One of the most senior British army officers in the North at the time of Bloody Sunday has denied suggesting selected rioters in Derry should be shot and killed.
General Sir Robert Ford began giving evidence to the Saville Inquiry sitting in London today. He said he had suggested that the ammunition used by the army to shoot what he called ringleaders should be only "marginally lethal".
General Ford at 78 is the most senior surviving British officer to have been present at Bloody Sunday.
In evidence he described how he wrote a memo on the security situation in Derry in the weeks leading up to Bloody Sunday in January 1972.
In that memo to the head of the army in the North, General Tuzo, Sir Robert suggested that, in order to restore law and order, selected ringleaders among what he termed the Derry Young Hooligans should be shot after clear warnings had been issued.
He suggested that .22 rounds should be used instead of the standard 7.62 millimetre rounds because they would be what he called "marginally lethal".
Asked by counsel for the inquiry what he meant by this, Sir Robert replied that the chances of killing would be much reduced.
Sir Robert then revealed that he had, in fact, subsequently been given permission by Northern Secretary William Whitelaw to open fire if necessary on unarmed civilians during a confrontation with the UDA in Belfast in July 1972 following the introduction of direct rule.
