A former Official IRA man today admitted lying to lawyers acting for the Bloody Sunday Inquiry when he denied being a member of the paramilitary.
OIRA8 told the Inquiry he had lied in his original statement because he was not aware of the British attorney general's immunity to prosecution ruling.
In his first statement to the solicitors Eversheds in May 1999, he denied being in the IRA, but earlier this month he admitted he was a volunteer at the time of Bloody Sunday.
In the original statement he said that prior to Bloody Sunday, he had been brought up to respect the police and abide by the law.
However in his second statement, he confirmed he had joined the Official IRA before Bloody Sunday.
"I took part in nearly all of the civil rights marches leading up to the march which took place in Derry on the 30 January 1972.
"I had witnessed violence by the army and the police on these marches and had come to the conclusion that marching and the use of democratic means did not work."
Counsel to the Inquiry Ms Cathryn McGahey pressed him on his claims that before Bloody Sunday he had respected the law.
"Were you trying to create dishonestly to Eversheds the impression that you were a law-abiding citizen?"
The former paramilitary denied he had tried to deceive the lawyers: "I was talking in general then about the time before I joined the IRA. It was not particularly in relation to Bloody Sunday."
OIRA8 told the Inquiry that he took part in the civil rights march in January 30th, 1972 when 13 unarmed civilians were shot dead by members of the Parachute Regiment in the Bogside area of Derry.
He said he was a volunteer in the Creggan unit of the Official IRA and had been told by his section leader that there was to be no activity against the security forces during the march.
PA