PM 'deeply sorry' over Bloody Sunday

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Prime Minister has apologised for the actions of the soldiers who killed 13 civilians on Bloody Sunday after an inquiry found that none of those killed were posing a threat of death or serious injury to the men who shot them.

The events that took place in Londonderry's Bogside area on 30 January 1972 were probed in detail by the Saville inquiry, which took 12 years to complete and cost around £195m.

Announcing the results of the inquiry to the House of Commons, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "There is no doubt. There is nothing equivocal. There are no ambiguities. What happened on Bloody Sunday was unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong.

"What happened should never, ever have happened - some members of our armed forces acted wrongly. On behalf of our government and our country I am deeply sorry."

Cameron said troops went in to the Bogside area as a result of an order from Parachute Regiment Colonel Derek Wilford which should never have been given and ran contrary to orders from Brigadier Pat MacLellan.

The Prime Minister said the report condemned the behaviour of the soldiers who opened fire on the civilians, saying that there was "a serious and widespread loss of fire discipline".

Cameron said no warning was given to civilians before the soldiers opened fire and that the army fired the first shot, with no shots fired in response to attacks by suspected petrol or nail bombers. None of those killed in the incident were armed and many were fleeing from the paratroops' gunfire.

The Prime Minister also said that some soldiers had lied about the incident to the Widgery tribunal, held immediately after the incident, in order to "seek to justify their firing".

The Saville inquiry found that there were some shots fired by Republican paramilitaries, and Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness was said to be in the vicinity and probably armed with a submachine gun. However there is insufficient evidence to determine whether he fired the weapon and the report said that neither he nor the paramilitaries did anything which would have encouraged the soldiers to open fire.

Lord Saville wrote: "What happened on Bloody Sunday strengthened the Provisional IRA, increased nationalist resentment and hostility towards the Army and exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed.

"Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland."

The Prime Minister would not say whether he thought soldiers should be prosecuted for their part in the incident.