Retired police to be screened at Saville Inquiry

Two retired police officers were today granted permission to give evidence to the Bloody Sunday Tribunal from behind screens to protect their identity.

Lord Saville granted the screening order after an application was submitted by counsel for police witnesses, Steven Ritchie.

The application was opposed by Seamus Treacy QC acting on behalf of most of the families of the dead and wounded on Bloody Sunday.

However, Lord Saville granted the order.

“The application is opposed but it seems to us, looking at the written material before us and bearing in mind the submissions and arguments that we have entertained in the other cases, that these two cases are indistinguishable from those on which we have already granted and, for the same reasons, therefore, we will grant the standard order for screening in both cases,” he added.