A priest who tried to help men shot on Bloody Sunday was forced back by British army gunfire, the Saville inquiry heard today.
Witness Mr Lawrence Connor claimed Father Denis Bradley was waving a white handkerchief as he stepped out from the shelter of a gable wall on to Derry's Rossville Street but had to retreat when more shots were fired.
Giving evidence in the city's Guildhall Mr Connor said he was with the large group of people behind the gable that looked on to the rubble barricade across the street on which the fatally wounded John Young, William Nash and Michael McDaid lay.
They were three of the 13 men and youths killed when British army paratroopers opened fire in Derry's Bogside after a civil rights march on January 30th, 1972.
Mr Connor's statement, adopted when he entered the witness box on day 133 of the inquiry's public hearings, said: "There was a lull in the shooting and Father Bradley decided that he would try and get the bodies from the rubble barricade.
"People tried to dissuade him but he decided to go anyway. He took a white handkerchief and stepped out from behind the gable wall into Rossville Street.
"He took a couple of steps and as he did so a couple of shots rang out.
"I do not know where the shots came from nor do I know whether they were aimed at Father Bradley. I just know that there had been a lull in the shooting and then as soon as he stepped out the further shots rang out. Father Bradley then retreated back to the safety of the gable wall."
PA