Heath unaware of risk to civilians

Methodist Central Hall is inquiry's new home

Sir Edward Heath has rejected suggestions that he knew that unarmed people could be killed on Bloody Sunday.

The former Conservative prime minister was giving evidence to the Saville Inquiry in London, on Tuesday.

Thirteen Catholic men were killed on 30 January 1972 during a civil rights march when British paratroops opened fire. Another man died later from his wounds.

The soldiers claimed they fired in self-defence at gunmen and nail bombers.

Sir Edward Heath: Denied that he knew innocent people could be killed

Michael Mansfield QC, for the Nash and McGuigan families, put it to Sir Edward that he must have known that there was a risk that unarmed civilians would be shot but that casualties had to be accepted in the war against the IRA.

Sir Edward said he understood what Mr Mansfield was suggesting but that he rejected it.

Meanwhile, the inquiry heard that a senior British Army officer in Northern Ireland decided that the civil rights march that led to the Bloody Sunday killings should be stopped "at all costs".

A confidential operation order for January 30, 1972 said that people from the Catholic Creggan and Bogside areas of Londonderry and others nearby were planning to march illegally to the city centre.

The march was to protest against the policy of internment introduced in the province the previous summer but also to show the "weaknesses of the Security Forces", the order read.

'Hindsight'

It added: "CLF (Commander Land Forces in Northern Ireland, Major General Robert Ford) has decreed that the marches must be stopped at all costs."

Asked to comment on the order, which he wrote, Maj Gen Ford's former aide-de-camp described the wording as "a bit strong".

"I think the only explanation I can give for that wording is probably the exuberance of a young officer writing an operation order for the general staff at the time," he told the inquiry on Tuesday.

"Looking back at it in hindsight, it is a bit strong. I think what I would say now is that that paragraph should read, 'CLF has decided that the marchers should be stopped. Full stop'."

The witness, who was a captain at the time, said he remembered a "considerable amount of violence" in the months preceding Bloody Sunday after internment was introduced.

Lord Saville is investigating what happened on Bloody Sunday

Maj Gen Ford told him a civil rights march was scheduled to take place at the end of January and of his concerns about a "hooligan element" and even gunmen being involved.

He said the officer was concerned about extensive damage being caused, adding: "He stated that the aim would be to prevent the march reaching the city centre."

The captain accompanied Maj Gen Ford in the area on the day of the march and said he heard between 15 to 20 high velocity shots and one burst of automatic fire as well as "two small explosions" which could have been nail or petrol bombs.

He said he was unsure whether the firing was from the Army or civilians but assumed the automatic fire could not have come from the Parachute Regiment because of the rules governing engagement in Northern Ireland at the time.

Under cross-examination by Arthur Harvey QC, representing some of the victims' families, the aide-de-camp - referred to as INQ 2 - rejected the suggestion that his memory had "superimposed" a considerable amount of detail over the years.

This included allegedly adding references to automatic gunfire in his later statements when the diary of events of January 30 made the following day made no mention of it.

The Saville Inquiry was set up by Prime Minister Tony Blair to reinvestigate the evidence because the relatives felt the first inquiry was a whitewash.

Lord Saville and the Commonwealth judges who comprise the inquiry, are not expected to report back until 2004.

The inquiry, which usually sits at the Guildhall in Derry, is currently hearing the evidence from military witnesses and others in London because of concerns for their safety.