Soldier admits lying about shots

Soldiers shot 13 people dead in Derry on Bloody Sunday

A former soldier has told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry that he lied when he claimed in 1972 that he heard machine guns being fired.

Soldier 160, who was in the Royal Green Jackets, said he regretted claiming he heard a machine gun both before and after the parachute regiment went into the Bogside area.

Soldier 160 said on Tuesday that his only explanation for lying was that the Army was fighting the IRA at the time.

The Saville Inquiry is examining the events of 30 January 1972 when 13 civilians were shot dead by British army soldiers during a civil rights march in Londonderry. A 14th person died later.

He said: "I have a conscience. I have thought about this for 28 years and there is one matter in my statement that I want to put right," he said.

"In the statement, I said that I heard machine-gun fire both before and after the paras entered the Bogside. I did not.

"I have wondered for the past 28 years why I said I had heard gunfire. I can't really remember how it came about, but I have increasingly come to regret it.

"The families of the deceased have a right to know the truth of what happened."

Gunman

Earlier on Tuesday, a former parachute regiment soldier denied lying about seeing a gunman on Bloody Sunday.

Soldier 110 claimed that he saw the gunman crossing an alleyway at the Rossville Flats before disappearing from view.

Barry McDonald QC, representing most of the families, put it to him that he had invented the story to convince the Saville Inquiry that he had seen a gunman.

Soldier 110 said he was not lying and that he had a clear memory of the incident.

Another former soldier told the inquiry on Tuesday that he was not aware of shots being fired at or from the Derry Walls.

Soldier 139 was on duty on the city walls with members of the Light Air Defence Regiment.

He said that while he heard some high velocity shooting after the parachute regiment had gone into the Bogside, no shots were fired at or from the walls.

However, a number of other soldiers have claimed that shots were fired by the IRA towards the walls and that fire was returned by soldiers in nearby houses.

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

Lord Saville of Newdigate and the Commonwealth judges accompanying him on the Bloody Sunday inquiry began their work nearly four years ago.

They are not expected to report back until next year.

The Bloody Sunday Inquiry was established in 1998 by Prime Minister Tony Blair after a campaign by families of those killed and injured.

They felt that the Widgery Inquiry, held shortly after the shootings, did not find out the truth about what happened on Bloody Sunday.