Inquiry hears IRA guns were removed

Fourteen civilians died after being shot on Bloody Sunday

A retired taxi driver has told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry he saw IRA weapons being moved out of Londonderry's Bogside ahead of the march at which soldiers opened fire.

Frankie Boyle said six cars were used to carry the weapons, wrapped in plastic bags, from the district to the neighbouring Creggan estate in the early hours of Sunday 30 January 30 1972.

The inquiry, headed by Lord Saville of Newdigate, is investigating the circumstances of day when paratroopers opened fire killing 13 men at the civil rights march in the Bogside. Another man died later.

Former soldiers, who are due to give evidence, have always insisted that they did not open fire until they were themselves fired on by the IRA.

However, the IRA has maintained that it did not fire shots in the Bogside on Bloody Sunday.

'IRA stayed away'

Giving evidence to the inquiry on Thursday, Mr Boyle, who was 34 on Bloody Sunday, said he was working on the night shift in City Cabs.

He said he saw 25 men and four women taking guns out of the Bogside at about 0200 BST.

"It was obvious what was happening as there was a lot of movement and these were the only cars around," he told the tribunal, sitting in the Guildhall in Derry.

"I think they must have been tipped off that paratroopers were going to be involved in the march."

Mr Boyle said he saw the people who had removed the weapons "snoozing" in the same cars in the Creggan estate as the march set off from there later that day.

"They were having nothing to do with the march and were clearly staying in the Creggan," he said.

Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, who admitted he was Provisional IRA's second-in-command in the city at the time, has said that orders were issued for guns to be removed ahead of the march.

'Escaping youth was shot'

Mr Boyle also told the inquiry that he saw his next-door-neighbour Michael McDaid shot dead near the Rossville flats.

He said Mr McDaid was throwing stones and was arrested with two or three others. They were thrown into the back of an armoured personnel carrier and that a soldier fired a canister of CS gas inside, he said.

"About two or three of the lads, including Michael McDaid, escaped from the back. They were choking on the CS gas," he added.

"Michael McDaid ran away from the Saracen. When he was about 20 yards away I heard a bang and saw him fall to the ground.

"He was not carrying any weapons and all he was doing when he was shot was rubbing his eyes from the effects of the CS gas."

Shown a photograph featuring Mr McDaid - alleged to have been taken moments before Mr McDaid's death - Mr Boyle was asked why he appeared tidy and unstressed.

He replied: "It must have been taken before he was arrested."

Mr Boyle also admitted spitting in a soldier's face during the march at the William Street barrier containing the march inside the Bogside and later throwing stones at troops.

Soldier's warning

Earlier on Thursday, the tribunal heard that a retired soldier urged his son to stay away from the march because he feared there would be trouble as paratroopers were expected to be there.

Witness Paddy Morrow, who was 26 at the time, said: "I remember before the march there was a rumour going around that the paras would be there and my father said I was to keep away from the march because that would mean there would be trouble."

"But the march was so peaceful at the beginning and all the talk was about the IRA being told to keep well away from it.

"In fact, it was pretty peaceful which is what made the reaction of the army so unbelievable."