A legal firm in Derry has denied accepting that British soldiers were not the first to open fire on Bloody Sunday. Brendan Kearney and Co said that it made no such claim in a submission to the Saville inquiry which is investigating the 1972 shootings in which 14 people died.
Relatives of the dead and injured have always maintained the British army opened fire on innocent civilians. However, a newspaper report said Kearney and Co, which represents two men injured that day, had accepted that the British army had not been the first to shoot.
In its submission to the inquiry, Kearney and Co says: "We would agree that sufficient evidence does exist to establish an incoming shot towards the army's position fired at 15.55 in the sector." The document centres on a tape-recording of shots made by a BBC journalist, Mr David Capper, on Bloody Sunday. The period referred to in the recording relates to shots fired at 3.55 p.m. when Mr John Johnston and Mr Damien Donaghey were injured. Mr Johnston later died.
The submission continues: "We believe that the army responds to the incoming shot by shooting Damien Donaghy and John Johnston just 13 seconds later." Mr Brendan Kearney yesterday said that interpreting his firm's submission to claim that it believed the British army was not fired on first represented "a superficial reading and understanding of the words used in the submission".
He added: "At no point do we say that the first shot was not fired by the British army. We said evidence existed that there was an incoming shot, but we did not say by whom or for what purpose. That leaves a number of options open."
Mr Kearney said that the controversy over his firm's submission underlined his belief that the Saville inquiry should not be the subject of media debate now. He said his firm would expand on its 60-page submission later. The families of the Bloody Sunday victims responded angrily to any suggestion that the British army did not open fire first. In a statement five legal firms representing all but two of the families said it was their belief that the British army opened fire first and said Mr Capper's tape-recording was open to several interpretations.