The tribunal: Seeking the truth

Lord Saville: Heading the tribunal of inquiry

The then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, conducted an inquiry into Bloody Sunday shortly after it had taken place in 1972.

His conclusions - that the soldiers fired first and the victims had been handling weapons - have always been rejected by the nationalist community.

New material that came to light in the late 1990s sparking led to the current inquiry.

The team

The judicial inquiry comprises three independent members.

Lord Saville of Newdigate

The Hon John Toohey

Mr Justice William Hoyt.

It is the job of Lord Saville and his colleagues to examine all the evidence and establish what really happened on Bloody Sunday.

The aim of the inquiry is not to accuse individuals or institutions, or to invite fresh recriminations, but to establish the truth about what happened on that day, so far as that can be achieved

Tony Blair, January 1998

This is a huge job. So far the documentation collected runs to 60,000 pages, thousands of photographs and hours of video and audio tape. Hundreds of witnesses have also been interviewed.

Formal hearings take place at the Guild Hall in Derry. The inquiry may eventually take more than a year to complete.

So far it has already attracted controversy over the soldiers' right to retain anonymity.

In October 1999 Lord Saville, who is keen for all the inquiry to be as public as possible, said he had "no choice" but to protect the identities of the soldiers after the Court of Appeal upheld their claim to anonymity.

The cost of the inquiry has already reached around £14m with the final figure expected to be much higher.

Profiles

Known as a both a gifted lawyer and a moderniser, Lord Saville of Newdigate was appointed as a Law Lord to the House of Lords in 1997, the highest UK court of appeal.

He is a computer enthusiast who has been a driving force in encouraging judges and lawyers to get online.

To assist in the public nature of this Inquiry, we intend to take full advantage of Information Technology. We have set up our own dedicated website on the internet, where we propose to publish details of the relevant material collected and considered, together with daily transcripts of the proceedings...

Lord Saville

He has made sure that the latest technology is used to aid the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.

A computer-generated image of the Bogside area has been specially created and witnesses will be able to use a touchscreen computer to pinpoint exactly where they were on the day.

Born in 1936, Mark Saville was educated at Rye Grammar School and Brasenose College, Oxford. He read law at university, obtained first class degrees and was called to the Bar in 1962.

He became a Queen's Counsel in 1975, a Judge of the High Court in 1985 and a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1994.

A 1991 survey found that he was one of the High Court judges whose judgements were least likely to be overturned.

The Hon John Toohey joined the inquiry team in September 2000 after his predecessor, New Zealander Sir Edward Somers, resigned for personal reasons.

Mr Toohey was a serving justice on the High Court of Australia from 1987 until his retirement in 1998.

The QC made a name for himself for his work on Aboriginal issues.

In 1977 he was named Aboriginal Land Commissioner of the Northern Territory. He also worked as a consultant to the Law Reform Commission reference on the Recognition of Aboriginal Customary Laws.

The third member is Mr Justice William Hoyt from Canada. Born in 1930 he was called to the bar 1957 and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1972.

From 1984 until 1998 he was a judge of the Court of Appeal of New Brunswick and from 1993 also Chief Justice of New Brunswick and a member of the Canadian Judicial Council.