March 27, 2003 Bloody Sunday Inquery Witness Schedule
Monday 24th March to Thursday 27th March 2003

MON 24th:
SOLDIER B - PRIVATE, 1 PARA. Fired three rounds at nail bomber in William Street, wounding Damien Donaghy and/or John Johnston. Acted as vehicle guard at the Rossville Flats. Nothing happened to the platoon there and there were no snipers.

TUES 25th:
COL. DEREK WILFORD - LT COL, 1 PARA. Gives general info on 1 Para in Belfast and deployment outside Belfast. Received warning order on 24th Jan 1972. 28th January he carried out a recee of Derry with an intelligence officer from 8 Bde. Discussed the Brigade Co-Ordinating Conference and regrets not asking what he was to do if they came under fire.Discusses formulation of plan for the arrest op and the particulars of the scoop up op. Battalion O Group was held on 29th January 1972. Discusses deployment and communications on 30th Jan 1972. Discusses the march and the first shot at the soldiers. Gives his interpretation of the logs re: entering the Bogside and what a "running battle" is. Comments on interviews the following day and the evidence he provided to the Widgery Tribunal.

INQ471 - PRIVATE, 1 PARA. Told to expect some trouble. Was given rifleman's role. Does not remember being given any detailed briefing upon arrival. Does not recall specific orders. States that goal was to get as many arrests as possible, they would hit civilians on legs to make them fall. Position was on William Street at Barrier 14. Ordered to go through Barrier 14 then proceed down Chamberlain Street. Does not recall seeing/hearing petrol or nail bombs or explosions that day. Armed himself with SLR after hearing fire on Chamberlain Street. Believed that shots were high velocity and came from the march or the Rossville Flats. Heard shots from Chamberlain Street and then returned fire. Heard high velocity shooting which he attributed to 1 Para. Recalls hearing that two civilians with a rifle had been shot. Recalls seeing a priest waving a white handkerchief while in grid 013 while shooting was still going on; INQ1334 tried to check the body for weaponry. Made arrests inside the car park of the Rossville Flats while only carrying his baton. Did not see bodies while escorting arrestees to RUC.

INQ1351 - GUARDSMAN, COLDSTREAM GUARDS. Based at Blighs Lane. Claims to have seen march pass down William Street. Claims to have heard high velocity shots from Rossville Flats. Assumed these were fired by a sniper. Witnessed 2 Para's fire un-aimed shots as they ran down Rossville Street. Heard a number of bangs. Cannot say for certain if they were nail bombs or rubber bullets. Saw a person (boy) laying on the ground at rear of Chamberlain Street. Claims to have witnessed a body thrown from a balcony of the Rossville Flats (at the northern end of Block 1). Did not report this over the radio. Is aware of the modification of bullets by carving an X on ammunition of bullets.

WED 26th:
CAPT. CONDOR - ROYAL ANGLIANS. Deployed at Battalion Command post at Craigavon Bridge. Part of the commanding officers Rover Group. He was listening to radio reports on the battalion log. Having looked at a copy of it, he says it is clear that the IRA planned, organised and co-ordinated an attack on those responsible for law and order. He says General Ford was briefed by the Commanding Officer. He says there was a barrier at the entrance to the car park. He says a car drove up. The driver jumped out and ran away. He went over to inspect the car. He saw a man slumped in the back seat. He checked the man and established he was dead. He saw a nail bomb in his right jacket pocket, he could see the fuse and heads of nails. He could not see his trouser pockets. He got out of the vehicle and shouted to the commander of the road block. He says he left him in charge and reported the incident to the operations officer. He says he then met John Charteris and invited him to see the body in the car as an independent witness. He then went to an observation point on the City Walls. He returned to the post at 17.30 hours. He says he understands that a female RUC officer removed the nail bombs. He does not recognise the car or the body in the attached photo's. He says he was told a few days later that a member of the RUC that the bodies of several IRA men killed on BS were secretly buried in Buncrana.

INQ552 - GUARDSMAN, COLDSTREAM GUARDS. Was working in the officer's mess in Fort George. Heard some shooting, but he is not sure what sort or from whom. Saw brutality by Para's towards prisoners being detained in Fort George. Saw soldiers with dogs and large batons.

THURS 27th:
INQ573 - CAPTAIN, ROYAL GREEN JACKETS. This soldier was the Battalion Adjutant. He was present at Magilligan at the NICRA demonstration prior to BS. Refers to Para's striking a middle aged couple with batons and he had to intervene. He refers to when they heard the Para's were to go to Derry, there was a feeling in the battalion that there was likely to be trouble. He was deployed at barrier 14 with A company where he was to act as a sniper. He says the crowd seemed to fade away before the Para's went over the barrier. He cannot recall seeing General Ford or hearing any shots or explosions during the day. He says as reports of increasing numbers of fatalities came through, he had the impression there was something of a cock up for such a large number to be killed. He says there was no love lost between the resident troops and the Para's, they were shock troops who would sort out the Derry situation in no time.

INQ1799 - LANCE CORPORAL, 1 PARA. The first time the Para's had been in Derry was an operation planned by Farrar-Hockley but it did not go ahead. Mentions his role in Magilligan. Acted as a radio operator in the Company Commander's Pig. Maurice Tugwell with a senior journalist got into the Pig. Waiting at barrier 14, he heard INQ1267 say "Go, go, go!" Saw a gunman at the southern end of Chamberlain Street amongst the crowd.

Witness Pool for the week commencing 31st March 2003:
Col. Wilford, INQ166, INQ245, INQ301, INQ444, INQ587, INQ768, INQ783, INQ1093, INQ1334, INQ1918, INQ1940, INQ2037, 009, 019, 021, 026, 112, 162. For further information contact:
Troops Out Movement, Campaigning for British Withdrawal from Ireland, PO Box 1032 Birmingham B12 8BZ Tel / Fax 0121 643 7542, Email: mailto:tom@sparkle123.freeserve.co.uk Website: www.troopsoutmovement.com