Bloody Sunday Inquiry: Britain's most senior military officer said yesterday he was not involved in any exercise aimed at either distorting or covering up the events surrounding the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry in January 1972.
The chief of the general staff, Gen Sir Michael Jackson, made the statement when recalled to the inquiry to explain his involvement in drafting a controversial British army document drawn up in the immediate aftermath of the shooting by paratroopers of 26 unarmed civilians, 13 of whom died.
Gen Jackson, who was a captain in the Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday, had previously given evidence in April.
He said then he had no memory of taking part in the interviewing of soldiers involved in the killings, but subsequently admitted that a "shot list" document uncovered by the inquiry had been written by him.
The document, which had been described as "glaringly inadequate" by the inquiry's counsel, Mr Christopher Clarke QC, referred to 15 separate army shooting engagements with either gunmen or nail-bombers.
Gen Jackson told the inquiry yesterday that any suggestion that his role in writing the controversial "shot list" document was an attempt to either sanitise or alter the truth was "beyond credibility".
"I can say with complete certainty that I was not involved in any attempt to distort or cover up what had happened that day, and to the best of my knowledge, information, and firm belief nor was anyone else."
He said his role in writing the document was an honest attempt to write down a record of events as soon as they had happened.
However Mr Michael Mansfield QC, who represents several of the victims' families, said there was still a "big question mark" over the "shot list" document. The army accepted none of whose shot were armed, yet Gen Jackson's list referred to nail-bombers, pistol-firers and men armed with rifles.
"The whole point of the list, I suggest, was originally in order to justify publicly why people had been shot so they were described as nail-bombers, pistol-firers, carrying rifles and so on."
Gen jackson replied he heard "what you are telling me, but this is surely a matter for the tribunal".
It also emerged yesterday that the soldier who found the written version of the "shot list" was later discharged from the army with disgrace.
The soldier, a corporal, found it during a clear-out of cupboards in the British army's Ebrington Barracks in Derry in 1997.
Mr Clarke said the corporal had been debating Bloody Sunday with his brother, and believed the document was helpful to his opinion. He therefore posted a copy of the document to his brother on August 3rd, 1998.
"But two additional copies of the letter were discovered by a superior officer on the office printer, as a result of which the soldier in question was reported and the mail was in fact intercepted before it could reach its destination," Mr Clarke said.
"In the event, the soldier in question was tried by court martial, found guilty of conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline and reduced to the ranks and discharged from the army with disgrace and his subsequent appeal was rejected," he added.
Meanwhile the names of 24 men, all of whom were alleged to have been members of the Provisional or Official IRA at the time of Bloody Sunday, were disclosed yesterday by a witness who at the time was a member of the Special Military Intelligence Unit.
Four of the men are described as "godfathers", and one is described as the "grandfather of them all". Thirteen of the 21 named as having been members of the Provisional IRA are now dead, and two of the three named Official IRA men are also dead.
Among those named is Sinn Féin's Mr Martin McGuinness, who is described as having been a training officer, adjutant and officer commanding. Mr McGuinness has already confirmed that he was the Provisional IRA's second in command in Derry on Bloody Sunday.
The list also contains notes about the alleged activities of those named, including murders, bombings and interrogations.
The inquiry resumes on Monday.