Inquiry hears murder claim

Thirteen civilians were killed on Bloody Sunday

Police concluded the first killing on Bloody Sunday was murder but no soldier was made accountable because the one responsible could not be identified, it was claimed at the inquiry.

The inquiry was ordered by Prime Minister Tony Blair to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting dead of 13 civilians participating in a civil rights march in January 1972.

A fourteenth person died later from his wounds.

Mr Arthur Harvey QC, who represents many of the families of the victims, made the claim about the death of Jackie Duddy, 17.

He was filmed as he was dying being carried through the streets of Londonderry with a crouching Father Edward Daly waving a white handkerchief and leading the way.

Lord Saville: Heading inquiry

He told the Saville tribunal on Monday that there was no accounting for the shooting of the teenager and others injured in the same area on January 30, 1972.

It was on that day 13 Catholic men were killed after Paratroopers entered the Bogside district after an anti-internment demonstration.

Fr Daly, now a retired Catholic bishop, has always said he was running with Mr Duddy across the car park of Rossville Flats away from the troops arriving in armoured personnel carriers when he saw the young man fall.

Shooting

Delivering an opening submission on behalf of relatives of 10 of those who died, Mr Harvey said a soldier known as "V" claimed to have fired a shot at a petrol bomber - but that was "clearly" not Mr Duddy.

He said: "There is no explanation for the shooting of Jackie Duddy and, indeed, the police investigation came to the conclusion that Jackie Duddy had been murdered but no soldier was made accountable because he could not be identified."

He said no soldier's accounts of opening fire appeared to link to the people with gunshot injuries in the area where Mr Duddy fell.

They were: Peggy Deery, Michael Bradley and Michael Bridge and Patrick McDaid - and two others earlier - 15 year-old Damien Donaghy and John Johnston, 59, who died five months later.

Mr Harvey also spoke of the circumstances of the soldiers entering the Bogside that day.

He told the hearing in the Guildhall in the city that military witnesses believed the Royal Greenjackets on William Street did not wish to open the barrier there - number 14 - to allow the Paras to go through.

"It is borne out by the fact that when the paratroopers did come through, they either had to make their way through a narrow gap or go over the barrier - so the barrier was not even specifically opened for them.

"If they were concerned in relation to snipers being present, then for soldiers to filter through a narrow channel or have to hurdle obstacles in order to begin an operation does not seem to be the best of planning."

The question of who came in first - the troops in "C" Company who came in on foot from behind barrier 14 or Support Company inside armoured personnel carriers from barrier 12 - was "one of the most difficult questions to be answered, said Mr Harvey.

The brigade log said the order to go in was issued at 4.07pm, while the battalion log indicated that it was received at 4.10pm. The troops at barrier 12 believed it was "some time after 4.13pm".

Mr Harvey said: "We really have no indication as to precisely how the troops received their orders at either barrier."