Ex-IRA man 'lied to reporter'

The tribunal is entering the final stages of hearing evidence

A former member of both the Provisional and the Official IRA told a journalist "a pack of lies" about Bloody Sunday, he admitted to the Saville Inquiry.

The man, known only as Official IRA Man Eleven, said the account that he gave in an interview to BBC journalist Peter Taylor in the 1990s about seeing dead bodies was simply not true.

The tribunal 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.

The witness said on Thursday that he gave Mr Taylor the impression that he was in the Provisional IRA on Bloody Sunday when he was actually in the Official IRA at the time.

He said that he joined the Provisional IRA several weeks after Bloody Sunday and did not know what their orders were for the civil rights march.

He accepted that he later served two prison terms for Provisional IRA activities.

Submissions

The inquiry is to continue its sessions at the Guildhall in Londonderry for a number of weeks until all the remaining witnesses have been heard.

When the oral evidence ends, the inquiry will move into the closing stages including submissions and the closing speech by counsel to the inquiry.

These closing stages are likely to last for some months, after which the tribunal will retire to write their report.

Publication of the report will take place towards the end of 2004 at the earliest.

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

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.