Sacked press officer gives evidence to tribunal

A former British Army press officer in the North has been telling the Bloody Sunday Tribunal in London of his attempts to deliberately misinform journalists.

Colin Wallace, who is giving evidence for a third day with a lawyer for the Bloody Sunday families, is arguing that if such tactics were employed then, the British authorities were also capable of distorting information and documents relating to the 1972 killings in Derry.

Colin Wallace was sacked from his job as a British Army press officer in 1975 for planting stories in the British press.

Amongst the stories were claims that the IRA was shooting at live dogs for target practice and that the KGB was training the IRA.

He said that such smear tactics would also be used against civil rights activists, like those who marched on Bloody Sunday, if they were considered to be in contact with paramilitaries.

In a recent interview, Mr Wallace said that a plan had been hatched for what he called "a big stunt" on Bloody Sunday to put on "a bit of a show" by arresting rioters in front of TV cameras using the paramilitaries "as they could get tough" although he admitted that some of them were "downright thugs".

He said that it was a high-risk strategy but that the British Army wanted reports in the press to boost the ratings of the then Conservative government.

His evidence is continuing.