Bloody Sunday troops 'did not set out to murder'
Paratroopers who opened fire on a civil rights march which became Bloody Sunday did not set out to murder that day but ended up doing just that, the inquiry into the killings heard today.
Journalist Brian Cashinella also claimed the military operation on January 30, 1972, was "quite clearly" a dry run for the reclamation of the no-go area of Free Derry - which happened six months later with Operation Motorman.
Then a staff reporter with The Times, Mr Cashinella said today Army briefings in the days running up to the anti-interment demonstration in Derry’s Bogside signalled "something rather special" was planned for it.
"It was quite clear that the whole Free Derry idea was unacceptable to the British Government in London and they were going to do something about it," he said.
And giving evidence in the Guildhall in Derry, Mr Cashinella said he saw nothing in the actions of civilians in the city’s Bogside that day to merit the shooting dead of 13 men and youths.
Asked about an interview with him in which he backed the "cock-up theory" - that troops had not gone in with intending to murder people, but ended up doing that - he said those were still his views about the tragedy.
He also told the tribunal Lieutenant Colonel Derek Wilford, the Commanding Officer of the troops sent in that day, 1 Para, appeared shocked by what had happened when he gave a press briefing afterwards.
"I think he honestly thought there were three or four people injured although I think he suspected that something rather greater had happened - he was being very economical with what he was telling us."
A former British soldier Mr Cashinella described paratroopers coming into the area from behind a barrier on William Street, the Army’s second-in-command in Northern Ireland General, Robert Ford, standing at the side of the barricade saying: "Go on the Paras, go and get them!"
General Ford has always said he was on the ground that day acting as an observer - the operation was officially under the command of Brigadier Patrick MacLellan of 8 Infantry Brigade - but the bereaved and injured claim he was they key figure behind the operation.
