him gently on the floor.

Removing his jacket, the barrister placed it under his head, which he cradled in his hands. He took the witness’ pulse several times as inquiry staff called an ambulance from the nearby Altnagelvin Hospital.

Gasped for breath

“Stay with me, stay with me,” Glasgow urged, as the witness’s eyes fluttered and he gasped for breath.

OIRA 4 was subsequently taken to hospital and did not return to give the rest of his oral evidence.

However, at the inquiry the next day, OIRA's barrister paid tribute to Glasgow.

At the heart of the inquiry, day after day, month after month, year after year, sat the Bloody Sunday families. When Saville concluded his investigation only one parent of the 13 shot on Bloody Sunday remained alive. The remainder died waiting on their relatives to be cleared of wrong-doing.

Now, thirty-eight years on from that most awful of days, those searching for justice remain hopeful that, at long last, the truth will be set free.

SAVILLE TIMELINE ■ January 29,1998

New inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday announced by British Prime Minister Tony Blair

■ April 3, 1998

Opening statement of the inquiry read by Lord Saville in the Guildhall, Derry

■ March 27, 1998

Oral hearings begins with the opening speech by Christopher Clarke QC, Counsel to the Inquiry

■ November 28, 2000

First witness gives oral evidence December 2001 Court of Appeal rules that evidence of military witnesses cannot be taken in Derry because of a perceived threat

■ March 14, 2002

Announcement that hearings will be held in Central Hall, Westminster

■ September 24 2002 October 21, 2003 Inquiry sits in London

■ October 29, 2003

Inquiry returns to the Guildhall, Derry

■ February 13, 2004

Main body of witness evidence ends

■ June 2004

Two additional witnesses heard

■ November 22, 2004

Two day closing speech begins

■ January 2005

Oral evidence heard from one further witness

IN NUMBERS: THE SAVILLE INQUIRY • The tribunal has been the longest and costliest inquiry in British legal history, with a total cost of almost £200m.

• The inquiry sat for 434 days between 2000 and 2004.

• 2,500 witness statements were collected, with more than 900 people called to give direct evidence. Those interviewed included more than 600 soldiers and 700 civilians.

• An estimated 16 million words were spoken during the oral hearings.

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■ The first Bloody Sunday commemoration march in January 1973.

■ Mickey McKinney and John Kelly lead relatives on a commemoration march.

DERRY PAYS TRIBUTE TO THOSE MURDERED

■ Relatives carry crosses with the names of those who died on Bloody Sunday

■ Relatives of those murdered on Bloody Sunday pay a poignant tribute to them.

■ Relatives send out a clear message about what happened to their loved ones.

■ Thousands turn out for one of the annual commemoration marches.

■ Hand painted banners portraying those killed on Bloody Sunday are mounted on the embankment overlooking the Bogside.

■ A new generation commemorate those murdered on January 30, 1972.

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EMOTIONS RUN HIGH AT GLENFADA PARK MUSEUM

Thousands visit Bloody Sunday archive Each year, many thousands of tourists learn the full extent of the brutality and horror of Bloody Sunday at the Museum of Free Derry, writes Ian Cullen.

For the vast majority of visitors, the harsh education about the facts of the darkest day in the city’s history is a deeply emotional experience.

Those emotions are no doubt further fuelled by the location of the museum at Glenfada Park, an area where several of the innocent victims were indiscriminately shot dead

by British paratroopers on Bloody Sunday.

More than 15,000 visitors have passed through the museum, which was formerly a single story block of flats (numbers 55-61 Glenfada Park), just off Rossville Street.

On Bloody Sunday, two people were killed and five injured directly in front of the building. Mr and Mrs McCartney, the grandparents of Jim Wray, who was executed directly in front of this building, were living in number 57 at the time. Their old home now houses the Bloody Sunday section of the exhibition.

The building also still holds the last remaining physical evidence of Bloody Sunday in the area - in the form of two bullet strikes on its facade. The building was the subject of a preservation order laid down by the Saville Inquiry to preserve lines of sight as closely as possible to what they were on Bloody Sunday.

■ One of the artefacts on display at the Museum of Free Derry.

The museum is situated only yards away from the Bloody Sunday Monument, about 100 hundred yards from Free Derry Corner and provides a focal point for tourism in the otherwise economically disadvantaged area.

Central focus The Bloody Sunday exhibits - which include the Civil Rights banner used by marchers on the day and the hankerchief waved by Fr Edward Daly as fatally wounded Jackie Duddy was carried away from the killing zone form the central focus of the museum - yet other aspects of the Free Derry’s history are also extensively covered.

Curator Adrian Kerr explains: “For almost ten years, the Bloody Sunday Trust worked towards the creation of a museum and archive focussing on one of the most important peri-

■ The Museum of Free Derry at Glenfada Park in the heart of the Bogside.

ods in the history of this city - the civil rights era of the 1960s and the Free Derry/early troubles era of the 1970s. The first phase of this museum - the Museum of Free Derry - was formally opened in January 2007.

“For the purposes of the museum a loose definition of Free Derry has been used, and the term is used to describe the area covering the Bogside, Brandywell, Creggan, Bishop Street and Foyle Road, an area roughly equivalent to the old, gerrymandered South Ward.”

Phase One of the Museum of Free Derry covers the formation of the Free Derry area and the oppression by the Unionist government after partition; the Civil Rights period; the revitalisation of local community spirit in the mid-1960s and the peaceful demands for equality and change; The Battle of the Bogside in August 1969; the descent into armed conflict; internment; Bloody Sunday and Operation Motorman.

The planning of phase two of the museum is already at an advanced stage.

Mr Kerr adds: “It will add additional research, study and archive space to the museum site, allowing us to make our ever-growing archive available to researchers and students.”

Unique Mr Kerr believes the museum is somewhat unique in that it tells part of the city's history “from the point of view of the people who lived through, and were most affected by, these events”.

“It is the community's story told from the community's perspective, not the distorted version parroted by the government and most of the media over the years. We believe it is vital that all those involved in the events of the last forty plus years take the opportunity to tell their own stories in a subjective but honest way as a first step towards a greater understanding of all the elements that led to the most recent phase of the conflict in Ireland. This is not something that can be achieved through attempting to give a single

■ The Derry Civil Rights Association banner carried on the Bloody Sunday march - still covered with blood - is on display at the Bogside museum.

'official' version of events.”

The museum currently has an archive of over 25,000 individual items relating to the turbulent Free Derry period.

Mr Kerr paid tribute to the local community for their help in making the museum a resounding success since its formation.

“Virtually all of the items have been donated to the museum by local residents, and include some items of immense historical importance.

Without this support from the local community, this museum would not have been possible.”

The Museum of Free Derry is managed as a social economy initiative and all income generated goes towards sustaining and developing the museum and securing long term jobs for its employees.

The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £66,300 towards the final phase development of the museum.

■ A display exhibiting some of the artefacts associated with Bloody Sunday is among the items visitors can see at the Museum of Free Derry.

Recreating a virtual Bogside on Bloody Sunday The Bloody Sunday Inquiry used state of the art interactive technology to recreate how the Bogside area looked in 1972.

An interactive virtual reality package was specifically designed for the Inquiry using photographs of the William Street and Bogside areas both from 1972 and from the time the inquiry was sitting.

The package allowed the witness or barrister to ‘take a walk’ through the Bogside. This allowed witnesses giving their evidence to pinpoint exactly where they were at a given time and allowed those cross-examin-

ing them to determine what would have been in their field of vision at that time.

The application used thousands of photographs and computer generated images of Derry and touch screen technology allowed users to change the viewpoint on-screen almost instantly.

It was not the first virtual reality had been used in a public inquiry. However, the package used at the Saville Inquiry had been specifically designed for the probe and ulitised the most uptp-date technology available.

It was designed to be userfriendly so that witnesses did not

need to have any previous experience of information technology.

80 different locations throughout the Bogside and William Street areas were available and each offered a 360 degree panoramic view of the scene and allowed users to zoom in on particular areas.

Big screen Projections of the images were available on a big screen so that everyone watching proceedings at the inquiry could follow what was happening.

Due to the huge amount of documents involved in the inquiry, a

specially designed system called TrialPro was developed to allow each document to be found quickly.

Every piece of documentary evidence used by the inquiry was given a unique number and scanned to ensure that they could be called up quickly and easily on screens in the Guildhall.

The thousands of documents were held in a TrialPro database which allowed quick retrieval with seconds and also allowed barristers to zoom in to specific areas of the document using touch-screen technology.

The use of this technology was estimated to have reduced the length of the proceedings by 2030 per cent.

LiveNote A specialised transcription service called LiveNote was also used by the Inquiry to provide ‘live’ transcriptions of the proceedings to the laptop computers used by the various legal teams.

As well as displaying the information, the application allowed the legal teams to manipulate and annotate the text, along with providing sophisticated reporting facilities.

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KEY WITNESSES AT SAVILLE INQUIRY

February 2001:The retired Bishop of Derry, Dr. Edward Daly, told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry there was no threat posed to the army when they opened fire.

May 2001:The former Mid-Ulster MP, Bernadette McAliskey, testifying to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, recalled the "sheer terror" she felt during the shooting.

September 2001: Former priest Denis Bradley said he would not reveal the names of people he knew were IRA members at the time of the shootings.

January 2002: Nobel peace laureate John Hume told the inquiry Bloody Sunday was a "dreadful" day and was "the worst day in the history of this city in my lifetime".

March 2002: JohnTaylor, now Ulster Unionist peer Lord Kilclooney, told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry that "13 armed men" were shot dead on Bloody Sunday.

May 2002: Ian Paisley attended the Bloody Sunday Inquiry after he was warned he would be reported for contempt of court if he ignored an order to appear.

November 2002: General Sir Robert Ford, the British Army's most senior officer present on Bloody Sunday said Prime MinisterTony Blair "jumped the gun" when he said the civilians shot were innocent.

December 2002: Lord Carrington, the British Defence Secretary in January 1972 the political head of the armed services dismissed claims that there was a top-level plot to shoot innocent people on Bloody Sunday as "ridiculous�.

January 2003: Sir Edward Heath, the British Prime Minister on Bloody Sunday, told the Inquiry hearings in London that he did not believe that the way to restore law and order in Derry was to shoot some of the rioters after warnings had been issued.

April 2003: General Sir Mike Jackson, then Chief of the General Staff, broke off from his duties commanding the British Army as war raged in Iraq to give evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. Jackson, a captain with 1 Para in Derry on Bloody Sunday, told the inquiry there was no plan to tempt the IRA into a gun battle.

April 2003: Colonel Derek Wilford, the soldier in charge of the Parachute Regiment on the day, told the tribunal that the Paras did not disobey their orders and that his men did not do anything improper.

November 2003: Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness told Lord Saville that he had been "second-in-command" of the IRA in Derry on Bloody Sunday.

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Bloody Sunday: the tragedy portrayed in popular culture There have been many iconic events that have shaped the social fabric of the city of Derry but none on the scale of Bloody Sunday, writes David Wilson.

In the four decades since the British Army shot dead 13 men on the streets of the city, writers and filmmakers, poets and musicians have responded to and explored the human tragedy that befell Derry that day.

Few have brought the harrowing events of January 30, 1972 into popular culture - and into the world's social consciousness - in a way that a mass audience has allowed U2 to.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday", the opening track from their 1983 album, War, was an attempt "to contrast Bloody Sunday, where 13 peaceful Irish protesters were killed by British paratroopers, with an Easter Sunday," according to Bono.

Eleven years previous, in the still raw aftermath of Bloody Sunday, former Beatle John Lennon - who protested against the events of Bloody Sunday in his adopted home of New York wrote the words: "Is there any one

Like Friel, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney is no less internationally acclaimed.

His poem, The Road to Derry, went unpublished for many years, before the writer sent it to the Derry Journal.

Luke Kelly In a letter to the paper, Heaney revealed that Luke Kelly, of the Dubliners, had asked him to write a song in the wake of the massacre.

"I did four stanzas and sent it to him, with the suggestion that they might be put to the air of the Boys of Mullaghbawn, but nothing ever came of it.... Anyway I think it is in order to reprint this abbreviated version now, twenty five years after the drive from Belfast to Derry on the day of the funerals," he wrote.

Big screen ■ James Nesbitt as Ivan Cooper in Paul Greengrass’ film adaptation of the 1972 tragedy.

amongst you, Dare to blame it on the kids? Not a soldier boy was bleeding, When they nailed the coffin lids!"

Irish folk icon Christy Moore, in his 1996 song Minds Locked Shut, recounts the tragic events that would soon unfold on a" lovely bright winter's afternoon" in Derry.

The former Planxty singer recalls each and every one of the men who died in a poignant penultimate verse.

Touring England in the early 1970s, Moore was shocked by the ignorance surrounding Bloody Sunday.

Moore shocked

■ John Lennon protested about Bloody Sunday in NewYork.

"I was shocked by the number of English people who believed the 14 men shot dead on Bloody Sunday were IRA men”, he wrote in his autobiography.

On the stage, Bloody Sunday has proved no less inspirational.

■ Christy Moore was shocked by attitudes of English people to Bloody Sunday.

Buncrana born playwright Frank McGuinness, in his 1988 play Carthaginians, writes in a direct response to the events of January 30.

He describes the play as "an elegy to the dead and the living of Derry, the living who kept going, in Dido's words... surviving."

Dave Duggan's 'Scenes from an Inquiry' marked the 30th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and was spawned by a desire to dispel the legal jargon of the Saville Inquiry and bring it to a mass audience.

Brian Friel, whose plays Philadelphia, Here I Come, and Dancing at Lughnasa, have seen his work lauded internationally, moved to Derry at the age of 10.

His play, The Freedom of the City, while focusing on fictitious events the killing of three unarmed civil rights protestors in Derry in 1970 - is filled with uncanny echoes of Bloody Sunday.

In 2002, the events of Bloody Sunday were brought to the big screen. The Jimmy McGovern penned 'Sunday', featuring a largely local cast and shot in Derry, won best drama at the Prix Italia and later received an Emmy nomination.

Bloody Sunday, starring James Nesbitt, who portrayed civil rights campaigner Ivan Cooper, was released the same year. Cooper said of the film: " I'm able to say with confidence that it was made with great integrity."

But, perhaps, the most poignant reflections on the day are captured in 'Harrowing of the Heart', edited by Journal reporter Julieann Campbell and Tom Herron, which is filled with works by friends, family, loved ones and people who witnessed first hand the appalling events of the day.

Among those to contribute to the collection of poems, published in 2008, are Campbell herself (a niece of Jackie Duddy), Niall Kelly, (a nephew of Michael Kelly) and Martin Wray (a nephew of Jim Wray)

■ Editors of Harrowing of the Heart, Julieann Campbell and Tom Herron, pictured at the official launch of a book of poetry chronicling the events of Bloody Sunday.

■ U2 frontman Bono.

■ Brian Friel

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JANUARY 1972 Paratroopers come under attack from stonethrowers at William Street on January 30, 1972 - Bloody Sunday.

The ill-fated Bloody Sunday march makes its way through the Creggan Estate.

Hundreds gather at Central Drive in the Creggan Estate to take part in the ill-fated civil rights march.

The massive crowd that attended the civil rights march on January 30, 1972, winds its way down William Street before turning into Rossville Street. Minutes later, members of the Parachute Regiment would storm into the Bogside and gun down innocent civilians.

Extracts from the Derry Journal archives

Young people gather at Lecky Road in the Bogside awaiting the arrival of the civil rights march.Little did they know that, minutes later, 13 people would be shot dead and more than a dozen others wounded.

The body of one of those murdered on Bloody Sunday lies covered in a blanket on the pavement at Rossville Street.

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THE FINALCONCLUSION

“The firing by soldiers of 1 PARA on Bloody Sunday caused the deaths of 13 people and injury to a similar number, none of whom was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. What happened on Bloody Sunday strengthened the Provisional IRA, increased nationalist resentment and hostility towards the Army and exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed. Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland.”

The overall assessment Chapter five - the overall assessment

5.1 The early firing in William Street resulted in two wounded casualties, neither of whom was doing anything that justified either of them being shot. It is possible that the soldiers concerned mistakenly believed that they had identified someone posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. Equally, each of those soldiers may have fired, not believing that his target was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, but only suspecting that this might have been the case.

5.2 The soldiers of Support Company who went into the Bogside did so as the result of an order by Colonel Wilford, which should not have been given and which was contrary to the orders that he had received from Brigadier MacLellan.

5.3 With the exception of Private T and with the probable exception of shots Sergeant O said that he fired at someone on a balcony of Block 3 of the Rossville Flats and which, (despite his assertion to the contrary) did not hit anyone, none of the firing by the soldiers of Support Company was aimed at people posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

5.4 We have concluded that the explanation for such firing by Support Company soldiers after they had gone into the Bogside was in most cases probably the mistaken belief among them that republican paramilitaries were responding in force to their arrival in the Bogside. This belief was initiated by the first shots fired by Lieutenant N and reinforced by the further shots that followed soon after. In this belief soldiers reacted by losing their selfcontrol and firing themselves, forgetting or ignoring their instructions and training and failing to satisfy themselves that they had identified targets posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. In the case of those soldiers who fired in either the knowledge or belief that no-one in the areas into which they fired was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, or not caring whether or not anyone there was posing such a threat, it is at least possible that they did so in the indefensible belief that all the civilians they fired at were probably either members of the Provisional or Official IRA or were supporters of one or other of these paramilitary organisations; and so deserved to be shot notwithstanding that they were not armed or posing any threat of causing death or serious injury. Our overall conclusion is that there was a serious and widespread loss of fire discipline among the soldiers of Support Company.

5.5 The firing by soldiers of 1 PARA on Bloody Sunday caused the deaths of 13 people and injury to a similar number, none of whom was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. What happened on Bloody Sunday strengthened the Provisional IRA, increased nationalist resentment and hostility towards the Army and exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed. Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland.

Report of the The Bloody Sunday Inquiry The first idea that Bloody Sunday families and their lawyers had of the historic conclusions of the Saville tribunal report came from an executive summary of its 5,000 pages - a summary that in itself was around 60 pages long. Here is the summary, omitting chapter one, which deals with an outline of events before Bloody Sunday, and some references to maps and diagrams.

Volume I - Chapter 2

Outline of events before the day Chapter 2: Outline of events before the day 3.5 When the march reached the junction of William Street, and Rossville Street, many people, including those who were eager for a confrontation with the security forces, instead of turning right into Rossville Street to go to Free Derry Corner, continued along William Street to the Army barrier there, Barrier 14.

3.6 Shortly after the arrival of people at Barrier 14, rioting broke out there, in the form of members of the crowd throwing stones and similar missiles at the soldiers. In addition, further back, similar rioting broke out at the barriers closing Little James Street and Sackville Street, Barriers 12 and 13.

As can be seen from the map shown at paragraph 3.2 above, Little James Street led north from the junction of William Street and Rossville Street, a junction known to soldiers and some others at the time as “Aggro Corner”, because it had frequently been an area for riots. Sackville Street led east from Little James Street. There was also rioting of a similar kind further west along William Street, in the area where Machine Gun Platoon was located.

3.7 The soldiers at the barriers responded to the rioting by firing baton rounds (often called rubber bullets) and at Barrier 12 (and perhaps Barrier 13) by firing CS gas. At Barrier 14, rioters themselves threw a canister of CS gas at the soldiers, while the soldiers there, in addition to firing baton rounds, deployed a water cannon and sprayed the rioters (and others who were there) in an attempt to disperse them. The soldiers at Barrier 14 (who were from 2nd Battalion, The Royal Green Jackets) acted with restraint in the face of the rioting at this barrier and deployed no more than properly proportionate force in seeking to deal with it.

3.8 While this rioting was taking place and at just after 1555 hours, Colonel Wilford [Colonel Derek Wilford, the Commanding Officer of 1 PARA], who had taken up a position close to the Presbyterian church, sent a radio message to Brigade Headquarters (stationed at Ebrington Barracks on the other side of the River Foyle) in which he suggested sending one of his companies through Barrier 14 (the barrier on William Street) into the area of William Street and Little James Street (ie the area of and to the north of Aggro Corner) on the grounds that by doing so he might be able to arrest a number of rioters. We set out below a map on which we show this area.

3.9 Brigadier MacLellan [Brigadier Patrick MacLellan, the Commander of 8th Infantry Brigade, which was the Army brigade in charge of the Derry area] , who was at Brigade Headquarters, did not give an order for an arrest operation until some minutes later.

3.10 At about the same time as Colonel Wilford sent this message, two soldiers of Machine Gun Platoon fired between them five shots from the derelict building on William Street. Their target was Damien Donaghey (aged 15), who was on the other side of William Street and who was wounded in the thigh. Unknown to the soldiers John Johnston (aged 55), who was a little distance behind Damien Donaghey, was also hit and injured by fragments from this gunfire.

3.11 Shortly after this incident a member of the Official IRA (given the cipher OIRA 1) fired a rifle at soldiers who were on a wall on the side of the Presbyterian church. The shot was fired from a position across William Street.

3.12 The shot fired by OIRA 1 missed soldiers and hit a drainpipe running down the side of the Presbyterian

Colonel Derek Wilford, commander of I Para that day.

“Colonel Wilford either deliberately disobeyed Brigadier MacLellan’s order or failed for no good reason to appreciate the clear limits on what he had been authorised to do.” church. OIRA 1 and another Official IRA man with him (OIRA 2) insisted that this shot had been fired as a reprisal for the shooting of Damien Donaghey and John Johnston. We were not convinced of this, although we considered on balance that the IRA shot was fired after the wounding of Damien Donaghey and John Johnston. In our view these two Official IRA members had gone to a pre-arranged sniping position in order to fire at the soldiers; and probably did so when an opportunity presented itself rather than because two civilians had been injured.

3.13 At around the time of these incidents Colonel Wilford abandoned his initial plan to send Support Company soldiers from Great James Street directly south into William Street if he got the order to mount an arrest operation; and instead told Support Company to be prepared to go in vehicles through Barrier 12, the barrier in Little James Street.

The arrest operation 3.14 At 1607 hours Brigadier MacLellan gave 1 PARA orders by radio to mount an arrest operation by sending one company of 1 PARA through Barrier 14 in William Street, but not to conduct a running battle down Rossville Street. In its context, the prohibition on conducting a running battle down Rossville Street meant that the soldiers were not to chase people down that street.

3.15 Brigadier MacLellan had delayed giving an order for an arrest operation because he was correctly concerned that there should be separation between rioters and peaceful marchers before launching an operation to arrest the former. He gave the order when he had reasonable grounds for believing that there was such separation in the area for arrests that Colonel Wilford had previously identified.

3.16 This order was responsive to the request made by Colonel Wilford some 12 minutes earlier. In other words, Brigadier MacLellan authorised the arrest operation suggested by Colonel Wilford. The second part of this order reflected Brigadier MacLellan’s anxiety that the soldiers should not become mixed up with the peaceful marchers further along Rossville Street.

3.17 The arrest operation ordered by the Brigadier was accordingly limited to sending one company through Barrier 14 in William Street, in an attempt to arrest rioters in the area of and to the north of Aggro Corner.

3.18 Colonel Wilford did not comply with Brigadier MacLellan’s order. He deployed one company through Barrier 14 as he was authorised to do, but in addition and without authority he deployed Support Company in vehicles through Barrier 12 in Little James Street. As we describe below, the vehicles travelled along Rossville Street and into

the Bogside, where the soldiers disembarked. The effect was that soldiers of Support Company did chase people down Rossville Street. Some of those people had been rioting but many were peaceful marchers. There was thus no separation between peaceful marchers and those who had been rioting and no means whereby soldiers could identify and arrest only the latter.

3.19 Colonel Wilford either deliberately disobeyed Brigadier MacLellan’s order or failed for no good reason to appreciate the clear limits on what he had been authorised to do. He was disturbed by the delay in responding to his request to mount an arrest operation and had concluded that, by reason of the delay, the only way to effect a significant number of arrests was to deploy Support Company in vehicles into the Bogside. He did not inform Brigade of this conclusion. Had he done so, Brigadier MacLellan might well have called off the arrest operation altogether, on the grounds that this deployment would not have provided sufficient separation between rioters and civil rights marchers.

3.20 Colonel Wilford did not pass on to Major Loden (the Commander of Support Company) the Brigadier’s injunction on chasing people down Rossville Street, nor did he impose any limits on how far the soldiers of Support Company should go. Colonel Wilford’s evidence was that it was not necessary to do either of these things, as he understood the injunction as prohibiting his soldiers from chasing rioters down to Free Derry Corner or beyond and because his soldiers already knew that they should not go further than about 200 or 250 yards from their starting point. Colonel Wilford should have understood that he was being ordered not to chase rioters any distance down Rossville Street.

3.21 The vehicles of Support Company went through Barrier 12. The two leading vehicles, which were Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), held soldiers of Mortar Platoon.

The first of these vehicles (which carried the Commander of Mortar Platoon, Lieutenant N, and other soldiers) went along Rossville Street and then turned left onto an area of waste ground called the Eden Place waste ground, where the soldiers disembarked. Beyond the waste ground were three high blocks of flats known as the Rossville Flats. In the area partly surrounded by these blocks there was a car park. The second vehicle (under the command of Sergeant O, the Platoon Sergeant of Mortar Platoon) went further along Rossville Street than the first vehicle, stopped briefly on that street where some of the soldiers disembarked, and then turned left and stopped in the entrance to the car park of the Rossville Flats, where the remaining soldiers disembarked. This was about 230 yards from Barrier 12. We set out below a map showing the route these vehicles took and photographs showing the positions they reached, which were in that part of the “no go” area of the city called the Bogside.

3.22 Many civilians were in the area of the Eden Place waste ground and the car park of the Rossville Flats when the vehicles of Support Company drove into the Bogside. On seeing the Army vehicles these people started to run away.

Shortly before it stopped in the car park of the Rossville Flats the vehicle under the command of Sergeant O struck two people, Alana Burke and Thomas Harkin. This was not done deliberately.

3.23 On disembarking soldiers fired baton rounds and some sought to make arrests. Only six arrests were made in this area as the people there when the vehicles arrived rapidly dispersed.

3.24 After disembarking Lieutenant N went towards an alleyway that led from the Eden Place waste ground into Chamberlain Street, which was a street to the east of the Eden Place waste ground that ran parallel to Rossville Street. The alleyway is shown in the following photograph.

3.25 Shortly after arriving at the entrance to the alleyway, Lieutenant N fired two rounds from his rifle over the heads of people who were in the alleyway or in Chamberlain Street at the end of the alleyway and soon afterwards fired a third round in the same direction. These people had come from the area around Barrier 14 in William Street. Some of them had been attempting to rescue a man who had been arrested by one of the soldiers with Lieutenant N and some were throwing stones and similar missiles at the soldiers.

3.26 The shots fired by Lieutenant N hit buildings, but injured no-one. These were the first rifle shots fired in the area after soldiers had gone into the Bogside. Lieutenant N’s evidence was that he believed that his shots were the only way of preventing the crowd from attacking him and the soldiers with him. We do not accept that evidence. In our view Lieutenant N probably fired these shots because he decided that this would be an effective way of frightening the people and moving them on, and not because he considered that they posed such a threat to him or the other soldiers that firing his rifle was the only option open to him. In our view this use of his weapon cannot be justified.

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The casualties in the Bogside

3.27 Soon after Lieutenant N had fired his shots up the alleyway, soldiers of Mortar Platoon opened fire with their rifles in the area of the car park of the Rossville Flats. In that car park Jackie Duddy (aged 17) was shot and mortally wounded, while Margaret Deery (aged 38), Michael Bridge (aged 25) and Michael Bradley (aged 22) were wounded, all

by Army rifle fire. In addition Pius McCarron (aged about 30) and Patrick McDaid (aged 24) suffered injuries from flying debris caused by Army rifle fire. Patrick Brolly (aged 40) was in one of the Rossville Flats and was probably injured by or as the result of Army rifle fire. [ . . ] 3.29 Vehicles carrying the Commander of Support Company, Major Loden, and two platoons, Anti-Tank Platoon and Composite Platoon, had followed Mortar Platoon of Support Company into the Bogside. Anti-Tank Platoon was one of the regular platoons of Support Company and was commanded by Lieutenant 119.

Composite Platoon was a platoon that was on the day attached to Support Company and was under the command of Captain 200.

3.30 These soldiers disembarked in Rossville Street. Most of the soldiers of Machine Gun Platoon remained at this stage in the derelict building on William Street.

3.31 A short time after disembarking, and while events were unfolding in the car park of the Rossville Flats, soldiers of Anti-Tank Platoon reached the low walls of a ramp at the southern end of a block of flats named Kells Walk, on the western side of Rossville Street. Soldiers at that ramp then opened fire with their rifles. One of these shots hit and mortally wounded Michael Kelly (aged 17) who was some 80 yards further south behind a rubble barricade that had been erected by civilians across Rossville Street before Bloody Sunday.

3.32 Soon after civilians had carried Michael Kelly away from the rubble barricade, soldiers in Rossville Street fired at and mortally wounded five more people at or in the vicinity of that barricade. They were Hugh Gilmour (aged 17), William Nash (aged 19), John Young (aged 17), Michael McDaid (aged 20) and Kevin McElhinney (aged 17). In addition Alexander Nash (aged 52) was hit and injured by Army gunfire after he had gone to the rubble barricade to tend his son William Nash.

3.33 After this firing had begun, soldiers of Anti-Tank Platoon moved forward from the low walls of the Kells Walk ramp and four of them went into Glenfada Park North, a residential building complex that lay to the west of Rossville Street, which is also shown on this map.

3.34 In Glenfada Park North were a number of civilians, many fleeing and seeking refuge from the soldiers.

3.35 Within a few seconds after arriving, the four soldiers who had gone into Glenfada Park North between them shot and mortally wounded William McKinney (aged 26) and Jim Wray (aged 22); and shot and injured Joe Friel (aged 20), Michael Quinn (aged 17), Joe Mahon (aged 16) and Patrick O’Donnell (aged 41). Jim Wray was shot twice, the second time probably as he lay mortally wounded on the ground. A civilian, Daniel Gillespie (aged 32), may also have been slightly injured by or as the result of Army rifle fire in Glenfada Park North, but this is far from certain.

3.36 One of these soldiers then went from Glenfada Park North to Abbey Park, another residential area which lies to the west of Glenfada Park North.

3.37 In Abbey Park this soldier shot and mortally wounded Gerard McKinney (aged 35). His shot passed through this casualty and also mortally wounded Gerald Donaghey (aged 17).

3.38 Soon after the shootings in Rossville Street, Glenfada Park North and Abbey Park, some of the soldiers who had been in Glenfada Park North went to its south-east corner, where there was a road entrance to Rossville Street.

3.39 From this position and again over a very short period of time there was Army gunfire across Rossville Street. This gunfire hit Bernard McGuigan (aged 41) and Patrick Doherty (aged 32), instantly killing the former and mortally wounding the latter. In addition Patrick Campbell (aged 53) and Daniel McGowan (aged 37) were wounded. All these casualties occurred in a pedestrianised area between the Joseph Place flats and the front (southern) side of Block 2 of the Rossville Flats.

3.40 Although there was later firing by soldiers in Rossville Street, the people shot on the front (southern) side of the Rossville Flats were the last civilians to be shot by the soldiers who had gone into the Bogside.

3.41 Only some ten minutes elapsed between the time soldiers moved in vehicles into the Bogside and the time the last of the civilians was shot.

3.42 There was other firing by the soldiers of Support Company (including soldiers of Composite Platoon) after they had gone into the Bogside, which did not result in death or injury; but which formed an important part of the events of the day and which we consider in this report. In all, soldiers of Support Company fired over 100 rounds after they had gone into the Bogside.

The soldiers who shot the casualties 3.43 We have no doubt that soldiers of Support Company were responsible for all the gunfire casualties that we have described above, using their high velocity self-loading 7.62mm Army rifles, known as SLRs. As will be seen, in some cases we are sure of the identity of the soldier or soldiers concerned, while in other cases our identifications are less certain.

3.44 The first gunfire casualty of the day was Damien Donaghey, who was on a patch of waste ground immediately south of William Street. He was hit in the thigh, either by one of two shots fired by Corporal A or one of three shots fired by Private B, both soldiers of Machine Gun Platoon.

The two soldiers fired their shots from the derelict building more or less simultaneously in a single burst of fire. All these shots were aimed and fired at Damien Donaghey.

3.45 Unknown to Corporal A or Private B, fragments from one or more of these shots hit and injured John Johnston,

“Jim Wray was shot twice, the second time probably when he was lying mortally wounded on the ground. It is probable that either Private G or Private H fired this second shot.” who was on the same patch of waste ground.

3.46 The first casualty of gunfire after soldiers had gone into the Bogside was Jackie Duddy, who was shot and mortally wounded on the western side of the Rossville Flats car park.

3.47 In our view Private R of Mortar Platoon was probably the soldier who aimed at and shot Jackie Duddy. This soldier had disembarked from Sergeant O’s APC in Rossville Street, but then ran after this vehicle as it continued into the entrance to the car park of the Rossville Flats, before he fired at Jackie Duddy.

3.48 Soon after Jackie Duddy was shot Lance Corporal V of Mortar Platoon, who had moved towards the car park of the Rossville Flats after disembarking from Lieutenant N’s APC, fired his rifle. This shot was probably the one that hit Margaret Deery in the thigh. At the time this casualty was near the southern end of the wall at the back of the gardens of the houses on the western side of Chamberlain Street.

3.49 Michael Bridge was injured after Margaret Deery. He was shot in the thigh when he was a short distance from Sergeant O’s vehicle in the car park of the Rossville Flats.

3.50 It is probable that it was Lieutenant N, the Commander of Mortar Platoon, who aimed at and shot Michael Bridge.

This officer had moved towards the car park of the Rossville Flats from his APC in the Eden Place waste ground before he fired.

3.51 Michael Bradley was shot when he was on the southern side of the Rossville Flats car park. It is probable that it was Private Q of Mortar Platoon who aimed at and shot Michael Bradley, from a position near to the northern end of Block 1 of the Rossville Flats.

3.52 Patrick McDaid and Pius McCarron were injured by debris sent flying by shots fired as they were attempting to run away from the south-eastern area of the Rossville Flats car park.

3.53 We cannot determine precisely which soldier or soldiers fired these shots beyond saying that it was one or more of Sergeant O, Private R and Private S, all of Mortar Platoon.

3.54 Although he did not aim at Patrick Brolly, Private T of Mortar Platoon was probably responsible for the shot that directly or indirectly injured this casualty, who was in Block 1 of the Rossville Flats. However, we cannot eliminate the possibility that Private S rather than Private T was responsible. Patrick Brolly was injured after Jackie Duddy was shot but before the latter had been carried from the car park.

3.55 We are sure that shortly after he disembarked from his vehicle and while events were unfolding in the car park of the Rossville Flats, Lance Corporal F of Anti-Tank Platoon fired from the low walls of the Kells Walk ramp and mortally injured Michael Kelly, who was behind the rubble barricade in Rossville Street.

3.56 After Michael Kelly had been shot, William Nash, John Young and Michael McDaid were shot and killed at the rubble barricade. We are sure that Corporal P of Mortar Platoon, who had disembarked from Sergeant O’s APC in Rossville Street, shot at least one of these casualties and may have been responsible for all three, though Lance Corporal J of Anti-Tank Platoon may have shot one of them and we cannot eliminate the possibility that Corporal E was responsible for another. Corporal P fired from a position in Rossville Street north of the rubble barricade and south of the low walls of the Kells Walk ramp; while Lance Corporal J and Corporal E fired from a position at that ramp.

3.57 We are sure that Private U, a member of Mortar Platoon who had taken up a position at the northern end of Block 1 of the Rossville Flats, fired at and mortally wounded Hugh Gilmour as the latter was running south (ie away from the soldiers) along the Rossville Street side of Block 1 of the Rossville Flats.

3.58 We are sure that either Private L or Private M, members of Composite Platoon who had taken up positions at the low walls of the Kells Walk ramp, shot Kevin McElhinney as he was crawling south from the rubble barricade away from the soldiers. Both probably fired at him on the orders of one or perhaps two nearby non-commissioned officers, Colour Sergeant 002 and Corporal 039.

3.59 It is possible that either Corporal P or Lance Corporal J was responsible for firing at and injuring Alexander Nash.

These soldiers were in positions somewhere north of the rubble barricade and south of the low walls of the Kells Walk ramp. However, there is insufficient evidence to make any finding against either of these soldiers on this matter.

3.60 The four soldiers who moved from the low walls of the Kells Walk ramp into Glenfada Park North were Corporal E, Lance Corporal F, Private G and Private H. All were members of Anti-Tank Platoon and all fired their rifles in Glenfada Park North.

3.61 We are sure that these four soldiers were between them responsible for the casualties in Glenfada Park North.

It is probable that Corporal E was responsible for the shot that injured Patrick O’Donnell. It is not possible to identify which particular soldiers shot the other casualties.

However, we consider it more likely than not that either Lance Corporal F or Private H fired the shot that mortally wounded William McKinney; that one or other of these soldiers was responsible for the shot that wounded Joe Mahon; that either Private G or Private H fired the shot that wounded Michael Quinn; that either Lance Corporal F or Private G fired the shot that wounded Joe Friel; and that either Private G or Private H fired the first shot to hit Jim Wray. Joe Mahon was probably wounded by a shot that had first hit William McKinney. It is not clear whether Joe Friel and Michael Quinn were specifically targeted, or were hit by shots fired indiscriminately at the people who were in the south-west corner of Glenfada Park North. All these shots were fired from the northern side of Glenfada Park North within a very short time of each other. All the casualties were on the southern side of Glenfada Park North, about 40 yards from the soldiers.

3.62 The circumstances in which Daniel Gillespie was injured are so confused that it is not possible to identify the soldier or soldiers who might have been responsible for his injury, which was slight.

3.63 As we have said, Jim Wray was shot twice, the second time probably when he was lying mortally wounded on the ground. It is probable that either Private G or Private H fired this second shot.

3.64 There is no doubt that Private G was the soldier who at a range of only a few yards fired at and mortally wounded Gerard McKinney in Abbey Park. His shot passed through Gerard McKinney’s body and also mortally wounded Gerald Donaghey.

3.65 The last gunfire casualties were Bernard McGuigan, Patrick Doherty, Patrick Campbell and Daniel McGowan, all shot in the area to the south of Block 2 of the Rossville Flats within a very short time of each other. We are sure that Lance Corporal F fired at and shot Bernard McGuigan and Patrick Doherty and it is highly probable that he was also responsible for shooting the other two casualties. This soldier fired across Rossville Street from the Rossville Street entranceway into Glenfada Park North.

3.66 We should note at this point that we have considered the possibility that one or more of the casualties might have occurred from soldiers firing by accident, in the sense of discharging their rifles by mistake and without intending to do so. We have found no evidence that suggests to us that this was or might have been the case.

Why the soldiers shot the casualties 3.67 Every soldier serving in Northern Ireland was issued with a card entitled Instructions by the Director of Operations for Opening Fire in Northern Ireland. This was known as the Yellow Card, and contained instructions as to when a soldier could open fire.

3.68 The Yellow Card in force on Bloody Sunday contained instructions to the soldiers that they should never use more force than the minimum necessary to enable them to carry out their duties, and should always first try to handle the situation by means other than opening fire. The Yellow Card provided that the soldier should only fire aimed shots and that save in two cases, if a soldier had to open fire, a warning was to be given before doing so. The warning to be given had to include a statement that fire would be opened if the soldier’s order was not obeyed.

3.69 The first of the two cases in which a soldier could open fire without warning was when hostile firing was taking place in his area and a warning was impracticable, or when any delay could lead to death or serious injury to people whom it was the soldier’s duty to protect or to the soldier himself; and in either of these situations the soldier was only permitted to open fire against a person using a firearm against members of the security forces or people whom it was the soldier’s duty to protect; or against a person carrying a firearm if the soldier had reason to think that that person was about to use the firearm for offensive purposes. The Yellow Card defined “firearm” as including a grenade, nail

“Despite the contrary evidence given by soldiers, we have concluded that none of them fired in response to attacks or threatened attacks by nail or petrol bombers.”

bomb or gelignite-type bomb. The second case in which a soldier could open fire without warning concerned firing at vehicles and has no relevance to the firing on Bloody Sunday.

3.70 None of the casualties shot by soldiers of Support Company was armed with a firearm or (with the probable exception of Gerald Donaghey) a bomb of any description.

None was posing any threat of causing death or serious injury. In no case was any warning given before soldiers opened fire.

3.71 It was submitted on behalf of many of the represented soldiers that it was possible that some of the casualties were accidental, in the sense that the soldier concerned fired at someone posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, but missed and hit a bystander instead. It was also submitted that soldiers fired at and killed or injured other people who were posing such a threat, but that the existence of these casualties had been kept secret by those civilians who knew that this had happened, in order to deprive the soldiers of evidence that their firing was justified.

3.72 Apart from the firing by Private T, we have found no substance in either of these submissions.

3.73 As to the first, although John Johnston was hit accidentally from fragments of the shots fired at Damien Donaghey in William Street, Damien Donaghey was not posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. Margaret Deery, who was shot and seriously wounded in the Rossville Flats car park, was probably not the intended target and was hit by accident, but again the soldier concerned was not firing at someone posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. The same is true of the shots that indirectly caused injury to Pius McCarron and Patrick McDaid. In Glenfada Park North, Joe Mahon was hit and wounded by a bullet that was aimed at and probably initially hit William McKinney. In Abbey Park, Gerald Donaghey was hit and mortally wounded by the bullet that had first mortally wounded Gerard McKinney, but neither William McKinney nor Gerard McKinney was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. Apart from these and Patrick Brolly, all the casualties were either the intended targets of the soldiers or the result of shots fired indiscriminately at people. None of the soldiers admitted missing his target and hitting someone else by mistake.

3.74 As to Patrick Brolly, if Private T was responsible for the shot that injured this casualty, this was one of the two shots that Private T fired at a man who had been throwing down bottles containing acid or a similar corrosive substance from the Rossville Flats. Such conduct probably did pose a threat of causing serious injury. Private T (if he was responsible) neither intended to hit Patrick Brolly nor fired his rifle indiscriminately at people. If it was Private S who fired and injured Patrick Brolly, he did not aim at this casualty but fired indiscriminately at the Rossville Flats.

3.75 As to the second submission, we are sure that no-one other than the casualties that we have described above was killed or seriously injured by firing by Support Company soldiers. Had there been such casualties, we have no doubt that this would have come to light many years ago. We have found no evidence that suggests to us that there were other less serious casualties of Support Company gunfire.

3.76 Despite the contrary evidence given by soldiers, we have concluded that none of them fired in response to attacks or threatened attacks by nail or petrol bombers. Noone threw or threatened to throw a nail or petrol bomb at the soldiers on Bloody Sunday. There was some firing by republican paramilitaries (though nothing approaching that claimed by some soldiers) which we discuss in detail in this report, but in our view none of this firing provided any justification for the shooting of the civilian casualties. No soldier of Support Company was injured by gunfire on Bloody Sunday. Two suffered slight injuries from acid or a similar corrosive substance thrown down on them in bottles from the Rossville Flats.

3.77 Apart from Private T (who claimed to have fired at someone throwing down acid bombs from the Rossville Flats), all the soldiers who in our view were responsible for the casualties on Bloody Sunday sought to justify their shooting on the grounds that they were sure when they fired that they had targeted and hit someone who was armed with a firearm or a nail or petrol bomb and who was posing or about to pose a threat of causing death or serious injury.

3.78 In other words, all the soldiers (apart from Private T) who were in our view responsible for the casualties insisted that they had shot at gunmen or bombers, which they had not, and (with the possible exception of Lance Corporal F’s belated admission with regard to Michael Kelly) did not accept that they had shot the known casualties, which they had. To our minds it inevitably followed that this materially undermined the credibility of the accounts given by the soldiers who fired.

3.79 As we have said, none of the casualties was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, or indeed was doing anything else that could on any view justify their shooting. However, the question remains as to whether when they fired, the soldiers nevertheless mistakenly believed that they were justified in doing so.

3.80 We appreciate that soldiers on internal security duties, facing a situation in which they or their colleagues may at any moment come under lethal attack, have little time to decide whether they have identified a person posing a threat of causing death or serious injury; and may have to make that decision in a state of tension or fear. It is a wellknown phenomenon that, particularly when under stress or when events are moving fast, people often erroneously come to believe that they are or might be hearing or seeing what they were expecting to hear or see. We have borne this in mind when assessing the state of mind of the soldiers responsible for the casualties.

3.81 It is also possible that in the sort of circumstances outlined in the previous paragraph, a soldier might fire in fear or panic, without giving proper thought to whether his target was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

3.82 In the course of the report we have considered in detail the accounts of the soldiers whose firing caused the casualties, in the light of much other evidence. We have concluded, for the reasons we give, that apart from Private T many of these soldiers have knowingly put forward false accounts in order to seek to justify their firing. However, we

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

44 have also borne in mind that the fact that a soldier afterwards lied about what had happened does not necessarily entail that he fired without believing that he had identified a person posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, since it is possible that he was at the time convinced that he was justified in firing, but later invented details in an attempt to bolster his account and make it more credible to others.

We have borne this possibility in mind when seeking to decide whether or not each of the soldiers of Support Company who fired and whose shots killed or injured civilians believed, when he did so, that he was justified in firing.

3.83 With these considerations in mind, we turn to consider the individual soldiers concerned. In accordance with our ruling of 11th October 2004,1 we express where appropriate the degree of confidence or certainty with which we reach our conclusions.

3.84 As noted above, the first casualties of Army gunfire on the day were in William Street, some minutes before soldiers went into the Bogside.

3.85 The soldiers concerned in this incident, Corporal A and Private B, unlike those who later went into the Bogside, were not in an open area, but in a derelict building on William Street. At the same time, they were members of a platoon that had been sent to a position isolated from other soldiers, close to the rioting in William Street and adjacent to the Bogside, the latter being part of the “no go” area of the city and known to be dangerous for the security forces. They accordingly perceived themselves to be in a dangerous situation in which at any time they might be targeted by republican paramilitaries with lethal weapons. If not frightened, they would have been highly apprehensive.

3.86 The evidence of Corporal A and Private B was that the person they shot was about to throw a nail bomb in their direction. This was not the case, though Damien Donaghey had previously been throwing stones at the soldiers and might have been about to do so again. It was submitted on behalf of Damien Donaghey that these soldiers fired without any belief that they had identified someone posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. We concluded that this was not the case and that it was probable that each soldier either mistakenly believed that Damien Donaghey was about to throw a nail bomb or suspected (albeit incorrectly) that he might be about to do so. It is possible that one or both of these soldiers fired in panic or fear, without giving proper thought as to whether his target was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

3.87 The next firing by soldiers that resulted in casualties occurred after soldiers had gone into the Bogside. Soldiers of Support Company had been told by officers and believed that this was a particularly dangerous area for the security forces, with any incursion running the risk of meeting attacks by paramilitaries using bombs and firearms. In the minds of some soldiers that belief was reinforced by the shot fired by a member of the Official IRA (OIRA 1) some minutes earlier at soldiers by the Presbyterian church in Great James Street. When they disembarked in the Bogside the soldiers were in an open area where they had never previously been and which was overlooked by the large and high blocks of the Rossville Flats, believed by them to be a place from which republican paramilitaries operated. They were in these circumstances highly alert to the risk of coming under lethal attack from republican paramilitaries either in or near to those flats. Most of the soldiers were armed with rifles to guard against any such attacks and in many cases (in breach of the Yellow Card) had cocked their weapons in order to fire without delay should occasion arise.

3.88 In short, soldiers of Support Company went into what they perceived to be a dangerous area in which they ran the risk of coming under lethal attack at any time. Again, if these soldiers were not frightened, they must at least have been highly apprehensive.

3.89 Since the Eden Place waste ground was an open area, many of the soldiers of Mortar Platoon, and soldiers of the other platoons that had followed Mortar Platoon into the Bogside, must have heard the shots fired by Lieutenant N up the Eden Place alleyway and over the heads of the people there. The effect was to lead at least a number of soldiers to believe either that republican paramilitaries had opened fire or thrown bombs or that a soldier or soldiers were responding to the imminent use of firearms or bombs by paramilitaries; and thus not only to reinforce what they had been told and believed about the likely presence of republican paramilitaries in the area, but also to make them even more ready to respond. If, as we consider was the case, Lieutenant N decided to fire these shots over the heads of the people otherwise than as a last resort to protect himself or other soldiers, he can in our view fairly be criticised, not only for firing, but also for failing to realise the effect that his firing would be likely to have on the other soldiers who had come into the Bogside.

3.90 When shooting breaks out in an urban area, as it then did, it is often difficult or impossible to establish who is firing, from where the firing has come, in what direction it is going, and the type of weapon being used. The same applies to explosions and we have little doubt that the sound of the firing of baton rounds could in some circumstances have been mistaken for the explosion of bombs. In Londonderry these factors were magnified by what was known as “the Derry sound”, which was the echoing effect created by the City Walls and adjacent buildings (including the high Rossville Flats) and which could multiply the sound of gunfire and explosions and create false impressions of the direction from which these sounds were coming.

3.91 In circumstances such as we have described, there is a risk that soldiers, mistakenly believing themselves or their colleagues to be under lethal attack, lose their self-control, forget or ignore their training and fire without being satisfied that they have identified a person posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

3.92 As to the soldiers who went into the Bogside, we have reached the following conclusions.

3.93 As we have said, the first casualty to be shot after the soldiers entered the Bogside was Jackie Duddy, who in our view was probably shot by Private R. According to this soldier’s accounts, as he approached Sergeant O’s APC he saw and shot a man who was about to throw a nail bomb.

3.94 Jackie Duddy was running away from the soldiers when he was shot. He probably had a stone in his hand at the time. Private R may have thought that Jackie Duddy

General Sir Robert Ford. might have been about to throw a bomb and shot him for this reason, but we are sure that he could not have been sufficiently confident about this to conclude that he was justified in firing. It is possible that Private R fired in a state of fear or panic, giving no proper thought to whether his target was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

3.95 The second casualty was Margaret Deery, shot (probably by Lance Corporal V) as she stood with a group of people at or near the southern end of the wall of the gardens of the houses on the western side of Chamberlain Street. Lance Corporal V had approached the car park of the Rossville Flats from Lieutenant N’s APC. Lance Corporal V’s evidence was that he fired at and hit someone who had thrown or was in the course of throwing a petrol bomb, evidence that we rejected. Margaret Deery was probably not his intended target. Lance Corporal V probably fired in the knowledge that he had not identified someone who was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. It is possible that he fired in a state of fear or panic, without giving proper thought to whether his target was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

3.96 Michael Bridge was shot as he walked towards the soldiers near Sergeant O’s vehicle in the car park of the Rossville Flats, shouting at them in protest against the shooting of Jackie Duddy and in his anger inviting the soldiers to shoot him.

3.97 It was probably Lieutenant N who shot Michael Bridge. After firing his rifle up the alleyway leading to Chamberlain Street, Lieutenant N had returned to his vehicle and then moved across the Eden Place waste ground towards the car park of the Rossville Flats. It was at this stage that he fired at and wounded Michael Bridge. His evidence was that he fired at a man he was sure, at the time, was about to throw a nail bomb at his soldiers. In our view Lieutenant N fired, probably either in the mistaken belief that his target was about to throw a nail bomb, but without any adequate grounds for that belief; or in the mistaken belief that his target might have been about to throw a nail bomb, but without being confident that that was so. It is possible that Lieutenant N fired in a state of fear or panic, without giving proper thought to whether his target was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

3.98 It was probably Private Q who shot Michael Bradley.

This casualty was on the southern side of the Rossville Flats car park and was probably about to throw a stone at the soldiers when he was shot. Private Q falsely maintained that shortly before he fired his shot a nail bomb had been thrown

It is possible that Private R fired in a state of fear or panic, giving no proper thought to whether his target was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

and had exploded in the car park and that he was sure that the person he shot was about to throw another nail bomb, but we are sure that Private Q did not believe when he fired that he had identified a nail bomber. It is possible that he mistakenly thought that Michael Bradley might have been about to throw a bomb, but in our view, even if this was so, he could not have been sufficiently confident about this to conclude that he was justified in firing. It is possible that Private Q fired in a state of fear or panic, giving no proper thought to whether his target was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

3.99 One or more of Sergeant O, Private R and Private S fired the shots that indirectly injured Patrick McDaid and Pius McCarron. All these soldiers claimed to have fired at gunmen at ground level, a claim we do not accept. While they did not aim at either Patrick McDaid or Pius McCarron, we are sure that the soldier or soldiers whose shots resulted in these casualties fired without justification and without any or any proper regard to the risk to people in the area.

3.100 Private T was probably responsible for the shot that directly or indirectly injured Patrick Brolly, who was in Block 1 of the Rossville Flats, though it is possible that Private S was responsible. The soldier concerned did not aim at Patrick Brolly. If it was a shot by Private S (who fired 12 shots in the area of the Rossville Flats car park) we are sure that it was fired for no good reason and without any regard to the risk to people in the flats. If it was Private T, it was one of two shots that this soldier fired at a man on a balcony of Block 1 of the Rossville Flats, who had thrown down at the soldiers below a bottle or bottles containing acid or a similar corrosive substance, which had caused minor injuries to Private T and Private R. These shots were fired without a previous warning and thus in our view contravened the instructions given to the soldiers as to when they could open fire, contained in the Yellow Card. Sergeant O had told Private T to shoot if the man sought to throw another bottle.

Both he and Private T believed that the person concerned was posing a threat of causing serious injury. The second shot was fired after the man had thrown a further bottle and thus at a time when he was posing no threat to the soldiers.

Both shots missed the intended target.

3.101 In Rossville Street, Lance Corporal F fired from the low walls of the Kells Walk ramp and killed Michael Kelly who was behind the rubble barricade on Rossville Street, some 80 yards away. Initially Lance Corporal F said nothing about this shot but later he admitted that he had fired, falsely claiming that this was at a nail bomber. In our view Lance Corporal F did not fire in panic or fear, without giving proper thought to whether he had identified a person posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. We are sure that instead he fired either in the belief that no-one at the rubble barricade was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, or not caring whether or not anyone at the rubble barricade was posing such a threat.

3.102 As to the further shooting in Rossville Street, which caused the deaths of William Nash, John Young and Michael McDaid, Corporal P claimed that he fired at a man with a pistol; Lance Corporal J claimed that he fired at a nail bomber; and Corporal E claimed that he fired at a man with a pistol in the Rossville Flats. We reject each of these claims as knowingly untrue. We are sure that these soldiers fired either in the belief that no-one in the areas towards which they respectively fired was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, or not caring whether or not anyone there was posing such a threat. In their cases we consider that they did not fire in a state of fear or panic.

3.103 We take the same view of the shot that we are sure Private U fired at Hugh Gilmour, mortally wounding this casualty as he was running away from the soldiers. We reject as knowingly untrue Private U’s account of firing at a man with a handgun.

3.104 As we have explained, either Private L or Private M shot and mortally wounded Kevin McElhinney as he was crawling away from the soldiers. They probably did so on the orders of Colour Sergeant 002 or Corporal 039 or perhaps both these non-commissioned officers.

3.105 These soldiers and officers gave evidence that they had seen two people, one or both with rifles, crawling away from the rubble barricade. They probably believed that they might have identified a gunman or gunmen, but none of them could have been satisfied that they had done so. Their targets were crawling away and not posing an immediate threat of causing death or serious injury. The soldiers’ evidence was that they fired, not because the crawling men were posing at that moment an immediate threat of causing death or serious injury, but because they believed that the crawling men would or might use their weapons once they had reached cover, although Private L expressed the view that he was entitled to fire at someone with a weapon, whatever that individual was doing. These shots were not fired in fear or panic. We are of the view that the soldiers concerned probably believed that the crawling men might pose a threat of causing death or serious injury once they had reached cover, though it is possible that Private L did not care whether or not they would pose such a threat.

3.106 We are sure that the soldier who shot and injured Alexander Nash while he was tending his dead or dying son William at the rubble barricade could not have believed that he had or might have identified someone posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

3.107 We have above identified Corporal E, Lance Corporal F, Private G and Private H as the soldiers who went into Glenfada Park North, between them killing William McKinney and Jim Wray, injuring Joe Mahon, Joe Friel, Michael Quinn and Patrick O’Donnell, and possibly injuring Daniel Gillespie. All claimed that they had identified and shot at people in possession of or seeking to use bombs or firearms.

3.108 In our view none of these soldiers fired in the belief that he had or might have identified a person in possession of or using or about to use bombs or firearms. William McKinney and Jim Wray were both shot in the back and none of the other casualties (with the possible exception of Daniel Gillespie) appears to have been facing the soldiers when shot. We are sure that these soldiers fired either in the belief that no-one in the areas towards which they respectively fired was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, or not caring whether or not anyone there was posing such a threat. In their cases (with the possible exception of Private H), it is unlikely that they fired in a state of fear or

panic.

3.109 All four soldiers denied shooting anyone on the ground. However, Jim Wray was shot for a second time in the back, probably as he lay mortally wounded in the southwestern corner of Glenfada Park North. Whichever soldier was responsible for firing the second shot, we are sure that he must have known that there was no possible justification for shooting Jim Wray as he lay on the ground.

3.110 Private G shot Gerard McKinney in Abbey Park. As we have already noted, his shot passed through this casualty and mortally wounded Gerald Donaghey. Private G may not have been aware that his shot had had this additional effect. Private G falsely denied that he had fired in Abbey Park. He did not fire in fear or panic and we are sure that he must have fired knowing that Gerard McKinney was not posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

3.111 Gerald Donaghey was taken by car to the Regimental Aid Post of 1st Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, which was at the western end of Craigavon Bridge, which spans the River Foyle. There four nail bombs were found in his pockets. The question arose as to whether the nail bombs were in his pockets when he was shot, or had been planted on him later by the security forces. We have considered the substantial amount of evidence relating to this question and have concluded, for reasons that we give, that the nail bombs were probably on Gerald Donaghey when he was shot. However, we are sure that Gerald Donaghey was not preparing or attempting to throw a nail bomb when he was shot; and we are equally sure that he was not shot because of his possession of nail bombs. He was shot while trying to escape from the soldiers.

3.112 As we have said, the last gunfire casualties were Bernard McGuigan, Patrick Doherty, Patrick Campbell and Daniel McGowan, all shot in the area to the south of Block 2 of the Rossville Flats within a very short time of each other.

Bernard McGuigan was shot in the head and killed instantly as he was waving a piece of cloth and moving out from the cover afforded by the southern end wall of Block 1 of the Rossville Flats. Further to the east Patrick Doherty was shot in the buttock and mortally wounded as he was attempting to crawl to safety across the area that lay on the southern side of Block 2 of the Rossville Flats. Patrick Campbell was shot in the back and injured as he ran away from the southern end of Block 1 of the Rossville Flats along the southern side of Block 2. Daniel McGowan was shot and injured in the leg when he was in about the same area as where Patrick Doherty was shot.

3.113 We have no doubt that Lance Corporal F shot Patrick Doherty and Bernard McGuigan, and it is highly probable that he also shot Patrick Campbell and Daniel McGowan. In 1972 Lance Corporal F initially said nothing about firing along the pedestrianised area on the southern side of Block 2 of the Rossville Flats, but later admitted that he had done so. No other soldier claimed or admitted to firing into this area. Lance Corporal F’s claim that he had fired at a man who had (or, in one account, was firing) a pistol was to his knowledge false. Lance Corporal F did not fire in a state of fear or panic. We are sure that he fired either in the belief that no-one in the area into which he fired was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, or not caring whether or not anyone there was posing such a threat.

Other firing by soldiers on Bloody Sunday 3.114 Soldiers of Support Company fired in all over 100 rifle rounds on Bloody Sunday after they had gone into the Bogside. In this report we describe in detail not only the circumstances in which soldiers fired and killed or injured civilians, but also the circumstances in which the other shooting occurred. As to the latter, with the probable exception of shots fired by Sergeant O at what he described as a gunman on a balcony of Block 3 of the Rossville Flats, we found no instances where it appeared to us that soldiers either were or might have been justified in firing. In many cases the soldiers concerned fired either in the belief that no-one in the areas into which they fired was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, or not caring whether or not anyone there was posing such a threat; while in other cases we consider that when the soldiers fired they may have mistakenly suspected, without being satisfied, that they might have identified someone posing a threat of causing death or serious injury.

3.115 Apart from the firing by soldiers of Support Company, there was no other firing by members of 1 PARA on Bloody Sunday. In particular, there was no firing by members of C Company, who had also gone into the Bogside (on foot through Barrier 14) soon after Support Company had gone through Barrier 12.

3.116 There were other incidents of Army firing on Bloody Sunday, by members of other Army units. This firing was in response to republican paramilitary firing that was directed at soldiers, but not at those who had gone into the Bogside.

We consider these incidents in detail in this report. In one of these incidents (some 600 yards from the area where the civilians were killed and injured by soldiers of Support Company) a soldier (in our view justifiably) shot at and injured an armed member of the Official IRA, “Red” Mickey Doherty, who had immediately before fired at soldiers.

3.117 At one stage it was suggested that a soldier or soldiers stationed on the City Walls above the area into which Support Company of 1 PARA deployed might have been responsible for some of the civilian casualties at the rubble barricade in Rossville Street. We considered this possibility but are sure, for the reasons we give in the report, that this was not the case; and by the end of the Inquiry no-one taking part in the Inquiry suggested otherwise.

3.118 As will be seen from this report, as part of our investigation we examined in detail the organisation of the Provisional and Official IRA and the activities of members of those organisations on the day, since it was submitted on behalf of soldiers that, in effect, these activities justified the soldiers opening fire. With the exception of Gerald Donaghey, who was a member of the Provisional IRA’s youth wing, the Fianna, none of those killed or wounded by soldiers of Support Company belonged to either the Provisional or the Official IRA. 3.119 In the course of investigating the activities of the...

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

45 Provisional and Official IRA on the day, we considered at some length allegations that Martin McGuinness, at that time the Adjutant of the Derry Brigade or Command of the Provisional IRA, had engaged in paramilitary activity during the day. In the end we were left in some doubt as to his movements on the day. Before the soldiers of Support Company went into the Bogside he was probably armed with a Thompson sub-machine gun, and though it is possible that he fired this weapon, there is insufficient evidence to make any finding on this, save that we are sure that he did not engage in any activity that provided any of the soldiers with any justification for opening fire.

The arrest of civilians

3.120 Soldiers of Support Company, 1 PARA arrested a number of civilians on Bloody Sunday. Only six were arrested in the area of Rossville Street or in the Eden Place waste ground where the soldiers had initially deployed, most of the others being arrested either in a house in Chamberlain Street or where they had taken shelter behind a wall at the south-eastern corner of Glenfada Park North. In this report, we have examined the circumstances of these arrests and what happened to those who were arrested, not only because they formed an important part of the events of the day, but because the way in which some were treated provided an indication of the attitude that some soldiers of 1 PARA adopted towards the people they encountered on Bloody Sunday.

There were a number of incidents in which soldiers gave knowingly false accounts of the circumstances in which arrests were made. In the end no proceedings were pursued against any of those who had been arrested.

Chapter 4: The question of responsibility for the deaths and injuries on Bloody Sunday

4.1 The immediate responsibility for the deaths and injuries on Bloody Sunday lies with those members of Support Company whose unjustifiable firing was the cause of those deaths and injuries. The question remains, however, as to whether others also bear direct or indirect responsibility for what happened.

The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland Governments and theArmy

4.2 During the course of the Inquiry, allegations were made by some of those representing the families of those who died on Bloody Sunday and those wounded, that the politicians in both the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland Governments, as well as the military authorities, had planned not simply to stop the civil rights march and to mount an arrest operation against rioters as set out in the orders for Operation Forecast (the operation to contain the march and deal with any rioting), but rather to use 1 PARA for the purpose of carrying out some action, which they knew would involve the deliberate use of unwarranted lethal force or which they sanctioned with reckless disregard as to whether such force was used. On this basis it was submitted that the civil and military authorities bore responsibility for the deaths and injuries on Bloody Sunday.

4.3 These allegations were based on one of two propositions, either that what happened on Bloody Sunday was intended and planned by the authorities, or that it was foreseen by the authorities as likely to happen. We are of the view that neither of these propositions can be sustained.

4.4 In order to consider these allegations we looked in detail at what the authorities were planning and doing in the weeks and months preceding Bloody Sunday; as well as what happened on Bloody Sunday before soldiers were sent into the Bogside. We found no evidence to substantiate these allegations. So far as the United Kingdom Government was concerned, what the evidence did establish was that in the months before Bloody Sunday, genuine and serious attempts were being made at the highest level to work towards a peaceful political settlement in Northern Ireland. Any action involving the use or likely use of unwarranted lethal force against nationalists on the occasion of the march (or otherwise) would have been entirely counterproductive to the plans for a peaceful settlement; and was neither contemplated nor foreseen by the United Kingdom Government. So far as the Northern Ireland Government was concerned, although it had been pressing the United Kingdom Government and the Army to step up their efforts to counter republican paramilitaries and to deal with banned marches, we found no evidence that suggested to us that it advocated the use of unwarranted lethal force or was indifferent to its use on the occasion of the march.

4.5 It was also submitted that in dealing with the security situation in Northern Ireland generally, the authorities (the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland Governments and the Army) tolerated if not encouraged the use of unjustified lethal force; and that this was the cause or a contributory cause of what happened on Bloody Sunday. We found no evidence of such toleration or encouragement.

4.6 There was a further submission to the effect that it was critical to an understanding of why lethal force was used by the Army against unarmed civilians on Bloody Sunday, to appreciate that by this time the role of the police in security matters had been eroded and that the Army had illegally taken control over the policing of security situations from the police. Though by the period in question the situation was such that the RUC had neither the manpower nor the resources to deal effectively with all security issues and was in many cases dependent upon the military, we do not accept that the Army had illegally taken over control of security from the police. The Army and the police worked together in deciding how to deal with matters of security.

4.7 As to the actions of the soldiers themselves, it was submitted that those who fired did so because of a “culture” that had grown up among soldiers at the time in Northern Ireland, to the effect that they could fire with impunity, secure in the knowledge that the arrangements then in force (arrange-

“Lance Corporal F’s claim that he had fired at a man who had (or, in one account, was firing) a pistol was to his knowledge false. Lance Corporal F did not fire in a state of fear or panic.” ments later criticised by the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland) meant that their actions would not be investigated by the RUC, but by the Royal Military Police (the Army’s own police force), who would be sympathetic to the soldiers and who would not conduct a proper investigation. In support of this submission it was alleged that before Bloody Sunday there were many previous unjustified shooting incidents by soldiers in Northern Ireland. As we pointed out in the course of the Inquiry, it was simply not possible to take this submission of an established “culture” forward, for this could only be done by examining in the same detail as Bloody Sunday the circumstances of each of those incidents, in order to decide, among other things, whether or not they involved unjustified firing by soldiers. In our view this would have been a wholly impracticable course for us to take, adding immeasurably to what was already a very long and complex inquiry. In these circumstances, we are not in a position to express a view either as to whether or not such a culture existed among soldiers before Bloody Sunday or, if it did, whether it had any influence on those who fired unjustifiably on that day.

Major General Ford

4.8 In the light of the situation that obtained in Londonderry in early 1972 (which we discuss in detail in this report), we do not criticise General Ford [Major General Robert Ford, then Commander of Land Forces in Northern Ireland] for deciding to deploy soldiers to arrest rioters, though in our view his decision to use 1 PARA as the arrest force is open to criticism, on the ground that 1 PARA was a force with a reputation for using excessive physical violence, which thus ran the risk of exacerbating the tensions between the Army and nationalists in Londonderry. However, there is to our minds a significant difference between the risk of soldiers using excessive physical violence when dispersing crowds or trying to arrest rioters and the risk that they would use lethal weapons without justification. We have concluded that General Ford had no reason to believe and did not believe that the risk of soldiers of 1 PARA firing unjustifiably during the course of an arrest operation was such that it was inappropriate for that reason for him to use them for such an operation.

4.9 General Ford denied, both to the Widgery Inquiry and to the present Inquiry, that the Army plan for 30th January 1972 was to cause a confrontation with the IRA, Official, Provisional or both. We accept his denial. We are sure that there was no such plan.

4.10 As to General Ford’s memorandum, where he suggested shooting selected ringleaders of rioters after warning, we are surprised that an officer of his seniority should seriously consider that this was something that could be done, notwithstanding that he acknowledged that to take this course would require authorisation from above. We are sure, for the reasons given in the report, that this idea was not adopted and that the shootings on Bloody Sunday were not the result of any plan to shoot selected ringleaders. In the event General Ford decided to use an additional battalion (1 PARA) as the means of seeking to deal with rioters. We found no evidence to suggest that the use of lethal force against unarmed rioters, who were not posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, was contemplated by General Ford or those senior to him as a possible means of dealing with any rioting that might accompany the then forthcoming civil rights march.

4.11 General Ford did not himself play any role in ordering the arrest operation to be launched or in determining the form either in which Brigade ordered it or which it actually took. He did not seek to interfere with or to influence what happened to any significant extent and was right not to do so, since the decision whether to launch an arrest operation and the form that it was to take were matters for Brigadier MacLellan.

4.12 General Ford was responsible for deciding that in the likely event of rioting, Brigade should employ 1 PARA as an arrest force on 30th January 1972. But he neither knew nor had reason to know at any stage that his decision would or was likely to result in soldiers firing unjustifiably on that day.

Brigadier MacLellan

4.13 As we have noted above, the power to order an arrest operation did not rest with General Ford, but with Brigadier MacLellan. We do not criticise Brigadier MacLellan for giving such an order. As we have pointed out, he did not do so until he was reasonably satisfied that there was sufficient separation between rioters and peaceful marchers to sanction the limited arrest operation that had been initially suggested by Colonel Wilford. Had Colonel Wilford informed him that the situation had changed and that as the commander of the arrest force he now considered that it was necessary to order an additional company to go in vehicles along Rossville Street in order to arrest rioters, Brigadier MacLellan might well have

abandoned the arrest operation altogether, on the ground that such an operation would not allow sufficient separation between marchers and rioters. Brigadier MacLellan had no reason to believe and did not believe that the limited arrest operation he ordered ran the risk of deaths or injuries from unjustifiable firing by soldiers.

4.14 We should add at this point that in our view Brigadier MacLellan cannot fairly be criticised either for not imposing additional restrictions on when soldiers could open fire, over and above those in the Yellow Card; or for failing to order soldiers engaged in an arrest operation to disengage rather than respond if they were or believed that they were under attack from republican paramilitaries, so as to minimise the risk that innocent civilians would be killed or injured. In his case suggestions to the contrary incorrectly assume that he bears responsibility for sending soldiers into the Bogside. The arrest operation Brigadier MacLellan ordered was limited in scope and would not have involved soldiers going into the Bogside to any or any significant extent; and in our view the risk to civilians from such an operation did not call for any such special restrictions or special orders. We have concluded that Brigadier MacLellan does not bear any responsibility for the deaths and injuries from the unjustifiable firing by soldiers on Bloody Sunday.

Lieutenant Colonel Wilford

4.15 What did happen was not what Colonel Wilford had initially suggested and Brigadier MacLellan had then ordered.

Colonel Wilford should have ordered his soldiers to stay in and around William Street and the northern end of Rossville Street. Instead, he sent them into the Bogside, where they chased people down Rossville Street, into the car park of the Rossville Flats, into Glenfada Park North and as far as Abbey Park.

4.16 In our view Colonel Wilford decided to send Support Company into the Bogside because at the time he gave the order he had concluded (without informing Brigadier MacLellan) that there was now no prospect of making any or any significant arrests in the area he had originally suggested, as the rioting was dying down and people were moving away.

In addition it appears to us that he wanted to demonstrate that the way to deal with rioters in Londonderry was not for soldiers to shelter behind barricades like (as he put it) “Aunt Sallies” while being stoned, as he perceived the local troops had been doing, but instead to go aggressively after rioters, as he and his soldiers had been doing in Belfast.

4.17 What Colonel Wilford failed to appreciate, or regarded as of little consequence, was that his soldiers, who had not been in a position to observe the rioting that had been going on at the Army barriers, would almost certainly be unable to identify anyone as a rioter, save where, when they arrived, they were met by people who were rioting at that time.

4.18 Colonel Wilford failed to inform Brigade that in his view the situation had changed and that the only prospect of making any arrests was to send his soldiers in vehicles into the Bogside. He then failed to obey the order that Brigadier MacLellan gave, which prohibited any such movement. He thus created a situation in which soldiers chased people down Rossville Street and beyond, in circumstances where it was not possible to distinguish between those who had merely been marching and those who had been rioting. His failure to comply with his orders, instead setting in train the very thing his Brigadier had prohibited him from doing, cannot be justified.

4.19 In our view Colonel Wilford can also be criticised on another ground. He sent his soldiers into an area which he regarded as dangerous and which he had told his soldiers was dangerous; an area which his soldiers did not know and where they might come under lethal attack from republican paramilitaries, who dominated that part of the city. He knew that his soldiers would accordingly be very much on their guard, ready to respond instantly with gunfire at identified targets, as they were trained to respond, if they did come under such attack. He knew that his soldiers would not withdraw if they came under lethal attack but were trained not just to take cover, but instead to move forward and, as he himself put it, seek out the “enemy ”.

4.20 In these circumstances, on his own estimation of the danger of lethal attacks by republican paramilitaries, Colonel Wilford must have appreciated that there was a significant risk that sending his soldiers into the Bogside on an arrest operation could lead to an armed engagement with republican paramilitaries. He should have appreciated that if this did happen, then there was also, in view of the numbers of people around, a significant risk that people other than soldiers’ justifiable targets would be killed or injured, albeit by accident, from Army gunfire. To our minds this was another reason why Colonel Wilford should not have launched an incursion into the Bogside.

4.21 The fact that what in the event happened on Bloody Sunday when the soldiers entered the Bogside was not a justifiable response to a lethal attack by republican paramilitaries, but instead soldiers opening fire unjustifiably, cannot provide an answer to this criticism, which is based not on what happened, but what at the time Colonel Wilford thought might happen.

4.22 We have found nothing that suggests to us that Colonel Wilford can be blamed for the incident in which soldiers fired from the derelict building in William Street and injured Damien Donaghey and John Johnston. However, the question remains as to whether he realised, or should have realised, that the risk of unjustifiable firing by soldiers if he sent them into the Bogside was such that for this reason he should not have ordered them to go in.

4.23 As one of the officers (given the cipher Captain 128), who was a member of 2nd Battalion, The Royal Green Jackets and was present on the day, told us, when a soldier hears shots and believes that he is under fire, his automatic reaction is to fire himself, which is a difficult reaction to stop; and when firing breaks out in a tense situation it can spread very quickly and is very difficult to control. It could thus be said that Colonel Wilford should have appreciated that by sending soldiers into an unfamiliar area, which they had been told was and which they perceived to be a dangerous area, there was a risk that they might mistakenly believe that they had come under attack from republican paramilitaries and in that belief

open fire without being satisfied that they had identified people who were posing a threat of causing death or serious injury; and that because of that risk, he should not have sent soldiers into the Bogside. In the end, however, we consider that on this specific ground Colonel Wilford cannot fairly be criticised for giving the orders he did. We take the view that Colonel Wilford cannot be blamed for failing to foresee that the risk of his soldiers firing unjustifiably was such that he should not have given the orders he did.

4.24 In summary, therefore, in our view Colonel Wilford should not have sent soldiers of Support Company into the Bogside for the following reasons: - because in doing so he disobeyed the orders given by Brigadier MacLellan; - because his soldiers, whose job was to arrest rioters, would have no or virtually no means of identifying those who had been rioting from those who had simply been taking part in the civil rights march; and - because he should not have sent his soldiers into an unfamiliar area which he and they regarded as a dangerous area, where the soldiers might come under attack from republican paramilitaries, in circumstances where the soldiers’ response would run a significant risk that people other than those engaging the soldiers with lethal force would be killed or injured by Army gunfire.

4.25 There remains the suggestion that Colonel Wilford’s soldiers should have been instructed that in order to minimise the risk to innocent people, if on going into the Bogside they came under attack from paramilitaries, or believed that this had happened, they should disengage and withdraw rather than return fire. In our view this is a hypothetical question, since for the first two of the reasons we have given above Colonel Wilford should not have sent soldiers into the Bogside, with or without special instructions.

Major Loden

4.26 Those representing the families of the deceased and the wounded criticised Major Loden, the Commander of Support Company, on the ground that he failed to exercise any proper control over his soldiers or their firing.

4.27 In our view, events moved so fast after the soldiers had disembarked in the Bogside that Major Loden had no idea what was actually going on; he assumed that his soldiers had come under attack from republican paramilitaries and were responding. It could be said that another officer in Major Loden’s position might have appreciated earlier that, in view of the amount of Army gunfire, something seemed to be going seriously wrong; republican paramilitaries were not known to take on troops in force, but usually sniped at individuals from positions of cover. In consequence such an officer might have made greater efforts to control the situation.

4.28 Major Loden was surprised by the amount of firing.

However, he did not initially appreciate that something was wrong and did not order a ceasefire or give any other instructions to his soldiers until after all the casualties had been sustained. We consider that it was not unreasonable for him initially to believe, as he did, that his soldiers, by going into an area dominated by paramilitaries, had for once encountered paramilitary resistance in strength, to which they were responding. We accept his evidence that in this belief, it was not for him to control or stop his soldiers’ firing, but to leave this to the platoon and section commanders. We also accept, for the reasons he gave, that he could not see the targets that his soldiers were engaging and thus could not tell whether or not the firing was unjustified.

4.29 In our view, at the time the casualties were being sustained, Major Loden neither realised nor should have realised that his soldiers were or might be firing at people who were not posing or about to pose a threat of causing death or serious injury. However, we consider that at the time when he did tell his soldiers not to fire back unless they had identified positive targets, he probably did realise that the firing that was taking place then was, or might be, unjustified. By this stage all the casualties had been sustained and there had been a pause in the firing.

Lieutenant N

4.30 Lieutenant N, the Commander of Mortar Platoon, failed to appreciate, as he should have done, that firing unjustified shots over the heads of people in the alleyway leading into Chamberlain Street was likely to lead other soldiers mistakenly to believe, as some probably did, that Support Company was at that time coming under attack or the threat of attack from republican paramilitaries. As we have said, he was probably responsible for shooting Michael Bridge. However, we take the view that there was in the circumstances (and bearing particularly in mind the speed of events) nothing (apart from refraining from firing his unjustified shots over the heads of people) that he could or should have done to avert the shooting by other members of his platoon. We are not persuaded that he should have realised at the time that his soldiers were firing unjustifiably.

4.31 Lieutenant 119 was the Commander of Anti-Tank Platoon. We criticise this officer for allowing four members of his platoon to go into Glenfada Park North, out of his sight and control. Before this happened he appears to have been labouring under the mistaken belief that his soldiers at the low walls of the Kells Walk ramp were responding to paramilitary attacks. We are not persuaded that he should have realised that these soldiers were firing unjustifiably.

Captain 200 and Sergeant INQ 441

4.32 Captain 200 was the Commander of Composite Platoon.

There is nothing to suggest that he, or Sergeant INQ 441, the Commander of Machine Gun Platoon, was responsible for any of the unjustifiable firing by his soldiers.

The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association

4.33 In our view the organisers of the civil rights march bear no responsibility for the deaths and injuries on Bloody Sunday. Although those who organised the march must have realised that there was probably going to be trouble from rioters, they had no reason to believe and did not believe that this was likely to result in death or injury from unjustified firing by soldiers.

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

46

World wide support for families via web

By David Wilson david.wilson@derryjournal.com

Messages of solidarity with the Bloody Sunday families were last night flooding the world wide web in the wake of Lord Saville's Report.

At derryjournal.com, almost 100 readers logged onto a live web chat within the first hour of the report's publication all backing Saville and emphasising that "the truth had finally been set free."

Emmett McCallion wrote: " I wasn't there as I was too young - I have heard about Bloody Sunday all my life and it shaped a lot of it - my prayers and thoughts are with all those who were there on the day especially the friends and families of all those murdered on the day - I am listening to the families as I write this and I am proud to be here with them in spirit on this momentous and fantastic day - the truth is out and I hope

and pray it sets us all free."

A poster called D, summed up the overwhelming feelings of many: "Time taken for the British Government to accept accountability: 38 years, Innocent victims vindicated: 14, Cost of Inquiry: £191 million. Setting the truth free: Priceless."

Comments left via the 'Journal's social networking page on Facebook were no less unequivocal. " I am so glad for the families that at last their loved ones have been declared INNOCENT," Kathleen Doherty wrote, "This is now a time for healing. An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind."

But some called for further action.

Jamie Fitzpatrick said the publication of Saville's Report was "not the end." " No, the trial, conviction and imprisonment of the murderers from that day will mark the end."

Political website Slugger O'Toole was also inundated with post publication comments.

Jean Meslier simply posted the word innocent 14 times - in reference to the men killed by the British Army.

Unionists too expressed their views, a poster called Vanhelsing writing: " I’m happy that there is closure for these relatives of the innocent people who were killed on BS. But it is hard for Unionists because whilst we welcome the truth today I empathise with others who had their family members murdered by terrorists, many who have not had justice through the courts or an inquiry of this kind."

That Unionist view was expressed also on the Belfast Newsletter's web chat were one user named Unionist wrote: " What about Enniskillen, Omagh and Claudy? What about the innocent victims of terrorist violence?" derryjournal.com had more than 23,000 hits yesterday as the events of the day unfolded.

On the inside of the Inquiry With the eyes of the world watching Derry for the Saville Report, two men had more knowledge of the inner workings of the Inquiry than most. Creggan man Martin Burke and Rosemount's Liam O'Kane were diagnostic technicians at the Guildhall and in London.

They worked every day of the inquiry, heard every piece of evidence, every testimony and witnessed each step taken by the Bloody Sunday Inquiry team.

Earlier this week they spoke to Laurence McClenaghan about their role in the biggest legal inquiry in British and Irish history.

Liam O'Kane said: "We had a ringside seat to history but it didn't feel like we were mak- Martin Burke who worked as a Diagnostic Technician on The Saville Inquiry and now lives in ing history at the time as we were always the United States. talking about history."

Liam who wasn't born when Bloody Sunday occured and says he wasn't political, came to the Inquiry as a blank sheet. “ I had no opinions. It was a strange situation for me however as I heard my granny's house mentioned early in the Inquiry. John Young was taken in there after he was shot.

Quite quickly I realised how many of those giving evidence I knew personally from neighbours to former teachers of mine, so it was a strange situation for me."

Martin Burke, who has since emigrated to Boston, USA said: "I was in no doubt before the Inquiry started that those people were murdered. I didn't hear a single piece of evi- Liam O'Kane who heard every piece of evidence dence that made me think otherwise. given at The Saville Inquiry.

Looking at the evidence objectively I believe for Liam and I to be there. Coming from the Paratroopers were sent in to teach the Creggan, Bloody Sunday is almost central to 'Derry yobos' a lesson, however there was your identity. It was hard for me but it was no physical piece of evidence to connect even harder looking at the families in the anyone to 'orders to kill.' There was no auditorium. We were lucky in that none of smoking gun, no concrete link. The leaks our relations had been killed. I often tried to suggest unlawful killing however that is a imagine how impossible it would be for 'nice' word for murder. those families."

"To be honest I thought it was important

Mr. O'Kane was also full of praise and admiration for the bereaved: "Thirty families had to sit, and listen to all the details of their loved one’s deaths, over and over again in great, great detail. They sat listening intently and did so with great dignity. I'm not sure I would have had the strength to do that.

Martin added: "The evidence was repeated all the time. It really was a slow and meticulous process."

There were however some "surreal moments" as Liam recalls.

"Susan North played some audio taken by photographer Fulvio Grimaldi during the shooting. As people were sheltering in a house in the Bogside high velocity, live rounds could be heard amid the shouts and screams. The TV in the house was showing an advertisment asking people to join the British Army, 'See the world, join the army,' it said."

There also were "truly sad and maddening moments," according to Mr. Burke: "The ex soldiers had an opportunity to tell the truth.

They were immune from prosecution so it was really disappointing they didn't take that opportunity. They had a chance to bare their souls and refused to take it."

Both men were however shocked that the Inquiry has taken 12 years to report.

Liam said: "I signed up for one year but when the opening statements took six weeks I thought it might be a little longer.

"It was five years of evidence which was unbelievable."

Martin said: "It was ridiculous that it took so long, simply insane. The judges would have been forming opinions and making decisions as they heard each piece of evidence.

"Six years to write a report is a long, long time. I just hope it can bring some closure to the families involved."

Megan Bradley, three, granddaughter of Jim Wray, gathers with other relatives of those shot dead on Bloody Sunday.

Jean Hegarty and John Kelly tear up a copy of the Widgery report after talking to the thousands of Derry people gathered for the reading of the Saville Report. (1506SL114) Photo: Stephen Latimer

Tuesday, 15th June, 2010

THE TRUTH IS SET FREE

An emotional Liam Wray (right), whose brother Jim was murdered on Bloody Sunday, comforts a tearful Joe Mahon - who feigned death beside Mr. Wray as the paratroopers launched their murderous assault on Glenfada Park on January 30, 1972 - prior to yesterday’s publication of the Saville Report.

SPECIAL:

The Saville Report

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