Some bullets used by British Paratroopers to shoot Catholic protesters on Bloody Sunday may have been doctored to cause maximum injury on impact, a doctor who treated victims told an inquiry today.
Dr Raymond McClean, a founder member of the nationalist SDLP and later mayor of Derry, said post-mortem examinations suggested the use of "dum dum" bullets.
The doctor also told the Saville Inquiry into the events in Derry's Bogside in 1972, that people queued in the streets to join the IRA in the days after the shootings.
Some 13 men were shot dead on January 30th, 1972, and a 14th died later.
In the cases of some men, he said, bullet entry wounds were larger than normal.
"It is possible the bullets involved were tumbling or softened. Dum dum bullets, which are apparently softened to create more tissue damage were banned in 1933 by the Geneva Convention," he said in a statement to the inquiry at Derry's Guildhall.
"I am aware it is possible to make nicks in a bullet which will cause it to tumble in the air, and therefore cause more damage upon impact," he said.
Dr McClean said another of the dead, Kevin McElhinney, may have been shot by a sniper as the wound suggested a different type of calibre weapon was used.
He called for further examination by ballistics experts to get answers to these questions.
Dr McClean told how, in his role on the Derry Citizens Action Committee, he sought guarantees from political representatives of the IRA before the march that Provisionals would not become involved with a peaceful civil rights demonstration.
But as soon as the march began he was concerned about British soldiers standing in battle dress, rather than riot gear.
But he said: "At that time in Derry there were an awful lot of soldiers with rifles and civilians generally made a conscious effort to ignore them."
The demonstration turned ugly when youngsters confronted an Army barricade on William Street.
But after the usual CS gas and water cannon, he heard "three or four sharp cracks".
"The sounds were different to anything I had heard before. Although CS gasand rubber bullet guns sounded quite dull, these sounds were sharp. I thought it was live ammunition," he said.
He was soon alerted that there were a number of gunshot casualties. After treating two injured men he heard from another doctor, Dr Kevin Swords, that Gerald Donaghey had been shot dead.
He later attended to Gerard McKinney, William McKinney, Jim Wray and Michael Kelly, who died from their wounds.
"My first instinct was to wish I had a rifle, although I wouldn't have known how to fire it. I just wanted to defend myself. I was very angry, scared and shocked," Dr McClean said.
After the events of Bloody Sunday Dr McClean observed the post mortem examinations of several victims.
He said his observations led him to believe that some men may have been hit by doctored bullets.
He also said it was "fairly obvious" Jim Wray was paralysed in the legs by a first bullet then killed by a shot in the back.
And Gerard McKinney had his hands in the air when he was shot, he believed.
He went on: "The three days after Bloody Sunday were like a wake. There was a lot of anger and talk that peaceful means of protest were over.
"The events of Bloody Sunday gave the Provisional IRA a major boost. I believe that people queued in the Bogside area to join the IRA," he said.
PA