Former Premier’s ‘disbelief at army’s Bloody Sunday claims’

The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland at the time of Bloody Sunday did not believe army claims immediately afterwards that they had shot dead terrorists on the civil rights march in Derry, it was revealed today.

Brian Faulkner had questioned the army version of events with the comment: ‘‘When were a dozen gunmen ever killed in a crowd situation, and with no civilian casualties?’’ his former principal private secretary Dr Robert Ramsay told the Saville inquiry.