Sir Edward Heath, who was the British Prime Minister at the time of Bloody Sunday in January 1972, when paratroopers shot dead 13 unarmed civilians in Derry's Bogside and wounded 13 others, will now not take the witness stand in Central Hall, Westminster, tomorrow afternoon.
Sir Edward (86), who was Prime Minister from 1970 until 1974 and who was leader of the Conservative Party from 1966 until 1975, became ill at the weekend. According to his doctor, he is medically unfit to give his much-anticipated evidence until at least early next year.
Sir Edward, who retired as aMP in May 2001 having served for 50 years, became unwell at Salisbury Cathedral on Sunday.
"Sir Edward felt ill and fell after he was taken out of the cathedral," a spokesman for the Saville inquiry said last night. "We have been informed that he will not be able to give evidence to the inquiry, as scheduled, on Wednesday and that he will not be well enough to give evidence until after the Christmas break. We will now reschedule our witness list."
A spokesman for the Bloody Sunday families described the development as disappointing.
"We were looking forward to Mr Heath's evidence and particularly to his cross-examination. Hopefully he will recover in time to tell the truth about what happened before and on Bloody Sunday at a political level," the spokesman said.
Sir Edward had been expected to give his evidence to the inquiry from tomorrow until the hearing adjourned for the Christmas recess on December 19th.
In his submitted written statement to the inquiry, Sir Edward said he first heard about the Bogside killings while as Chequers. "As far as I recall, I was with the crew of my boat discussing plans for the forthcoming season," his statement said.
He also said he visited Derry one month before Bloody Sunday. "I remember that when I visited there in December 1971, I had to wear special bullet-proof clothing and there were emergency blood supplies readily available close by."
On the evening of the killings, he received what he described as "a highly charged and emotional telephone call from the Taoiseach, Mr Jack Lynch."
Sir Edward said he knew nothing of a controversial plan by the then commander of land forces, Gen Robert Ford, to shoot selected rioters, nor did he know that the Parachute Regiment was going to be deployed on the day.
In his statement, he said the killings were "totally unexpected" and that it became clear they would cause widespread political sensitivity in Britain, in Ireland and in the US.
The inquiry moved to London in September to hear evidence from political and military witnesses.