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.