A spokesman for the Bloody Sunday inquiry has said that it will not sit tomorrow, nor will it call any police witnesses during the rest of the week. The inquiry Chairman, Lord Saville, and his two colleagues are awaiting the outcome of a High Court action before deciding how to proceed with police witnesses.
The Court is being asked to decide whether the Tribunal should allow 20 former and serving police officers to give their evidence from behind screens. Lord Saville had allowed the request, but families of the massacre victims have launched legal proceedings against it.
Lord Saville said on hearing the news from counsel for the families: "What we will do is of course comply with the court's ruling. We will rise now." He said he would decide how to proceed as soon as possible depending on the outcome of the High Court action.
He added, "I will in theory adjourn until 9.30am tomorrow morning, but we may have to change our plans." Lord Saville agreed to a request last week from a group of serving and former police officers to give their evidence from behind screens because of fears their lives could be endangered if they were identified.
Families of the 13 people shot dead on Bloody Sunday - January 30, 1972 - challenged the ruling, claiming it could be a precursor to similar applications from military witnesses who have already been given permission to have the Inquiry transferred from Derry to England while they give evidence.
A number of soldiers due to give evidence to the inquiry later in the year may also apply to give their evidence from behind screens, the inquiry heard.
After Lord Saville adjourned the hearing, Michael Mansfield, QC, representing some of the families of the dead, asked for lawyers representing soldiers to state the position of their clients about screening as soon as possible to avoid further last-minute disruption to the hearings.
Three lawyers representing soldiers said they were in the process of clarifying the matter with their clients and indicated there was the possibility of a small number of applications for screening. Lord Saville said he hoped the matter would be resolved one way or another before the inquiry had its mid-March break. "We cannot afford continued delays of this kind," he said.
