Bloody Sunday Inquiry: An English-born Royal Navy veteran described yesterday how he tried to kill a British soldier in Derry minutes after paratroopers had shot dead 13 unarmed civilians in the Bogside area of the city on Bloody Sunday.
Mr Reg Tester, who was the third-in-command and quartermaster of the Official IRA at the time of the January 30th, 1972, killings, told the Bloody Sunday inquiry that his M1 carbine rifle jammed when he tried to shoot the soldier in retaliation for the deaths and for the woundings of 13 other civilians during a civil rights march. Mr Tester, the 890th witness to give evidence to the inquiry, told the 414th day of the hearing yesterday the fact that his name was now in the public domain as having been a member of the Official IRA had damaged him personally.
"My own personal safety is a matter of concern and I have lost friends because of the disclosure that I used to be in the Official IRA. The fact that I have come forward has therefore caused several disruption to my personal life and my personal safety remains a concern. The damage, however, is now done", he told the inquiry's three judges.
The witness said that the Official IRA's membership at the time of Bloody Sunday numbered up to 30 volunteers. On the day all of the paramilitary organisation's weapons, with the exception of a .303 bolt-action rifle, were stored in two cars.
Mr Tester, who was aged in his mid-30s in January 1972, said he was in one of the two cars patrolling the Creggan area of the city when the Bogside shootings took place.
The witness said that both of the Official IRA cars were then driven down to the Bogside. At that stage he said he was "very het up and not thinking clearly". He realised that if the army had stopped the two cars, he and his two colleagues would have been in terrible trouble.
"However the mood that I was in was that I wanted to hit back", he said.
He said he saw a soldier in Rossville Street walking close to a military vehicle.
"I then aimed my M1 Carbine at a soldier and tried to fire it, but the weapon jammed. I was glad that it had actually jammed because I then calmed down and I realised better what I was doing. I cooled down and started to think that what I was doing wasn't the best idea," he said.