An IRA agent who claimed Martin McGuinness told him he fired the first shot on Bloody Sunday has been described as unreliable.
Former MI5 British security service agent David Shayler has told the Saville Inquiry that the informer – codenamed 'Infliction' - had supplied intelligence which was inaccurate.
Mr Shayler, 37, was sentenced to six months in jail last year after he was convicted of breaking the Official Secrets Act. He was released before last Christmas.
Unlike most other MI5 witnesses, Mr Shayler was not screened when he appeared before the Saville Inquiry in London today. The former agent had not applied for the measure.
Mr Shayler told the Inquiry he joined the MI5 in November 1991, and the following year began work in a section countering threats in Britain originating from Ireland.
He said he first came across 'Infliction' in 1993, after which he went to a source in a section which ran agents to seek an assessment of the informer's reliability.
He was told that at one stage 'Infliction' had been totally believed but that on another occasion his information had been found to be inaccurate.
Mr Shayler said he did not believe 'Infliction' was an agent run directly by MI5.
The Saville Inquiry is examining the events of 30 January, 1972 when 13 civilians were shot dead by British army soldiers during a civil rights march in Derry. A 14th person died later.
A senior MI5 officer yesterday said 'Infliction' was a leading member of the Provisional IRA who was close to Martin McGuinness, and was for the most part a very reliable agent.
Mr McGuinness, who is now the Sinn Féin MP for Mid-Ulster, has strenuously denied the allegation that he fired the first shot on Bloody Sunday from a Thompson sub-machine gun.
He has admitted being a leading member of the Provisional IRA in Derry at the time.
