'Reliable informer' said IRA fired first, inquiry told
An informer who alleged he was told the IRA fired the first shots on Bloody Sunday was a brave man and a very valuable agent, it was claimed today.
An MI5 officer who handled Observer B in the 1970s said he believed the information given by the deceased informer was reliable.
The officer, known only by his codename Julian, was screened from the public gallery at the Saville Inquiry in Methodist Central Hall in London to maintain his anonymity.
He said Observer B, who also claimed he saw IRA members being drilled in military techniques in Derry in the week before Bloody Sunday, was “perfectly reliable and truthful”.
“I would say from my experience that Observer B was a very valuable agent. He didn’t have anything to gain by lying to us,” he said.
“I believe his motivation to have been a desire for peace. He was a brave man in that the work he undertook was very dangerous.”
Julian said Observer B gave the majority of his information on Protestant paramilitaries and was not paid a salary for two years after being originally recruited as an informer by the British army in 1970.
“He was being paid, but he had refused a salary and accepted only expenses until in August 1972 he began to earn a salary of £50 (€70) a month, plus expenses,” he said.
“In August 1972 he was paid £500 (€700) as a bonus, which was paid to him unannounced. I was not running Observer B at the time, but I have examined the files and can see that by the end of 1973, his salary was £65 (€90) a month and he received occasional bonus payments.”
Julian is the first of several security service officers who will give evidence to the Inquiry in the next two weeks about what intelligence they had about IRA activity at the time of Bloody Sunday.
The Inquiry is examining the events of January 30, 1972 when 13 civilians were shot dead by soldiers during a civil rights march in Derry. A 14th person died later.
The serving and former officers will testify about two informers codenamed Observer B and Infliction.
Infliction has said Martin McGuinness told him he fired the first shot on Bloody Sunday, a claim denied by Mr McGuinness.
However, the tribunal ruled Infliction should not testify as to do so could put his life at risk. Observer B died last year.
The inquiry, which usually sits at the Guildhall in Derry, is currently hearing the evidence from military witnesses and others in London because of concerns for their safety.
Lord Saville of Newdigate and the Commonwealth judges accompanying him on the Bloody Sunday inquiry began their work nearly four years ago and are not expected to report back until 2004.
The Bloody Sunday inquiry was established in 1998 by Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair after a campaign by families of those killed and injured.
They felt that the Widgery Inquiry, held shortly after the shootings, did not find out the truth about what happened on Bloody Sunday.
