THE BLOODY SUNDAY INQUIRY/DAY 298: The Bloody Sunday Inquiry heard for the first time yesterday details of the discovery of a man's body found with nail-bombs strapped to both legs minutes after the killing of 13 unarmed civilians in the Bogside area of Derry 31 years ago.
The discovery was made by a bombardier in the 22nd Light Air Defence Regiment, who told the inquiry that he found the body on the rear seat of a left-hand-drive Volkswagen Beetle car.
He said that on Bloody Sunday he was a sniper, armed with an old .303 rifle which had been bored to 7.62mm and equipped with a telescopic sight.
He said he was orginally based in a building on the edge of the Bogside. During his time there he heard an exchange of up to 20 shots, after which he took up a defensive position.
He was later withdrawn to an army compound beside Craigavon Bridge, about half a mile from the Bogside. Inside the compound he said he saw the Volkswagen with several other soldiers milling around it.
"One of these soldiers told me that the car contained a body and that the body had nail-bombs strapped to the legs. I walked over to the car and looked into it through the driver's side window.
"As I looked in, I could see the body of a young man, who I believe was aged about 20. He had blond hair and was of average build and weight. He was lying on the back seat with his head directly behind the driver's seat and his feet stretched out in front of him so that they were resting on the front passenger seat," he said.
"I could see that there was a bullet wound in the left side of his neck, closest to me. It looked like an entrance wound as it was relatively small . . . I concluded that he had only very recently been shot."
The former soldier, known as Inquiry 754, said the body was not that of Gerry Donaghy, whose body was found in a white Cortina car by soldiers in the same compound. Mr Donaghy's body was photographed by a security force photographer with four fused nail bombs in his denim pockets.
Asked by Mr Christopher Clarke QC if "it is possible that over the years your memory has played tricks on you in that respect?", the witness replied that he was satisfied he had seen what he described.