The British army has known all along that Sinn Féin's Mr Martin McGuinness did not open fire on soldiers on Bloody Sunday, it was claimed today.
A former army intelligence officer told the Saville Inquiry he saw documents that showed the Mid-Ulster MP was under surveillance on Bloody Sunday and did not fire a weapon.
The testimony of the ex-soldier, known by the pseudonym "Martin Ingram", contradicts allegations by an IRA informant, code-named "Infliction", who claimed Mr McGuinness told him he fired the first shot on Bloody Sunday.
Mr McGuinness, who has admitted to being the IRA's second-in-command in Derry at the time, has denied having fired any shots on the day.
Ingram told the inquiry in London he was an officer in the British Army's Force Research Unit in charge of maintaining the Derry Republican Desk in the early 1980s and had the highest level security clearance possible.
The former soldier said he was "100 per cent sure" he saw surveillance reports from January 30, 1972, that showed that Mr McGuinness was being watched but was not seen using a gun on the day 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead by soldiers in Derry. A 14th man died later.
"At FRU [Force Research Unit] I saw documents relating to Martin McGuinness's activities on the day . . . I saw none that suggested that he had a machine gun in his hand or fired a shot," he said.
Ingram has also claimed there was intelligence available to show that neither the Official nor Provisional IRA intended to indulge in violence on Bloody Sunday.
He questioned the version of events given by many soldiers who claimed they were shot at before returning fire.