Police witnesses giving evidence to the Bloody Sunday inquiry can do so screened from public view, a court ruled today.
Three Appeal Court judges in Belfast rejected a bid by a sister of one of the 13 people shot dead by troops in Derry on January 30th, 1972, to overturn an earlier ruling that 20 past and present officers could be screened.
Last February, Mr Justice Kerr ruled that officers' fears for their safety "were not manufactured" but were based on two risk assessments.
The appeal judges, headed by Lord Justice Nicholson, unanimously agreed in their reserved judgment today.
Lord Justice Nicholson said if the officers gave evidence in open court without screening, "the risk is that from that point in time a plan may be put into effect to target one or more of them".
Despite being screened from public view, the officers will be named and their evidence heard in the public gallery. They will also be visible to inquiry chairman Lord Saville and his two colleagues and to the lawyers at the inquiry.