Army officer 'did not see gunmen'

Lord Saville is hearing evidence in the Methodist Hall

Former army intelligence officer Colin Wallace has told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry that he did not see any civilian gunmen in Army photographs taken on the day.

The Saville Inquiry relocated to London on Tuesday to hear evidence from former British army soldiers.

The inquiry is examining the events of January 1972 when 13 civilians were shot dead by soldiers in Londonderry during a civil rights march. A 14th person died later.

Mr Wallace said he looked at the photographs in 1972 as he helped the Army's legal team prepare for the Widgery Tribunal.

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He said he did not see gunmen in the photographs and did not see anything that harmed the Army's case either.

The Saville Inquiry has been trying to discover if the photographs still exist or whether they were destroyed.

It is expected about 300 military witnesses will testify at the Methodist Hall in Westminster, following almost two years of mostly civilian evidence heard in Londonderry.

Soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday successfully opposed in the Court of Appeal the tribunal's ruling that they should travel to Derry to give their evidence.

They claimed they could be attacked by dissident republicans if they made that journey.

Relayed

Most of the soldiers will be anonymous - known only by a letter or number - but they will give evidence openly and not from behind screens.

The proceedings are being relayed to the Guildhall in Derry where the inquiry has been sitting until now.

The soldiers who fired the first shots on the day are not scheduled to give their evidence for at least several weeks.

The general picture painted by civilian witnesses at the inquiry so far is that the soldiers opened fire without justification.

Many of the relatives of those who died are in London to see the soldiers giving evidence.

Lord Saville and the Commonwealth judges who comprise the inquiry began their work nearly four years ago and are not expected to report back until 2004.