IRA members set to give Bloody Sunday evidence

Two more members of the Provisional IRA are preparing to give evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, it was claimed tonight.

The tribunal into the killing of 13 civilians in Derry 30 years ago heard the paramilitary witnesses may be about to issue statements.

So far, Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness is the only member of the Provisionals on the day of the January 1972 killings to agree to testify before Lord Saville’s inquiry.

But as the hearing moves to London for military witnesses, it emerged that more republicans - both Official and Provisional IRA - could be on the verge of telling what they know.

Christopher Clarke QC, counsel to the inquiry, said: “I believe that there are three witnesses who have come forward in the sense that we have indicated that they are prepared to make a statement.

“One of them may be from the Official wing and two of them may be from the Provisionals, but I am not to be held to that, that is simply my current speculation.”

The announcement came just weeks after former IRA hunger striker Raymond McCartney urged any Provisionals with information that could help the hearing to come forward.

Mr McCartney, who played a pivotal role in the republican protests inside the Maze Prison in 1980, has already appeared before the Saville Inquiry at Derry’s Guildhall.

But he insisted he only joined the IRA after the 1972 shootings in the city.

Mr McGuinness, who is now Education Minister in the Northern Ireland power-sharing government at Stormont, is not due to give his evidence until the inquiry returns to Derry next year.

The Sinn Fein chief was second in command of the IRA on Bloody Sunday.

So far the tribunal, which has cost tens of millions of pounds, has heard from nearly 600 witnesses.

It is expected that up to 250 soldiers will take the witness box after the hearing resumes at the Central Hall in Westminster on Tuesday.

Cloaked in anonymity, they won the right to testify there following a Court of Appeal ruling.

General Sir Frank Kitson, a British Army counter-insurgency expert in 1972, is due to be the first witness called.

Earlier today Sir Edward Heath, who was Prime Minister at the time of Bloody Sunday, was granted permission to give evidence in London.

The ex-Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington and his parliamentary undersecretary Sir Geoffrey Johnson-Smith have also been told they do not have to come to Northern Ireland.

Lawyers representing all three had argued that they feared for their safety if they were forced to give evidence at the Guildhall.

Inquiry chairman Lord Saville said he could see no distinction between the case of the soldiers and Sir Edward, who was Prime Minister at the time of Bloody Sunday.

“It seems to us we are constrained by the judgment of the Court of Appeal to conclude that that balance falls on the side of alleviating the fears of the applicants,” he said.

“In these circumstances we allow the application.”

Former British army information officer Colin Wallace will also have to return to be quizzed by lawyers representing the soldiers and families following two days in the witness box in Derry.

He claimed Sir Edward was briefed in advance on a plan to deploy paratroopers on what became Bloody Sunday.

Mr Wallace alleged a discussion at Downing Street involved the unit mounting a major arrest operation in Derry on the day.

Mr Wallace worked in the Psychological Operations Unit of Army Intelligence in Northern Ireland at the time of Bloody Sunday.

The Ulster born ex-soldier’s role involved briefing the visiting media. His work involved monitoring terrorist organisations in association with MI5, MI6 and RUC Special Branch.

During his evidence he claimed army chiefs approved a plan in the days before Bloody Sunday to call in the parachute regiment.

Asked by an inquiry lawyer if the idea was put to Downing Street, he said: “We were aware that it went to a meeting at which the Chief of General Staff and the Prime Minister were present.”