IRA man wanted gun on Bloody Sunday

Witness said he looked for a gun when shooting began

A self-confessed IRA man has told the Bloody Sunday inquiry that he tried to get a gun when the British Army started shooting people.

Thomas McGlinchey, 66, admitted to the Saville Tribunal to being a member of the Provisional movement in Londonderry at the time of the civil rights march on 30 January 1972.

His testimony came on the second day of civilian witness examinations in the inquiry, which has been in existence in 1998 and sitting in public since March.

Thirteen Catholic men were shot dead by British soldiers and another was fatally wounded.

What this tribunal is looking for is the full truth and the only way we can get it is from assistance from, among others, people like you

Lord Saville

Mr McGlinchey said he drove a lorry at the head of the Bogside parade and maintained he saw no "civilian" gunfire that day.

But he also told the hearing in the Guildhall, in Londonderry, that "thousands" were looking for a weapon once the British Army opened fire and added: "If they had have got a gun, they would have used it."

Mr McGlinchey said he lost his leg in a loyalist booby-trap bombing in October 1975 - one of four attempts on his life.

His evidence was being presented as part of the general focus on events leading up to the entry of paratroopers into the Bogside in the aftermath of the parade, on what was officially designated a military arrest operation.

Witness had been interned

Mr McGlinchy confirmed a statement proclaiming himself to be from a large well-known republican family of five brothers and five sisters.

He said he had been interned for six months in 1973.

His statement referred to clashes between police and demonstrators in Omagh, on 5 October 1968, after which people asked: "Where's the IRA?"

It said: "There were only about six members of the Official IRA then. It grew as things started to get worse. I became a member of the Republican Army after those riots. At the time of Bloody Sunday there were very few members. It was just getting organised."

Martin McGuinness: Witness could not confirm IRA role

Mr McGlinchey later admitted joining the Provisional IRA in 1970, but said he was unable to confirm if Martin McGuinness was Officer Commanding of the organisation in 1972.

Asked by Edwin Glasgow QC, counsel for most of the soldiers, about his republican credentials, as a republican man from a republican family, he replied: "Proud to be".

He admitted to owning a .22 rifle, which he said was probably stored at the piggery he ran and on Bloody Sunday he had been unable to get it.

He said he had known "very few" of the other IRA members and refused to name those he thought were in the organisation.

Lord Saville: Tribunal looking for full truth

Lord Saville said: "You're aware that this inquiry has been set up because the families of those who died and were wounded have been campaigning for the last 28 years for the full truth to come out about Bloody Sunday.

"What this tribunal is looking for is the full truth and the only way we can get it is from assistance from, among others, people like you."

Mr McGlinchey said: "Even if I wanted to, I would not know them by name.

"I am not here to tell the names of who were the members of the republican movement. I don't think it would be right of me to do it.