The Bloody Sunday tribunal finally ended today after 400 days of evidence from more than 900 witnesses.
Lord Saville and two colleagues oversaw the inquiry into the killing of 13 unarmed civilians and the wounding of 14 during a civil rights march in the Bogside area of Derry on January 30th, 1972. They are expected to issue a report next summer.
Bloody Sunday tribunal counsel, Mr Christopher Clarke QC
The inquiry drew to an end today after a two-day closing statement by tribunal counsel, Mr Christopher Clarke QC.
Mr Clarke thanked the people of Derry for accommodating and welcoming the inquiry to the city.
"Most importantly of all, I wish to pay tribute to the families of those who died and to those who were wounded on that day. It is they who more than all others endured the pain of what happened on Bloody Sunday and its aftermath," he said.
"It is to them to whom belongs the credit for pressing for this inquiry and for bearing what must have been the anxieties, tensions and no doubt frustrations inherent in an inquiry of this nature. The process has been arduous, the journey long and unfinished.
"I hope and believe that the process itself has already played a part in enabling people to come to terms with the events of that day, in holding to account those whose decisions, actions or inactions contributed to what happened and, whatever the difficulty of determining the roles of individual soldiers, of advancing our understanding of what happened on that day, as I doubt not will become apparent in the tribunal's report," he said.
To symbolically mark the formal closure of the inquiry's hearings, the families of the Bloody Sunday dead, as well as several of the 14 people who were wounded on the day, held a candlelight procession from the Guildhall, where the inquiry sat, to the scene of the killings in the Bogside.