A former British army chief today apologised at the Bloody Sunday inquiry for saying in the hours after the killings four of the dead civilians were on a wanted list.
Mr Maurice Tugwell, then Colonel General Staff (Information Policy) at Headquarters Northern Ireland, also said in a statement to the inquiry that he went as an observer to the march in Derry on January 30th, 1972, when British paratroopers shot dead 13 unarmed people.
Mr Tugwell told in the statement of how he heard automatic gunfire from around the Rossville Flats. He said he gave a radio interview at 1 a.m. the day after the killings.
"During the course of the interview I stated that four of the civilians who were dead were on a wanted list. Later, I am not sure when, I discovered that the allegation that four men were on a wanted list could not be sustained."
Mr Tugwell said a news release to correct this could not be put out because, from February 1st that year until the publication of the Widgery Report - the first inquiry into the killings - there was a blackout on them saying anything at all about the event.
Mr Tugwell said he wanted to check if there were "intelligence traces" on any of the dead.
A statement was drafted for the Widgery inquiry confirming that, though four of the civilians had traces from Intelligence, and were people who would have been put aside for questioning if they had been arrested, they were not people who were actively being sought, he said.
"I apologise for this error. It was a mistake," Mr Tugwell said.
PA
