Para 027: Facts 'altered and added' after Bloody Sunday

Soldier 027, who is giving evidence to the Saville Inquiry in London, recalled that on Bloody Sunday his platoon moved in south down Rossville Street in armoured vans after getting the go-ahead from Major Ted Loden, Commander of the Support unit.

There was an intense feeling of adrenalin and apprehension as the paras, with their blackened faces, de-bussed quickly and approached their task. They were convinced they were about to face gunman, Soldier 027 claimed.

A crowd of people were facing them from the rubble barricade, slightly to the east of the Rossville Flats.

As 027’s section reached the pavement by the end of the small wall, one of his colleagues went into a kneeling position, raised his rifle to his shoulder and began firing, he alleged in his statement.

Soldier 027 said he saw two people at the barricade fall.

His statement added: “Within seconds, other soldiers came on the scene, some kneeling and some standing, joined in the firing.”

His impression was that the burst of fire from the Kells Walk was “continuous and sustained firing over a period of several minutes“.

He added: “I had the distinct impression that this was a case of some soldiers realising this was an opportunity to fire their weapon and they didn’t want to miss the chance.”

Of Lance Corporal F and Soldier G, now deceased, he said: “My impression has always been that the two of them had a preconceived idea of what they were going to do that day and set about doing it as a pair of oppos.”

He received a ceasefire over his radio and relayed the message to his fellow paras.

Lance Corporal F and Soldier G, who “worked in concert in all that they did” according to 027, moved to the west, closely followed by Soldiers E and H.

They ran towards Glenfada Park North and F and G continued in the same vein as at Kells Walk.

At least one person was on the ground as he approached the scene. He saw a crowd of “about 40 shocked and terrified people” along the south side of the car park trying to flee.

In his statement he continued: “They were in the process of exiting the southwest corner of the car park when, in the presence of the shattering noise of the SLR’s (self-loading rifles) they became submissive and acquiescent. Some froze in a static huddle.

“I saw no civilians with weapons, no threatening gesture, neither could I see or hear any explosive devices during the entire situation.

“I was not personally at risk from anything that I could see and it never entered my head to fire my weapon.”

He said he felt “mentally overloaded and seized up” and added “it was surreal – as if the events took place outside normal time“.

He believed that four soldiers fired rounds while he was in Glenfada Park with F and G particularly appearing to “assert themselves and influence events“.

His statement added: “I have always been satisfied in my own mind that Lance Corporal F and Soldier G probably shot eight or 10 people that day.”

He alleged that much of his statement to the Royal Military Police, taken immediately after Bloody Sunday, was fabricated by others in which “facts have been altered and added” to justify the shooting.