A military policeman took a Derry woman aside and warned her "this is going to be one Bloody Sunday" the morning before the ill-fated civil rights march, it was claimed today.
Mrs Maureen Doherty was given the prophetic advice on January 30th 1972, the day which ended with 13 Catholic men shot dead, she told the Saville Inquiry investigating the killings.
The mother-of-six now aged in her 70s, said she was always too frightened to speak up about the conversation in the intervening years, fearing she would be seen as an Army "collaborator" or also be the victim of reprisals from Protestants.
The officer concerned was a sergeant-major in the RMP, identified at the public sittings in the Guildhall in Derry as 223, who Mrs Doherty said she knew through her job in the hospital canteen.
Both 223 and another lower-ranking MP, identified as 222, were frequently in the hospital, wearing civilian clothes, to guard injured soldiers, she said.
"Some people did not like to serve members of the security forces or the military police and would refuse to do so, but I thought, what's the point?'. I was there to do a job and 222 and 223 were always courteous to me," she said.
She said 223 appeared in the canteen on the morning of January 30th 1972 in his uniform and asked her to come out of the kitchen for "a word".
"We stepped outside kitchen into the corridor. 223 asked have you a family?' I said Of course I have' and 223 said well don't let them go on the march tomorrow'.
"I asked why and he said, 'Because this is going to be one Bloody Sunday.'"
Evidence continues tomorrow.