The British army brigadier who ordered the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment into Derry's Bogside on Bloody Sunday has admitted he did not know what the Paras planned to do after he had deployed them.
Now retired Maj Gen Pat MacLellan also told the 262nd day of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry that the timing of his decision to send in the Paratroopers was possibly wrong.
The former officer, who was in charge of the British army in Derry when 13 unarmed civilians were shot dead and 13 others wounded by Paratroopers in January 1972, also admitted that the military planners did not consider the possibility that soldiers sent into the Bogside during the illegal Northern Ireland Civil Rights march might themselves have come under fire.
The inquiry's three judges were told that the only officer who considered that they could be fired at was Lieut Col Derek Wilford, commander of the Paras, who later said that it was his "greatest regret" that he did not pursue that issue.
Maj Gen MacLellan said once he had ordered the Paratroopers in, the responsibility for their actions lay with Lieut Col Wilford, whom he described as "an experienced commanding officer, armed with the yellow card, so he knew the conditions on which he might open fire if necessary". Asked by Mr Christopher Clarke QC, for the inquiry, if the Paras had any plan as to what they should do when ordered in, he replied: "I think the decision in those matters would be the man commanding the operation on the ground. He would have to make his own judgement."
The inquiry's chairman, Lord Saville, asked if he knew what the Paras' plans were once the 1st Battalion had been sent in. He replied: "I did not know the detailed plan sir, no." Lord Saville asked: "Your recollection is that you simply, in effect, said to 1 Para 'carry out your plan', is that right?" "That is in effect, yes sir," the major general replied. "Without knowing what the plan was?" pressed Lord Saville. "Yes sir."
Lord Saville said he found it difficuLieut to understand why Maj Gen MacLellan had given the Paras the go-ahead to enter the Bogside 10 minutes after he had denied them permission to do so, without radio communications telling him the situation had changed.
"I gave him the order, I mean there is no question of that, but I cannot actually remember what was said, apart from the business of not to get sucked in, so I think my impression then was that I authorised the arrest operation to start and I do not recall defining who could do what," the witness said.
When told by Mr Clarke that at the time the Paras went in, the violence was petering out and people were going home, Maj Gen. MacLellan said: "Possibly, wrongly, I chose that moment".
He continues his evidence today.