A British army recruiting commercial broadcast on television as the shooting continued in Derry on Bloody Sunday may have helped to establish the timing of a crucial audio-tape made on the day. The tape recorded the panic among a family in Rossville Flats as up to seven shots were fired through their living-room window and the mother called to her children to lie on their stomachs.
The tape, made by Ms Susan North, an Englishwoman who gave evidence yesterday, includes the sound of shots as a TV can be heard in the background with a voice saying: "The army offers you very good pay right from the start - and a whole lot more."
Voices can be heard on the tape recording shouting at the children to get down flat on the floor.
Ms North said yesterday: "If the shooting continued, the kids in the flat were in serious danger. We wanted the kids to move away." She said that at that moment, the TV, which was switched on, could be heard playing the advertisement inviting people to join the British army.
The inquiry continues today.