The Bloody Sunday Inquiry/Day 411: A researcher from Liverpool who worked for a legal company which represents two of the 13 civilians wounded in the Bogside area of Derry on Bloody Sunday, said yesterday he was forced to leave Derry after he had concluded that the first shot fired on Bloody Sunday had been fired by an Official IRA gunman.
Mr Paul Mahon also claimed that the brother of one of the 13 unarmed people shot dead on Bloody Sunday on January 30th, 1972, also told him that he, Mr Mahon, had been directly threatened by the Provisional IRA.
In his evidence to the Bloody Sunday inquiry, Mr Mahon said he became interested in Bloody Sunday while studying for a degree in contemporary politics at Lancaster University in 1994.
After he completed his degree a sponsor, whom he would not name, "funded me to the tune of £100,000 for a four-year research project into the events of Bloody Sunday". Mr Mahon worked as a researcher for the legal firm of Brendan Kearney, Kelly and Co., who represent Mr Michael Bridge and Mr Michael Bradley, two of the Bloody Sunday casualties.
He analysed a tape recording of shots which were fired on Bloody Sunday. He concluded that two soldiers, known to the inquiry as A and B, had shot and wounded Mr Damien Donaghy and Mr John Johnston 13 seconds after a single shot had been fired by a gunman, known as Official IRA 1. The inquiry has already been told by Official IRA 1 that he fired a single shot from Colmcille Court, but only after soldiers had already wounded Mr Donaghy and Mr Bridge. Mr Mahon said he disputed this.
"I do not accept Official IRA 1's evidence that he only fired after the army had fired," the witness told the inquiry.
He said his finding that the Official IRA had opened fired first on Bloody Sunday was "leaked" to the Irish News newspaper in January 2000. On January 5th, 2000, he met the principal partner of Brendan Kearney, Kelly and Co., Mr Brendan Kearney.
"He told me that the boys or a person who had been of a paramilitary nature had made serious threats against me, and that he was taking the threats extremely seriously."
Mr Mahon said that as a result of the newspaper articles, "my relations with BKK broke down irretrievably and my employment was terminated" and he said he was subjected to a "witch hunt". He said he subsequently received another threat via Mr Liam Wray, whose brother Jim was one of the Bloody Sunday victims. "I was in a pub in Donegal with my younger son. Liam Wray turned up with his wife. He was clearly looking for me. He said that the situation had deteriorated further. He said that former members of the Provisional IRA who I had interviewed were extremely upset and concerned that they would be blamed for giving me information. They had told me about the Official IRA 1 incident on Bloody Sunday. Liam Wray indicated there was a direct threat to me from the Provisional IRA."
Mr Mahon, who said he "was chased out of this city" following his conclusion that an Official IRA gunman had fired first, went to see various people associated with the "Bloody Sunday Truth Campaign", one of whom was Mr Denis Bradley, now vice-chairperson of the Policing Board. "After three weeks he told me that he could do nothing," said Mr Mahon. The inquiry continues today.