A doctor who attended dead and dying people on Bloody Sunday, and later monitored most of the post mortem examinations, suggested yesterday that illegal dum-dum bullets may have killed some of the victims.
Dr Raymond McClean, a former mayor of Derry and author of a book entitled The Road to Bloody Sunday, was challenged vigorously by counsel for British soldiers on his competence to arrive at forensic conclusions.
Dr McClean, who served for many years as a medical officer with the Royal Air Force, accepted a suggestion by Mr Edwin Glasgow QC for a number of soldiers, that he had not previously examined wounds caused by high-velocity bullets.
He accepted he was not a forensic or ballistics expert, but said he based his assessments - and a series of technical questions which he put forward - on "a good knowledge of anatomy and common sense".
Dr McClean stressed that he agreed with expert witnesses retained by the inquiry that forensic pathology alone would not prove anything, and that it had to be considered in close correlation with eyewitness evidence.
A founder member of the SDLP, Dr McClean has worked in general practice in Derry since returning there in 1961 from RAF service. He set out the background to the civil rights campaign and the protests provoked by the introduction of internment without trial in August 1971.
He said he had taken informal soundings from political representatives of the Provisional IRA in advance of the march planned for January 30th, 1972, because of his concern about rumours that the Parachute Regiment would come into Derry on that day. He was reassured when word came back that the IRA would "stand down" for the day and let ordinary people make their peaceful protest.
He agreed he had not approached the Official IRA or its representatives, but he had expected that the Civil Rights Association would have done so, and he assumed that British army intelligence would also have become aware of the IRA's intentions.
Dr McClean described in detail how he attended a number of dead and dying in the Abbey Park area after the shootings, including William McKinney, Gerard McKinney, Jim Wray and Michael Kelly.
Afterwards, he was asked by the late Cardinal William Conway to act as a representative of the Catholic Church at the post mortem examinations. He focused particularly on entry and exit wounds during this process.
His notes recorded that an X-ray report had revealed 40 pieces of metal embedded in the skull of Mr Barney McGuigan and he said it was a critical issue as to how the metal got there. He asked that the X-ray and any written notes or tape recording of the post mortem be made available.
Dr McClean suggested that the entry wounds in the bodies of a number of victims were larger than should have been expected, and he said it was possible the bullets involved were tumbling or softened.
He pointed out that dum-dum bullets, which are softened to create more tissue damage, were banned in 1933 by the Geneva Convention.
Dr McClean posed other questions concerning the nature of victims' wounds and the trajectories of the bullets, and in reply to Mr Christopher Clarke QC, counsel to the tribunal, he said he was pleased to see that the report of the experts advising the tribunal agreed, in a substantial number of cases, with his conclusions.
After Dr McClean's evidence, Lord Anthony Gifford QC, for a number of victims' families, suggested to the tribunal that Mr Glasgow had, on several occasions during his questions, suggested that the witness had been less than candid in his evidence to this and previous tribunals.
Lord Gifford asked if these and other questions might have breached procedures set out by the tribunal in regard to providing notice to witnesses of such allegations. The chairman, Lord Saville, said he did not take the view that any of the questioning had been unfair, but that the tribunal was always conscious of the need to treat witnesses fairly and would intervene as necessary to ensure this.
Another witness, Mr Noel McLoone, who was a uniformed member of the Knights of Malta first aid corps on Bloody Sunday, described seeing the shooting dead of Mr Barney McGuigan at close range.
Mr McLoone said Mr McGuigan was walking about three yards in front of him when a soldier appeared momentarily around the corner of Block 1 of the Rossville Flats, about 10 to 15 yards away, or even less. "He lifted his rifle and aimed it, as far as I was concerned, at me," said the witness.
He saw Mr McGuigan put his hands in the air, and at the same moment he (the witness) ducked. "I heard a very loud bang, almost as if it was right in my ear," he said. "I immediately fell to the ground with my arms over my head." When he looked up he saw Mr McGuigan's body and knew he was dead. The soldier had gone.
The inquiry continues today.