THE BLOODY SUNDAY INQUIRY/Day 297: A British soldier who was on duty in Derry during the Bloody Sunday killings 31 years ago admitted yesterday that he gave an inaccurate statement about the killings because "we knew we had done something dreadfully wrong".
Soldier 151, a rifleman in A Company, the Second Battalion, the Royal Green Jackets in Derry, when 13 unarmed civilians were shot dead by paratroopers and 13 others wounded, told the Saville Inquiry that a statement he gave to two Royal Military Police (RMP)officers in the immediate aftermath of Bloody Sunday was wrong.
"There were two RMPs in the interview room and I recall that I found the interview intimidating. I was terrified of the RMP, they were a law unto themselves. By the time I was interviewed we knew that a lot of people had been shot. I did not write the statement myself, I just signed it at the end of the interview," he told the Inquiry's three judges.
The witness said he wrongly included in his 1972 statement a reference to hearing a nail bomb exploding and a shot being fired on Bloody Sunday. "I am not happy with the comments that I heard a shot and saw a nail bomb explode. I do not believe that I saw these incidents on the day," he said. "I felt uncomfortable during the interview, I cannot explain why these comments are here. I do not think I would have read the statement at the time of the interview, I probably would have just signed it to get out of the interview and be done with it."
Soldier 151 said he was uncomfortable during the interview that "I had done something wrong" and he believed that it was possible that the RMPs "was putting words into my mouth". He said he was frightened and scared about what he was going to say. Asked by Mr Arthur Harvey, QC, barrister for most of the families of the victims, if the RMPs expected him to provide evidence "which may provide justification" for what happened that day, the witness replied "I believe that is what has happened, or what did happen."
Q: "Against a background where, although you were a member of the Royal Green Jackets, what was believed to be happening in army circles was that the army itself was being damaged without evidence to justify what the paratroopers did that day, is that the background?"
A: "We know we had done something dreadfully wrong, there is something, as I say, a lot of people had been shot, possibly at the time some civilians because we did not know exactly for sure. Yes, I believe that is what has happened with this statement."
Q: "And given the pressure that was on you, you either said or agreed to things which you knew at the time were untrue, is that the case?"
A: "This statement in front of me sir, is not correct."
The inquiry resumes today.