Colonel 'has never thought about' Bloody Sunday errors

The officer commanding paratroopers on Bloody Sunday today said that since then he had never thought about what went wrong on the day 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead.

Colonel Derek Wilford told the Saville Inquiry he saw no significant flaws in his men’s actions in Derry on January 30, 1972.

In his fourth day of testimony at Methodist Central Hall in London, Col Wilford, 69, was asked by Gerard Elias, QC, counsel for some of the soldiers, whether he could identify any significant flaws in the planning or execution of the British army operation on Bloody Sunday.

“No, I do not think so, but I do accept, of course, that in this sort of situation there are always flaws, but whether you can put your finger on them or not I cannot say,” he replied.

Mr Elias asked: “You presumably thought about it these 30 years, have you?”

Col Wilford replied: “Not in that way, I have not, no.”

Mr Elias asked: “You have never, therefore, sought to identify what might have been flaws in the planning or execution, have you?”

Col Wilford replied: “No, I do not think I have.”

He said brigade headquarters had formulated a general plan for dealing with the civil rights march, but there was no detailed plan of exactly what paratroopers would do.

“You cannot have a blueprint for this sort of thing because the situation is changing from moment to moment,” he said.

Col Wilford said it was always his intention to arrest as many rioters as possible by sending troops through two crowd control barriers and surrounding troublemakers in a pincer movement.

“The arrest operation was successful until the moment we came under fire and that changed everything,” he added.

Mr Elias said there had been a serious breakdown of communication between Col Wilford and brigade headquarters on Bloody Sunday.

However, Col Wilford said his men were aware from an early stage of what was expected of them.

He was the officer in charge of the first battalion of the Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday and went into the nationalist Bogside area through a crowd control barrier with his men.

The retired officer only gives evidence in the mornings.

The Saville inquiry, which usually sits at the Guildhall in Derry, is currently hearing evidence from military witnesses and others in London because of concerns for their safety.

Lord Saville of Newdigate and the Commonwealth judges accompanying him on the Bloody Sunday inquiry began their work nearly four years ago and are not expected to report back until late 2004.

The inquiry was established in 1998 by British Prime Minister Tony Blair after a campaign by families of those killed and injured.

They felt that the Widgery Inquiry, held shortly after the shootings, did not find out the truth about what happened on Bloody Sunday.