SOLDIERS:COL DEREK Wilford is retired and living in Belgium and will not be commenting on the findings of the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday, reliable sources have said.
The former British chief of defence staff, Gen Sir David Rose, said on Tuesday that the deaths on January 30th, 1972, had been “a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland”.
There will be no further official comment from the British army on the report, which was severely critical of the colonel who sent members of the Parachute Regiment into the Bogside and some soldiers under his command.
The British army yesterday denied it had placed a gagging order on its soldiers in relation to Saville, but those who do choose to comment were expected to refer to Sir David’s official line.
Six soldiers have issued a statement to the BBC Northern Ireland Spotlightprogramme rejecting the main accusations levelled against Col Wilford in the findings.
The tribunal concluded that the colonel had disobeyed orders and that several soldiers “knowingly gave false accounts” of their actions on Bloody Sunday.
Col Wilford claimed in the immediate aftermath of the killings that his soldiers were fired upon first.
In a subsequent interview with the BBC in the early 1990s, he said that no one associated with a large crowd that was rioting could be regarded as innocent.
Asked if someone effectively signed their own death warrant by taking part in a protest, Col Wilford replied: “Some people do.”