Bloody Sunday: Police to begin interviewing soldiers

[snakeeyes]

Bloody Sunday: Police to begin interviewing soldiers

Seven soldiers who fired shots on Bloody Sunday are to be interviewed as part of a murder inquiry into the events of that day, police have said.
Thirteen people were killed on 30 January 1972 when soldiers opened fire on a civil rights march in Londonderry.
Police met with victims' families on Wednesday to update them on the progress of their investigation.
The families heard that the soldiers would be interviewed from October, along with 10 civilian witnesses.
Det Ch Insp Ian Harrison, who is leading the inquiry, said 34 military witness and 310 civilian witness statements have been recorded.
Fifty-five military witnesses and 239 civilian witnesses have declined to engage with the investigation team.

Detail
Last month, Northern Ireland's police chief said it was "unacceptable" that some families had not heard from the investigation in over a year.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has contacted more than 100 soldiers as part of the investigation into Bloody Sunday.
Police resumed their investigation into the killings in January.
John Kelly, whose brother Michael was shot dead on Bloody Sunday, said the meeting with police served as an update for families but lacked detail.
"Late October seems to be the date put down by the PSNI and they have told us it will take a couple of months to actually complete that part of the investigation," he said.
He said after that a report would be compiled and given to the Public Prosecution Service.

Bloody Sunday: More than 100 soldiers contacted

The PSNI has contacted more than 100 soldiers as part of the investigation into Bloody Sunday.
The detective leading the enquiry said the soldiers are not obliged to speak to the police because they are being treated as witnesses and not suspects.
Thirteen civilians were killed when soldiers opened fire on a civil rights march in Londonderry in 1972. A 14th died later.
Police resumed their investigation into the killings in January..
The information about 100 soldiers being contacted emerged on Thursday following fresh criticism of the police investigation by some Bloody Sunday families.
Det Ch Insp Ian Harrison, from the PSNI's Legacy Investigations Branch, said his team completed its "civilian witness enquiries" and made contact with more than 100 soldiers to "determine if they are willing to engage with us".
"It should be noted that these soldiers are witnesses, not suspects, and are therefore not obliged to speak with us," said Mr Harrison.
"The next stage of the investigation would be to interview those soldiers who are willing to engage with the enquiry team as witnesses
'Road to nowhere'
Mr Harrison said his team of officers was also carrying out a number of other enquiries in relation to the investigation which he described as a "long, complex and protracted".
"I am content with the level of resources I have working on the investigation at this stage.
"If at any time further resources are required they will be made available to me."
Some Bloody Sunday families criticised the police investigation in a letter to Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison from Peter Madden of Madden and Finucane Solicitors.
It said that some of the families were losing faith in the investigation because they had "heard nothing from the PSNI since a meeting in January and were entirely unaware of what progress had been made".
Peter Madden also said there was a presumption that there had "still been no move by the PSNI to interview any of the soldiers involved in the shootings" and that this added to a perception that police were "reluctant to arrest and question soldiers as murder suspects".
The letter continued: "Regrettably, as we fast approach the fifth anniversary of the delivery of Lord Saville's report, it seems that little has occurred in the interim to alleviate those public concerns and those that we represent are rapidly losing faith in the PSNI's ability to see their task through."



Bloody Sunday: Police to begin interviewing soldiers - BBC News

[Norton]

30 January 1972

Damn glad they aren't rushing things.

[thaimeme]

Water under the bridge.
Let it go and heal.

[harrybarracuda]

A few pikeys out for a bit of money is all.

Tell them to get fucked.

[withnallstoke]

A few pikeys out for a bit of money is all.

As if.

[Scottish Gary]

Innocent people murdered by trigger happy Paras. They should have been jailed over 40 years ago

[Pragmatic]

McGuinness fired the first shot. He should be on trial, not the paras who were the ones under attack.

Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson has said any police inquiry into Bloody Sunday must include the role of Martin McGuinness.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-18738838

[withnallstoke]

trigger happy

They had to account for every spent shot.
That was procedure then.


If they were trigger happy, why are there any innocent people left to tell the tale?

[Black Heart]

42 years later they are going to interview soldiers and witnesses?

Any answers cannot be reliable.

It's been 43 years.

It's this a moral move or a PR "we're doing something" ploy?

[Pragmatic]

It's about compensation.

Derry Bloody Sunday families offered £50,000 compensation

Derry Bloody Sunday families offered £50,000 compensation - BBC News

[chassamui]

42 years later they are going to interview soldiers and witnesses? Any answers cannot be reliable. It's been 43 years. It's this a moral move or a PR "we're doing something" ploy?

The whole issue is far too complex for you to understand. Stick to discredited medical blogs. They are your forte.

[Pragmatic]

The whole issue is far too complex

It's not really. The IRA orchestrated an incident whereby they knew they placed innocent(?) lives in danger. A normal practice for IRA snipers at that time. They didn't give two fooks as to those that stood in between.

[Horatio Hornblower]

possibly the commanding officers should be in the frontline of this,the troops only do as told in situations as this.

just where is Colonel Derek Wilford, these days.

Didn't he get exonerated.?

[chassamui]

It's not really. The IRA orchestrated an incident whereby they knew they placed innocent(?) lives in danger. A normal practice for IRA snipers at that time. They didn't give two fooks as to those that stood in between.

Not difficult for those who were around or involved at the time. My comment was directed at the brain dead merkin who has trouble finding his own arse with both hands.

[Pragmatic]

possibly the commanding officers should be in the frontline of this,the troops only do as told in situations as this.

Fcuk off Yaso you know shit. I say that politely.

[Horatio Hornblower]

oh right then it was the Kvnt Brigadier Pat MacLellan

[withnallstoke]

All of the squaddies will be over sixty.

68,000 of them live in Thailand, and can't remember yesterday.

Fuck political correctness, tell the pikey bastards to do one.
Is shoot to kill still ok?

[Pragmatic]

Is shoot to kill still ok?

That's a label I hate to hear. Is there such a thing as shoot to dis-arm, to wound, to scare etc ?

[withnallstoke]

Is there such a thing as shoot to dis-arm, to wound, to scare etc ?

Yes...

[Horatio Hornblower]

There was a unit named the MRF and there policy was shoot to kill.

When heath became PM the unit was demobilsed.

[bankao dreamer]

Those events were 14 years before my time in the army, were the paras trigger happy ? Trigger happy is a non specific way of describing this situation. For the innocents who perished on this day all of us should think of the lives lost. But is has been documented in several sources that IRA snipers opened fire first. Irrespective of your level of training if bits of lead start whistling past your ears and you have no idea where those bits of lead originate from, adrenaline will affect your motor skills and ability to reason. Gunmen trying to kill you will be every where. Those lads on the streets where not in their local pub with their mates or at home waiting for their moms to cook them beans on toast they were in a hostile environment where death was ever present.

[Horatio Hornblower]

BD the commanding officer wilford of the unit was supposedly ordered not to take the unit into the hostile area by his superior,though disoboyed the order.

Its the same as most enquires a big cover up, on both sides.

[snakeeyes]

Karma.
This is the Cnut ,

Bloody Sunday commander shot dead on Kenya holiday

A RETIRED British Army colonel who commanded paratroopers during Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland has been shot dead by a gang of robbers while on holiday in Kenya.
Col Edward Loden, 73, was visiting his son Jamie when he was gunned down in the upmarket suburb of Langata in Nairobi, a district popular among wealthy Kenyans and expats.

An armed gang was waiting for Col Loden, his wife Jill, Jamie and his wife Sarah as they drove home from dinner late on Saturday.
The family was ambushed as a guard prepared to open the gates.

A Nairobi police source said: “They were in the son’s car and they pulled up and honked for the watchman – but the robbers jumped them.

“They were lying in wait. They shot into the car and the older gentleman was hit once or twice. He bled to death very quickly.

“No one else was hurt. The robbers ran away when they saw that this would be a murder.”

Police were last night treating the attack as a robbery that went wrong and said that nothing of value had been stolen.

Ambushing people as they wait to be let into their gates is a common tactic in Nairobi.

Victims are rarely seriously injured because most surrender their vehicles and valuables and are unharmed.

The family described the murder as a “brutal tragedy”.

It is believed Col Loden died in an ambulance on the way to hospital.

The area is controlled by up to 14 organised gangs, who terrorise residents for ransom as well as committing extortion, burglary and robbery.

Col Loden, who has a second son Will, had been on a visit to Jamie, a director of Barclays Bank’s Africa division, who is also a former Para.

Jamie served for four years in Afghanistan, rising to the rank of Major and fighting in Helmand before retiring and moving to Kenya in 2010.

A family statement added: “Jill and her sons would like to say thank you for all the overwhelming messages of love and support from wider friends and family.”

Col Loden was in charge of paratroopers who opened fire on protesters during a civil rights march in Derry in Northern Ireland on January 30, 1972. Thirteen civilians were killed at the scene and a 14th victim died five months later.

The officer was exonerated by the Saville Inquiry into the killings, which said that he did not realise his soldiers might be firing at people who did not pose a threat.

Col Loden, who received the Military Cross for his actions during the Aden Emergency in 1967, was commissioned into the Parachute Regiment in 1959 where he served on operations around the world.

He retired from the Army in 1992 and followed a career in business management before quitting in 1999 to pursue his passion for sailing.

Bloody Sunday was one of the most controversial moments of the Troubles. In 1972, the soldiers opened fire while trying to police a banned civil rights march

British soldiers had been deployed on to the streets of Derry in 1969 after a summer of violent sectarian clashes between Protestants and Catholics. The soldiers involved in the Bloody Sunday incident always insisted they were returning fire.

But the Government has long accepted the victims did not have guns or explosives.

Col Loden was the Major in command of the Support Company 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment during the shootings.

The Saville Report said: “At the time the casualties were being sustained, Major Loden neither realised nor should have realised that his soldiers were, or might be, firing at people who were not posing or about to pose a threat.”

The killing of Col Loden is the second of a senior former Parachute Regiment officer in Kenya in less than a month.

Intruders murdered Lieutenant Colonel David Parkinson at his home near the British Army training base in Nanyuki on August 25.

Col Parkinson, an ex-commander at the base, and his wife Sonja were attacked when a gang, armed with machetes and a gun, smashed their way into the house.

Mrs Parkinson escaped by hiding in a secure room

Bloody Sunday commander shot dead on Kenya holiday | UK | News | Daily Express

[chassamui]

Read and learn.

Northern Ireland (Rules of Engagement) (Hansard, 1 February 1995)

[Stinky]

Karma.
This is the Cnut ,

No arguments here