On a day eagerly awaited by the families of those killed and injured in the events of Bloody Sunday more than 30 years ago, Sir Edward Heath yesterday took his place in front of Lord Saville's inquiry.
The former British prime minister sat behind a bank of screens in the high-tech room, specially set up in the grand surroundings of Methodist Central Hall in central London, to face what could be difficult questions about his time as Conservative prime minister.
But while the rest of the room took advantage of the computer technology to review the many papers and documents relating to matters leading to the shootings, Sir Edward preferred to use hard paper copies.
To his left sat the inquiry panel headed by Lord Saville, and farther away the box where families and victims listened intently to his answers, many whispering to each other as the questioning continued.
Before the afternoon's proceedings began, the heavily-built veteran parliamentarian was told by Mr Christopher Clarke QC, counsel for the inquiry, that he was entitled to take a break from his evidence, set to be heard over a three-week period, at any time.
But contrary to this invitation, when after having answered questions for an hour-and-a-half Sir Edward was invited to return to continue his evidence tomorrow afternoon, he seemed surprised and requested a short 10-minute break before going on for longer than expected.
Because of his age, 86-year-old Mr Heath is being allowed to appear before the inquiry for a period of up to two hours in the afternoons, with breaks, as has happened with other elderly witnesses.
He had been due to enter the witness box before Christmas, but a fall outside Salisbury Cathedral led his doctors to advise him to rest.
So it was that Sir Edward finally made an appearance at the inquiry as witness 618.
He looked relaxed and composed as he was guided through complex documents concerning his time in office and the months leading up to January 30th, 1972.
His calm demeanour seemed to slip slightly when secret political documents were brought out, papers he first saw more than 30 years ago. Minutes of Downing Street meetings and defence briefings on the situation in Northern Ireland at the time, many stamped "secret" and "confidential", were shown on large screens for all to see.
Sir Edward's brow furrowed as he was handed the papers, but he remained unfazed by the huge amount of material being detailed.
But while Mr Clarke spent long periods reading key passages from the once-secret papers, Sir Edward's answers were in the main short and to the point. Ignoring the screen in front of him, he held the papers close to his face as Mr Clarke read the lengthy passages to more than 40 lawyers gathered in the room and 16 people in the family box, as well as the crowded media seats.
Behind him, filing cabinets filled with hundreds of multicoloured folders crammed with evidence bore testimony to the extent of the five-year inquiry.
Emerging from the proceedings, the families emphasised the importance of Sir Edward's appearance at the inquiry. Ms Jean Hegarty, whose brother Kevin McElhinney was killed on Bloody Sunday, said she was pleasantly surprised to finally see the former PM. "It is nice to see him here in the first place and at least he will have to answer questions as others have before him," she said.
Mr Mickey Bradley, who was wounded in the shootings, said that whatever Sir Edward knew in advance of Bloody Sunday, once it had happened he would have been the one person who would make it his business to find out. He said this meant his appearance at the inquiry was important, as he could perhaps answer questions about the truth of what happened. - (PA)