THE BLOODY SUNDAY INQUIRY/Day 251: Former Prime Minister Edward Heath suggested that the army should give evidence first at the initial Widgery inquiry into Bloody Sunday in order to counter bad publicity, the Saville Inquiry was told yesterday.
The suggestion was recorded in a letter dated February 9th, 1972, from Mr John Heritage, a senior member of the legal staff at the Widgery investigation.
The letter, to Sir Basil Hall, the inquiry's solicitor, also includes details of a meeting Mr Heritage attended on the same day with Lord Widgery, then the Lord Chief Justice, and inquiry counsel Mr John Stocker.
The first point in the letter, which was read out at the tribunal in London yesterday, read: "PM had suggested army should go on first, to counteract bad impression of days of hostile evidence before their 'defence'." Strong anti-military feeling was expected at the Widgery Inquiry into the killing of 13 unarmed civilians on a Derry march on January 30th, 1972.
Mr Heritage said he could not remember when or in what circumstances Mr Heath's (now Sir Edward) suggestion was made.
The letter points out that Mr Brian Gibbens QC, senior counsel for the Ministry of Defence, would probably prefer to go last, enabling him to be in a better position to counter allegations against them. Lord Saville, the inquiry chairman, pointed out that documents also record that the Treasury Solicitor had suggested that the army should go last, and the "LCJ (Lord Chief Justice) should keep his options open".
Mr Barry MacDonald QC, representing many of the bereaved families at the inquiry, asked: "That is an example of the army seeking to influence the conduct of the proceedings to assist the army?" Mr Heritage agreed.
The letter also reveals that Lord Widgery felt the families would be excluded from speaking at the opening, but that again he would keep his options open on this.
Rejecting suggestions that this reflected a bias towards the army, Mr Heritage said: "The approach of the Lord Chief Justice throughout was that the tribunal should be conducted as rapidly as possible and he was minded to restrict the right both to make speeches and to call a very large number of witnesses."
The first witnesses at the Widgery inquiry were journalists, followed by civilians. The first soldier took the stand on day nine.