The Bloody Sunday Inquiry / Day 401: The Bloody Sunday Inquiry is to continue to take evidence from witnesses in January of next year, six years after it was set up by British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair in the House of Commons and 32 years after the Bloody Sunday killings.
The inquiry's chairman, Lord Saville of Newdigate, announced yesterday, the 401st day of the tribunal, that the inquiry had "temporarily run out of witnesses", as a result of which the planned completion date of December 19th would not now be met.
So far 866 people have given evidence to the inquiry into the killings by paratroopers of 13 unarmed civilians in the Bogside area of Derry on January 30th, 1972. Thirteen others were wounded by paratroopers who had been deployed into the Bogside during a civil rights march.
About 1,700 people have been interviewed by the inquiry's solicitors, Eversheds, among them 610 military witnesses and 53 police witnesses. The first oral evidence was given to the inquiry in Derry's Guildhall by civilian Daniel Gerard Porter on November 28th, 2000.
The inquiry will resume hearing evidence from witnesses next January 12th. That process is expected to last several weeks, following which the various interested legal parties will make their written or oral submissions before the inquiry's counsel, Mr Christopher Clarke QC, makes his closing statement, probably next July. It is believed the inquiry's three judges will then require about six months to complete their report. The final cost of the inquiry will be in the region of £150 million.
Lord Saville said yesterday the inquiry had reached a moment which it was not possible to maintain an uninterrupted flow of witnesses.
"There must, of course, come a time, and that is soon, when the process of taking evidence has to come to an end because the inquiry cannot last indefinitely. However we are satisfied it would be wrong to treat our target end date as an absolute cut-off end date and to bring evidence to an end on December 19th, so the inquiry will resume after Christmas on Monday, January 12th, 2004," he said.
Meanwhile a witness told the inquiry yesterday that he saw a youth and a man being gunned down as he watched from a flat which overlooked the Bogside's Glenfada Park. Mr Gerry Campbell said he looked through the flat window after he had heard constant shooting. He saw a group of about 10 people being held at gunpoint by a soldier. Suddenly a youth ran from the group but he was shot by the soldier from a distance of about six feet.
"After the lad had been shot, a man who had been hiding behind the wall jumped up with his hands in the air shouting 'don't shoot, don't shoot'. He started to climb over the wall," he added.
"As he straddled the wall with one foot over it, he was shot." The inquiry resumes on December 8th.