Soldier L gives evidence at Saville

A former British paratrooper has told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in London that he had wanted to capture Martin McGuinness 'dead or alive' and that he had had him in his rifle sights on a previous occasion.

The witness, identified only as Soldier L, also told the Saville Inquiry that a decision had been taken in the battalion to shoot the nationalist MP Bernadette Devlin.

Soldier L has been giving his evidence to Lord Saville's inquiry from behind a screen to protect his identity.

He had said in his statement that he had wanted to find Martin McGuinness on Bloody Sunday. The Sinn Féin MP and former minister has previously admitted being the IRA's second in command in Derry at the time.

Asked by junior counsel for the inquiry Cathryn McGahey if he had known at the time what Mr McGuinness looked like, he replied that he had had him in his rifle sights during a running battle with soldiers in Belfast. He added that he had been waiting for the order to shoot him dead.

Order to shoot nationalist MP

Soldier L also said there had been what he described as an order through the battalion to shoot the then nationalist MP Bernadette Devlin.

Soldier L was unable to say who had given that order but said it would have been part of their daily work to eliminate terrorists.

Earlier, Soldier L claimed the former Bishop of Derry, Edward Daly, who was then a parish priest, concealed two rifles under his coat.

Contempt of court

The soldier, who fired a number of shots on Bloody Sunday, had been threatened with contempt of court proceedings for refusing to appear before the inquiry which is sitting in London.

He told his lawyers he was increasingly fearful.

In a 16-page written statement to the inquiry, Soldier L claims that on Bloody Sunday the then Father Edward Daly, later the Bishop of Derry, concealed under his clothing two rifles belonging to two civilians who had been shot by the paratroopers.

Soldier L also claimed that he saw another soldier, identified as soldier H, fire so many shots into a body at point blank range, that when it was lifted on to an army vehicle it split in two.