British army's reason for entering killing zone 'unclear'

Contradictions in military evidence could lead the Bloody Sunday Tribunal to conclude there was no clear reason to enter one of the main killing grounds, it was claimed today.

Counsel to the Saville Inquiry Christopher Clarke QC made the assertion while discussing the activities of paratroopers in the Glenfada Park/Abbey Park area of Derry, where four civilians were killed and another five wounded.

Mr Clarke, speaking on the second day of his closing submission, pointed out the discrepancies in testimony of the members of the Anti-Tank Platoon.

One soldier said they moved from Kells Walk into Glenfada Park North to cut off a group of rioters, while another said he saw two men, one who appeared to be carrying a rifle, move into the area.

A third claimed he ordered the deployment in order to arrest a man who had fired a low velocity weapon from the car park at Glenfada Park.

Mr Clarke said the tribunal might decide that all of these activities were taking place at the time the paras decided to move in.

But he added: “Alternatively, the tribunal might conclude that the difficulties, or if they feel them so to be, the contradictions within the Anti-Tank Platoon’s evidence demonstrate that there was no clear reason to enter Glenfada Park North and that various members of the platoon had fashioned their evidence to provide a retrospective justification of their movements.”

The senior barrister said the tribunal was faced with the acute difficulty of establishing the facts, given the wide discrepancy between civilian and military witnesses in Glenfada Park and Abbey Park.

The soldiers claimed they were met with gunmen and nail bombers, while Soldier H claimed he fired at a sniper in a window.

But evidence from civilian witnesses makes no mention of any paramilitary activity in the area where nine people were killed or wounded.

The Saville Inquiry is investigating the events of January 30, 1972, when 13 unarmed civilians were killed and 14 wounded during a civil rights march in the Bogside area of Derry.

After more than 400 days of evidence and more than 900 witnesses, the inquiry is finally drawing to an end with Mr Clarke’s closing statement – a summation of the evidence.

Lord Saville and his fellow judges will now retire to write their final report, which is expected to be presented to the British government next summer.