Soldiers lost control in Derry, says witness

British army chiefs lost control in Derry on Bloody Sunday, a former paratrooper claimed today.

Soldier INQ 449 also told the Saville Inquiry in London that troops on the ground were confused by gas, while British army snipers might have shot at him by mistake.

The ex-paratrooper said he fired a shot at a man armed with a pistol on January 30, 1972, when 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead by soldiers. A 14th man died later.

He claimed that despite admitting immediately after Bloody Sunday that he fired a shot, he was never asked to make a statement about it.

“The gas confused people on the ground and those in command lost control,” he said.

“Partial control could have been lost, due to unfamiliarity with the area, but not to the degree of wanton killing.

“The troops there that day were experienced in fighting and killing. I was not everywhere that day but I know we came under fire.

“All those who were killed were male and of the relevant age. If there had been wanton killing, women would have been hit.

“If the shooting was indiscriminate that day, I did not take part in it,” he added.

The former private claimed soldiers could quite easily disguise whether they had fired shots at the time.

“Our ammunition was not cross-checked when it was returned. If a soldier did not want people to know he had fired a shot, he could just fill his magazine with any spare ammunition he had,” he said.

Alan Roxburgh, counsel to the inquiry, asked the soldier: “If a soldier had fired one or more rounds, it would have been easy for him to say that he had dropped them?”

Soldier INQ 449: “Oh yes, yes.”

He said he and another soldier were shot at twice as they retreated to waste ground near Rossville Street in the Bogside area.

“We were told unofficially that (British army) snipers had fired at us, mistakenly thinking we were civilians,” he said.

“At the time I thought it unlikely that terrorists would have been in that position.

“I would have expected troops on the ground to have returned fire if terrorists had fired at us, but no fire was returned.”

Soldier INQ 449 was the 781st witness to appear before the Saville Inquiry.

The inquiry, which usually sits at the Guildhall in Derry, is currently hearing evidence of 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 2004.