Soldiers did not see 'bombs'

A mural in the city is dedicated to the victims

Two soldiers who checked one of the Bloody Sunday fatalities have said they found no explosive devices on the victim's body.

The statement was disclosed at the inquiry into the events of 30 January 1972 when soldiers opened fire on a civil rights march in Londonderry.

Thirteen people were killed on the day while a fourteenth man died later as a result of his injuries.

The statement from the soldiers related to the photograph of 17-year-old Gerard Donaghy who was pictured dead with four nail bombs in his pockets.

It was alleged in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday that soldiers discovered four nail bombs in Mr Donaghy's possession - two in his jeans pockets and two in his jacket pockets.

Another soldier said he could see no sign of the explosives on the teenager when he stopped the car carrying the badly injured Mr Donaghy to hospital.

'Nothing remarkable' about body

Soldier 150, a member of the Royal Anglian Regiment manning Barrier 20 on Barrack Street in the city, has told the new inquiry into the killings that he drove the car with Mr Donaghy on board to a medical post at the Craigavon Bridge.

His statement said he lifted Mr Donaghy's right arm to look for a pulse at Barrack Street and saw "nothing remarkable" about the body.

It added that he would not have driven the car if the man inside had nail bombs in his pockets.

"I'm sure if the man had nail bombs in his pockets, I would have seen them."

However one of his colleagues, identified to the tribunal as soldier 104, said he had seen what appeared to be one nail bomb in Mr Donaghy's pocket - although he admitted changing his account of where he spotted it.

The soldier had initially claimed in 1972 that he had noticed the bulge in Mr Donaghy's pocket at the Barrack Street barrier.

Christopher Clarke QC: Counsel to inquiry

He admitted changing his account for the inquiry headed by Lord Widgery which was held in 1972.

His statement indicated he was persuaded to place the location at the Craigavon Bridge because his solicitor said he must have got the detail wrong.

His statement said: "As far as I was concerned then, I was telling the truth. I was not doing anything wrong."

Counsel to the inquiry, Christopher Clarke QC questioned why he had not stopped his colleague from driving the car if had seen a nail bomb on the body inside.

Another soldier who acted as a medical officer at the Craigavon Bridge admitted to the current tribunal finding no nail bombs on Mr Donaghy's body during two examinations, conducted over a period of up to 25 minutes.

And soldier 135, who was also at the Barrack Street barrier, also raised doubts about the presence of nail bombs in the car, which was initially driven to the checkpoint by civilians coming from the Bogside.

"They (the civilians) would have been made to have them in the car and would have dumped them before they came near the road block," his statement said.