A scientist engaged by the Bloody Sunday Inquiry to review the forensic evidence presented to the Widgery Inquiry weeks after the killings of 13 men in Derry's Bogside 30 years ago, yesterday described that evidence as "worthless".
Forensic scientist Dr J.B.F. Lloyd, OBE, said that the distribution of firearms residue on the bodies of seven of the 13 victims suspected of having handled firearms, failed to support the conclusion that they had been using firearms or had been beside a gunman when shot. Instead he believed the forensic evidence presented to the Widgery Inquiry supported the assumption that the victims had not used firearms.
On Tuesday Dr John Martin, the forensic scientist whose original conclusions on the seven victims were accepted by Lord Widgery, conceded that the residue found on their bodies and clothes should now be considered to have been caused by contamination.
Yesterday Dr Lloyd told the inquiry's three judges that the evidential significance of the residue was nullified by the apparent lack of control testing and by the likelihood of spurious contamination.
"Whether or not any of the deceased may have discharged a firearm is not determinable either on the results that previously have been cited as evidence of the event or on any other results recorded in the laboratory notes or samples. In my view, as evidence of the event, the results are worthless", he said.
"If it is assumed that the particles were a firearms residue, some possible sources are bullet fragmentation followed by the direct airborne transfer of the produced particles to the victims either before or after they were shot, contact of the victims with residue-contaminated surfaces of people at the scene, the handling of the bodies by military personnel, the transport of three of the bodies in an armoured personnel carrier or the handling of the bodies in the mortuary", Dr Lloyd added.
He said that the original forensic findings presented by Dr Martin to Lord Widgery did not support the view that seven of the victims had either fired a weapon, nor had been a bystander when someone else fired a weapon.
Dr Lloyd also questioned the forensic evidence which indicated that another of the victims, Gerald Donaghy, had a nail bomb in the left lower pocket of his denim jacket when shot.
The inquiry continues.