The battalion intelligence officer of the paratroopers involved in the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry 31 years ago yesterday denied an allegation that he was telling lies under oath.
The now retired Parachute Regiment officer told the Saville Inquiry that he stood over his claim that an IRA sniper opened fire on his position on the periphery of the scene of the killings of 13 unarmed civilians, after paratroopers had been deployed into the Bogside.
"The shot went behind us to the north and I do not know where it hit," he told the Inquiry.
The witness, known as Inquiry 7, told the tribunal's three judges that earlier on the afternoon of the killings, a single high-velocity shot hit a drain-pipe or guttering close to his position beside a church on the edge of the Bogside. "I could tell it was a high- velocity shot because there was a distinct crack and thump and also a distinct clang as the bullet hit the metal. I could not tell the type of weapon. I cannot say precisely what the shot was aimed at," he said. The former officer said that the paras' commander, Lieut Col Derek Wilford, then ordered him to go an army barrier in nearby Little James's Street. It was there he said he was fired at after the paratroopers' support company had advanced into the Bogside. "The sound was similar to the high-velocity shot which came into the church, but perhaps there was a slightly sharper crack to it. It seemed to come from a similar area," he said.
However Mr Barry MacDonald QC, who represents most of the families of the Bloody Sunday victims, challenged the witness's evidence. "I suggest then you are telling lies about this," he told the retired officer. "I suggest you did not hear any shot at all," he added.
However Inq 7 replied: "You can make your suggestion and I know what I believe sir, with respect I think you are wrong."
He said that during Bloody Sunday, he felt vulnerable. "All I can say about the shootings is that it was a mixture of sounds. There was high and I believe low- velocity fire of the sort which would come from a handgun. I have a distinct recollection of an impression of the lower-pitched sound of low-velocity fire.
"There was also a certain amount of screaming and shouting. There was certainly SLR fire. I do not recall anything else and I do not recall explosions," he said.
"There have been a lot of inaccuracies with what took place on that day. The more those inaccuracies are repeated, the more they are construed as fact.
"It is not a fact that 1 Para were a bunch of hooligans and were not well trained. It is not a fact that we were inexperienced. It is also not true that no shots were fired at 1 Para. I experienced incoming fire," he told the judges.