Bloody Sunday soldier 'threatened to hold inquiry to ransom'

A British paratrooper who is vital to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry threatened to “walk away” and collapse the official investigation if he was not given a lucrative protection package, it was revealed today.

Negotiations over the protection deal which has secured his crucial and controversial evidence was bounded by “brinkmanship” and pushed towards collapse over the issue of a £20,000 (€31,670) lump sum to buy a house, the inquiry, sitting in London, was told.

From his first meeting with inquiry staff Soldier 027 declared that the hearing “would get nowhere” without his co-operation and he was prepared to hold them to ransom, said Edwin Glasgow QC, representing many of the Bloody Sunday soldiers.

Under the package, paid for by the Northern Ireland Office, Soldier 027 has received £20,000 (€31,670) for a deposit on a new house, £1,400 (€2,217) a month in lieu of wages, £6,000 (€9,500) to buy a car and £100 (€158) a month for life insurance over the past two years.

He is giving evidence behind a screen. The deal ends after his evidence to the inquiry is completed.

The former radio operative with the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment claims that his colleagues killed 13 unarmed civil rights marchers without justification in Derry on January 30, 1972.

Dozens of soldiers are expected to claim they fired within the army’s rules of engagement and only at gunmen and bombers.

Bloody Sunday was one of the most grim milestones in the Northern Ireland troubles and set the stage for three decades of conflict which claimed thousands of lives until a peace deal was signed in 1998.

Soldier 027 was led through several documents from the Home Office, Northern Ireland Office and his solicitors, written in the run up to his testifying in person.

Soldier 027 denied that his evidence is motivated by money, saying his main priority has been his family’s security.

“I was an anxious and frightened individual,” he told the inquiry.

“For a considerable time I had been living in a situation of stress and anxiety.

“With no end in sight I was forced into a position where I had to put my family’s situation first.”

Under 027’s instructions his solicitor issued a threat to the inquiry, warning that he was poised to withdraw his co-operation.

Reading an extract from a document written by 027’s solicitor, Mr Glasgow said: “Soldier A (027) is angry and fed up that it is taking so long to sort out his “reasonable” demands.

“He is living out of a suitcase and is only interested in making proper provision... not making improper demands. If his demands are not met by Friday he will walk away from the inquiry.”

As negotiations over his desire for a lump sum to buy a house became further frustrated, 027 also threatened he might “give one page of my statement each month” to the inquiry until his demands were met.

Soldier 027 said this was not a serious statement.

The lump sum had become a “stumbling block” in the negotiations, Mr Glasgow said.

In a document dated January 23, 2000, to a detective chief inspector, Soldier 027 stated that the £4,200 (€6,650) being offered for accommodation “just didn’t do it“.

Soldier 027 called off a meeting with police for the following day, saying he had spoken to his solicitor and was informed he should not continue with negotiations until his requests were met.

Soldier 027 said his difficult position meant he had to take a long-term view of his family’s security and well being. His involvement in helping the inquiry had made it difficult for him to remain in regular work and his security had been compromised.

Between September 1998 and August 1999 Soldier 027 broke off all contact with the inquiry.

He says he had no idea of estimating how significant his evidence to the inquiry could be.

His first contact after the break was in a letter from the Home Office to the inquiry’s solicitor on September 13, 1999.

The letter reads: “He (027) is as much concerned about the threat to him from his former colleagues as the threat from republican terrorists... He is in hiding.

“It is alleged that former colleagues beat him up at the property he was staying in and warned that worse was to follow if he gave evidence.”

Soldier 027 said he did not know those statements had been made and said they were untrue.

He admitted flushing some of his personal Bloody Sunday notes down the toilet within two days of them becoming public knowledge after being passed on to a journalist in 1975.