Paras colonel stands by Bloody Sunday communications

The officer commanding paratroopers on Bloody Sunday admitted today it was surprising that two of his soldiers did not inform him they shot two men before he ordered other troops into the nationalist Bogside area.

But Colonel Derek Wilford, 69, told the Saville Inquiry his communications were “perfectly adequate” on the day 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead in Derry on January 30, 1972. A 14th man died later.

Under questioning from Arthur Harvey, QC, counsel for many of the families, Col Wilford insisted his men could have done nothing better on Bloody Sunday.

Mr Harvey put it to Col Wilford that two of the soldiers he ordered forward to an observation post had shot two innocent people 15-20 minutes before he sent paratroopers through a crowd control barrier.

Mr Harvey asked the colonel whether it was surprising that his soldiers had not informed him of the shootings.

Col Wilford replied: “Yes, it is surprising, I would have expected to have been told had that happened.”

Mr Harvey asked him whether brigade headquarters were entitled to know that someone was shot dead before they ordered an arrest operation.

“Yes,” he replied.

Mr Harvey asked: “If things could have been done better, and you believe they could not, could not the simple reporting of this incident to brigade have enabled things to be done better?”

Col Wilford replied: “But I could not report it because I did not know of it.”

Mr Harvey asked: “But if things could have been done better, I did not ask you whether it was you or your men, things could have been done better, your answer was ’no’. Surely just by improving your communications within your own battalion, things could have been done better, could they not?”

Col Wilford replied: “I think my communications were adequate. Where there was a breakdown, this is something, I am afraid, that happens and you can not really then say ’it could have been done better’.

Mr Harvey asked: “If that platoon had not been deployed there, two innocent people would not have been shot, that would have been doing things better?

Col Wilford replied: “The reason, I take it, those soldiers fired is because they were in fact opposed.”

Mr Harvey told Col Wilford there was no record in army communication logs from Bloody Sunday that he intended to take his men through crowd control barrier 12.

He said notification to brigade headquarters of his intentions may have improved communications.

However, Col Wilford insisted: “The communications were perfectly adequate, brigade knew that I intended to go through barrier 12 and barrier 14.”

Col Wilford yesterday said he had never considered over the last 31 years whether the Army had done anything wrong on the day 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead.

“We did nothing improper,” he said.

Mr Harvey asked: “Could you have done anything better?” Col Wilford replied: “I really have no idea.”

Mr Harvey asked: “Have you not given that any contemplation over the last 30 years?”

Col Wilford replied: “No, no, not that I could have done something, or we could have done something better.”

In his fifth day of testimony at Methodist Central Hall in London, Col Wilford told the inquiry it was always his intention to arrest as many rioters as possible by sending troops through two crowd control barriers.

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.

The hearing continues.