An ITN news producer said yesterday he anticipated trouble at the Bloody Sunday march because he thought that the IRA "would want a crack at the Paras".
Mr David Phillips repeated the assertion he made at the Widgery inquiry in 1972 that he heard a burst of fire from a Thompson sub-machinegun as soldiers of the Parachute Regiment began to advance into the Bogside.
The witness said he was standing close to Gen Robert Ford, the Commander of Land Forces, behind the army's barrier in William Street when the shooting began, and the general had remarked about the "awful heavy firing" and added that they knew there were 70 gunmen in the area.
Mr Phillips, producing News at Ten at the time, said he had visited the army's observation post on top of the Embassy Ballroom in Derry on the Friday before Bloody Sunday. While there, he had heard "a significant noise from a machinegun", and when he asked army officers about it they identified it as a Thompson sub-machinegun. The sound he then heard on Sunday was similar.
In reply to Ms Eilis McDermott QC, for the family of Patrick Doherty, he agreed that what he described as the sound of a Thompson had not been recorded on any of the ITN film taken on the day. He did not recall whether or not he had mentioned it to another ITN reporter, Mr Gerald Seymour, who was also covering events in Derry that day.
Mr Seamus Lavery QC, for other victims' families, asked the witness if he was surprised that so few people had described any Thompson sub-machinegun fire. Mr Christopher Clarke QC, counsel to the tribunal, intervened to say that at least one other witness had said he heard a sub-machinegun.
Asked by Mr Lavery if he felt sympathy at the time for the soldiers in relation to the "hard time" they were having in Derry, the witness said he was neutral about it all.
"I could view it with detachment," he said. "I thought the army under the missile bombardment at Barrier 14 acted professionally and I admired the way they took the battering that they were taking."
Mr Phillips said that, after he heard on the Friday before Bloody Sunday that the paratroopers would be brought into the city in reserve, his impression was that there could be trouble at the march and he arranged for a second ITN camera crew to attend.
He thought the IRA would want a crack at the Paras. Mr Lavery asked him if this was the conclusion he had come to after discussions with military personnel, and the witness replied: "Overall, yes."
Replying to Mr Michael Mansfield QC, for three of the families, the witness agreed that he had not seen any marcher carrying a weapon or throwing a petrol or nail-bomb, nor had he heard nail-bombs exploding.
Asked if the marchers had breached any army barriers in his presence, he replied: "No. They came near to it, though."
Mr Mansfield: Did ITN News regard itself as a mouthpiece for the army at that time?
Witness: No.
The inquiry continues today.