Former British prime minister, Sir Edward Heath, was yesterday accused of "insulting" and "abusing" the barrister representing many of the families of the Bloody Sunday victims so that he could avoid answering crucial questions.
Mr Michael Lavery QC, made the complaint as he began his third day of heated cross-examination of Sir Edward (86), at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, sitting in London.
Mr Lavery alleged that Sir Edward has "insulted" him several times without rebuke from the government-appointed tribunal.
He told the inquiry: "The difficulty that has now arisen as I see it, is that Sir Edward, not surprisingly, especially emboldened by the latitude he has been given, feels that when I ask him a question all he has to do is roll his eyes, look at the tribunal, offer an insult to me and refuse to answer the question."
He continued: "I have not at any stage asked the tribunal to order him to answer the questions that thus possibly to bring him into contempt because I do not think that is a productive way of dealing with the matter for anyone concerned."
The inquiry is investigating the circumstances surrounding the killing of 13 men on a Derry civil rights march by British paratroopers on January 30th, 1972, while Sir Edward was prime minister.
His testimony has been littered with heated and prickly exchanges with Mr Lavery that have forced Lord Saville, the inquiry chairman, to intervene. Sir Edward has called Mr Lavery "offensive" and "obscene" and refused to answer several of his questions as "hypothetical and a waste of time".
Mr David Mackie QC, representing Sir Edward, said it was Mr Lavery's "wholly inappropriate" questioning which had triggered tensions. Mr Lavery had put "tendentious" questions based only on his imagination in an effort to suggest that Sir Edward was disinterested in Northern Ireland when he was prime minister, Mr Mackie said. Lord Saville asked Mr Lavery to ask more focused and helpful questions in the hope that more progress can be made. He said he noted Mr Lavery's comments.
Earlier, a senior British army officer told the tribunal that paratroopers sent into the Bogside on Bloody Sunday should have been warned about the "Londonderry echo".
This was crucial in helping soldiers identify the direction which shots were coming from, Col Roy Jackson said. They should have been given a better knowledge of escape and entry routes in the Bogside and tell-tale signs by which to identify the direction of gunfire.
Col Jackson, who commanded the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglians in Derry in January 1972, said the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment should never have been sent in to the Bogside in armoured vehicles.
Using armoured vehicles was a bad tactical move because it drove the rioters into the Bogside when the plan had been to encircle and arrest them. Using 1 Para also risked poisoning community relations in the region, he said. He believed his own resident battalion would have been a better choice for the operation because they were familiar with the area and the people. - (PA)