PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde yesterday apologised to the families of the Bloody Sunday victims for any hurt his reported criticisms of the Saville inquiry into the Bogside killings may have caused them.
At a meeting in Derry yesterday morning with the families, Mr Orde said comments attributed to him in a newspaper article three weeks ago, which criticised the cost of the inquiry and questioned whether its outcome would satisfy anyone, had been taken out of context.
Relatives of six of the 13 unarmed men shot dead by British army paratroopers on January 30th, 1972, as well as two men who were wounded on the day, attended the meeting which was held at Da Vinci's Hotel on the outskirts of Derry.
Both Mr Orde and several of the relatives described the private meeting as both useful and dignified.
Ms Kay Duddy, whose brother Jackie was both the youngest and first of the Bloody Sunday victims, said she found the meeting with the Chief Constable both emotional and informative. "He did not apologise for the statement attributed to him in the Financial Times, but he did apologise for being misrepresented in the newspaper and he apologised for any hurt that that may have caused," said Ms Duddy.
"I feel he is genuine enough and that hopefully in the future anything that can be done to help us, that he will be prepared to do that. My brother Jackie was one of six 17-year-olds murdered on Bloody Sunday. Jackie's death was investigated by the RUC at the time and their investigation concluded that he had been murdered. I gave Mr Orde the police papers from the time and told him that was why I was part of the inquiry. He told me the deaths were regrettable but he did not address them individually," she added.
Mr Liam Wray, whose brother Jim was one of four men shot dead in the Glenfada Park area on Bloody Sunday, said the meeting cleared up a lot of issues. "We have accepted that he did not say the inquiry is a waste of money. He did say the deaths in general were regrettable. We have accepted his apology in relation to the misquote which caused hurt. He has cleared up matters, some of which I am not happy about, but he did indicate maybe there is a better way to bring better closure to other families and he said maybe it is time for society here to discuss that issue," said Mr Wray.
Mr Orde said he had a "very interesting meeting with a very dignified group of people" during which a number of issues were discussed.
"The families gave me the opportunity to explain what I had said, they gave me the opportunity to say that I had no intention of causing any hurt to that group or to anyone else who is involved in the inquiry, therefore it was a very useful meeting.
"The debate I had with the families is what happens after the Saville Inquiry, will it mean I will then have to reinvestigate if there is evidence following that inquiry, and that is a debate that has yet to be had," he said.
The Chief Constable also confirmed Ms Duddy had raised with him the issue of her brother's murder.
Referring to deaths during the Troubles in the North he said: "As someone said in the room, they do not have a monopoly on grief, there are 2,900 families out there looking for some sort of closure."
Yesterday's sitting of the Bloody Sunday inquiry did not proceed because of the sudden unavailability of one of the three judges. The inquiry resumes on Monday.