The Bloody Sunday Inquiry has dropped a High Court action against a journalist who refused to reveal his sources, it was confirmed today.
Daily Telegraphcorrespondent Mr Toby Harnden could have been jailed for resisting pressure to disclose the identity of a soldier who admitted opening fire on the day 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead by British soldiers in Derry.
Mr Harnden told the hearing, chaired by Lord Saville, he had destroyed interview notes with two former paratroopers in a bid to protect their anonymity.
Although one of the pair identified himself to the inquiry, the journalist kept his pledge to the other.
With contempt of court proceedings hanging over him, Mr Harnden faced a heavy fine or even up to two years' imprisonment.
But a spokesman for the inquiry into the January 1972 killings confirmed the case had been abandoned as the soldier's identity had been established through other means.