Paras faced 'cocktail of pressure' on Bloody Sunday

Lack of restraint by some soldiers on Bloody Sunday “could have contributed” to the tragedy, a former British government minister said today.

But Geoffrey Johnson-Smith, who was the junior army minister in January 1972, felt it would be unfair to blame the paratroopers because of the unpredictable “cocktail of different pressures” they faced when on the front line.

He told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, sitting in central London: “It (lack of restraint) could have contributed in part, but matched against the other elements forming part of the atmosphere and part of the behaviour.

“I do not think that one could put the emphasis on the lack of restraint of some soldiers.”

Paratroopers killed 13 men on a civil rights march in Derry on January 30, 1972.

The victims’ families argue that members of the 1st Parachute Regiment fired without justification but the soldiers claim they only shot at bombers and gunmen.

Johnson-Smith said that even if the paratroopers had shown total self-restraint there was still a risk that innocent people would be hurt because the situation in the Bogside was so tense at that time.

Once the soldiers believed they were under attack they would have felt the need to protect themselves and their colleagues, he added.

Johnson-Smith said the prospect that the march could turn violent could not be ruled out by the British Ministry of Defence.

He told the inquiry: “It would not be unreasonable for people in the armed forces as well as civilians in the Ministry of Defence to be aware that there was a possibility of a peaceful march turning into something far from peaceful.”

Johnson-Smith said he did not know 1 Para were to be used on Bloody Sunday.

He recalled that newspaper reports after the shootings suggested the army overreacted.

He stated: “Comment at the time was certainly being bandied about that the wrong people had been chosen for the job. The Parachute Regiment did have the reputation for being very tough.

“I think, however, it would be unfair to criticise the use of the Parachute Regiment after the event.”