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Northern Ireland

MOD to pay out over Bloody Sunday

22 September 2011 | Northern Ireland  By Fiona Weir 
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The Ministry of Defence is preparing to pay compensation to relatives of those killed or injured by soldiers on Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland.

Fourteen people died after paratroopers opened fire in January 1972 during a civil rights protest in Londonderry.

Lord Saville drew up a landmark report last year which criticised the Army over the killings.

His panel ruled that the Army fired first and without provocation.

It found all 14 who died and the others who were injured almost four decades ago had been unarmed and were completely innocent.

The troops had also continued to shoot as the protesters fled or lay fatally wounded on the ground. One father was shot as he went to tend to his injured son, the mammoth 5,000-page report revealed.

Soldiers later insisted they had only retaliated, in a bid to cover-up the truth, the document - described as "shocking" by Mr Cameron - said.

"We found no instances where it appeared to us that soldiers either were or might have been justified in firing," it said.

"Despite the contrary evidence given by soldiers, we have concluded that none of them fired in response to attacks or threatened attacks by nail or petrol bombers. No one threw or threatened to throw a nail or petrol bomb at the soldiers on Bloody Sunday."

An MOD spokesman said: "We acknowledge the pain felt by these families for nearly 40 years, and that members of the armed forces acted wrongly. For that, the Government is deeply sorry.

"We are in contact with the families' solicitors and where there is a legal liability to pay compensation we will do so."

The MOD's move followed the sending of a letter by solicitors for the families to the Prime Minister asking what he was going to do about Bloody Sunday.

He described the killings as unjustified and unjustifiable.

Defining who would be eligible for compensation could be complicated as many immediate family members are dead.

Relatives have already received a small payment from the MOD without it admitting liability many years ago.

The Public Prosecution Service has been considering the matter.