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20 - 21 OCTOBER 2003
Evidence heard
This week the Inquiry heard from the following witnesses:
Paddy Ward and INQ 2006 (Sergeant, Signals Platoon, Head Quarters Company 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment).
Summary of Evidence
Monday 20 October 2003 Paddy Ward
Tuesday 21 October 2003 Paddy Ward, INQ 2006
A full transcript of the proceedings is available at http://www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org.uk.
Numbers in square brackets refer to the code given to a particular document by the Inquiry.
INTRODUCTION
This was the Inquiry’s final week in London before returning to Derry. The Inquiry had been forced to adjourn to London to hear the military evidence. This week it heard evidence from Paddy Ward, a man who claims to have been involved in the Republican Movement in 1972. He was one of the primary sources for Liam Clarke and Kathryn Johnston’s book Martin McGuinness - From Guns to Government.
Paddy WARD
Derry Fianna
Made Statement to the Inquiry on 20 August 2003 [AW0008.0001]
Paddy Ward was born in the Creggan on 11 November 1955. He was interviewed by Sunday Times journalist Liam Clarke in April 2001 and is one of the primary sources for the book Martin McGuinness - From Guns to Government. A summary of that interview appears at AW0008.0042.
Paddy Ward claims to have been active in the Fianna, the youth wing of the Republican Movement. He says he joined the Official Fianna in 1970 when he was only 14. He claims to have met Martin McGuinness at this time and that Mr. McGuinness asked him and others to join the Provisionals (Provos). He said Mr. McGuinness offered better weapons and training. He also claims that by January 1972 he was the officer commanding (OC) the Derry Fianna. He said there was a maximum of about 10 in the Fianna before the Official/Provo IRA split. After the split there were around 40, mostly Provos.
Paddy Ward said he went over to the Provos before Internment was introduced in August 1971.
Gerry Doherty
Paddy Ward said Gerry Doherty was one of the only Fianna members to remain loyal to the Official IRA. Almost everyone else allied themselves to the Provos. Gerry Doherty was killed in an incident inside a shop used by the Official IRA. Paddy Ward claims he died during a raid on the shop in an attempt by Provos to steal weapons from the Officials. Mr. Ward claims Martin McGuinness ordered the raid. However Lost Lives, a book detailing the circumstances of all those killed during the Troubles, records Mr. Doherty’s death as an incident internal to the Officials. Paddy Ward said this was wrong and claimed to have been outside the shop when Doherty was killed.
Access to Weapons
Paddy Ward claims to have access to firearms and explosives as a result of his involvement in the Fianna. However other Fianna members who have recently made statements to the Inquiry say the Fianna was a scouting organisation until it became more organised after Bloody Sunday. Gerard O’Hara, who admits to being in the Fianna in 1972, says he has no recollection of Paddy Ward and that he was not in the Fianna at the time of the split [AO0079.0010]. Mr. O’Hara says he was responsible for liaison between the Fianna and the IRA and was recognised as the OC. Paddy Ward said the statements of Mr. O’Hara and others were part of a concerted effort to discredit him. He said they had been coerced and pulled into line. Patsy Moore [AM0505.0004] has recently made a statements admitting he was in the Fianna on Bloody Sunday. He and Gerard O’Hara, another who has recently made a statement, deny the Fianna had access to weapons and they say they did not know Paddy Ward.
Martin McGuinness says in his (third) statement to the Inquiry [KM0003.0093] that the Fianna were not part of the IRA and Fianna members did not handle weapons. Gerard O’Hara said their primary purpose was as scouts to provide intelligence. He said they were the eyes and ears of the ‘no go’ area but not involved in military activity.
Provisional IRA (PIRA)
Paddy Ward claimed the Derry Provisional IRA explosives officer on Bloody Sunday was Colm Keenan. He was subsequently killed. However his brother, Sean, says he was the explosives officer.
Fianna
Paddy Ward claimed each section of the Fianna had their own arms dump, many were shared with the IRA. He claimed he knew the locations of most of the dumps. He said the Provos had Thompson sub machine guns, Lee Enfield .303 rifles and Martini Henry rifles. He said they had 50 to 60 automatic weapons in January 1972 including a few old Thompsons. He claimed they also had .303 and .306 rifles plus .38 and .45 hand guns. He said the PIRA arsenal was around 200 weapons. However Martin McGuinness says they only had around 25-30 guns in total at the time including hand guns and obsolete weapons.
Paddy Ward also claimed he organised riots at the request of the Provos and that they would then use the riot as an opportunity to fire on soldiers. Gerard O’Hara says riots were spontaneous and not organised by the Fianna. He says the Fianna was a loose structure at the time and Paddy Ward may have tagged along. Mr. Ward claims the Fianna was organised into cells of 8 and later 4 men, however this is disputed by Martin McGuinness, Gerard O’Hara and Michael Clarke. Sean Keenan, then a member of the PIRA, also says the Fianna was a single unit in Derry, not divided even into sub-units for local areas. Paddy Ward claims there were separate Fiannas in the Creggan, Bogside, Brandywell, Rosemount and Waterside. He says he was in overall command on Bloody Sunday. He was 16 at the time.
In his statement to this Inquiry Paddy Ward claimed people graduated from the Fianna directly into the IRA without any further swearing in process. He claims that in 1973 the Derry PIRA intelligence officer (IO) told him that he was now a member of a PIRA active service unit. However in his interview with Liam Clarke [transcript X2.0040.0035] he claims he was sworn in by the IO. Martin McGuinness says membership of the IRA was restrictive and formal. Eddie Dobbins was a volunteer in the Creggan PIRA and says in his statement that Paddy Ward was not in the movement in the 1970s, however he was later a member of the INLA [AD0195.0008].
Paddy Ward said a number of his comments to Liam Clarke were made off the cuff and without reference to historical documents.
1974 Statements to RUC
The Inquiry has copies of two statements Paddy Ward made to the RUC whilst in custody in 1974. In the first, dated 3 January 1974, he says he never joined the IRA. In evidence he claimed this was untrue but he said this because had he admitted membership he would have been imprisoned for 6 years. However in the second statement, dated 3 January 1974, he admits that although he was never sworn in he considered himself a member and that he ran around with other members. He also admitted rioting in the statement but was released without charge.
Paddy Ward’s counsel, Anthony Jennings QC, objected to questions concerning his client’s role as a possible Special Branch informer. However Liam Clarke published an article in the Sunday Times on 24 February 2002 stating the Paddy Ward was writing a book about his life as an IRA and INLA member and an undercover agent. Mr. Ward admitted he may have told Liam Clarke this. When questioned by Barra McGrory, representing Mr. McGuinness, Mr. Ward refused to explain how he had come to meet Mr. Clarke. Liam Clarke wrote a book called Martin McGuinness - From Guns to Government in which Paddy Ward is a major source for various allegations made against Mr. McGuinness. Barra McGrory put it to Mr. Ward that the book was an attempt to undermine both Mr. McGuinness and that the timing of its publication was intended to obstruct the Inquiry’s search for the truth about what occurred on Bloody Sunday. He suggested Mr. Ward was a fantasist and motivated by personal animosity towards Mr. McGuinness.
Nail Bombs
Paddy Ward said he had thrown nail bombs at the army but declined to answer a question from Christopher Clarke QC as to the results of his actions.
Nail Bomb Operation On Bloody Sunday
Paddy Ward claims to have been in command of a nail bombing operation planned but not actually executed on Bloody Sunday. He claimed that there was a meeting of the Derry Fianna and the PIRA (Provisional IRA) on the Thursday before Bloody Sunday at which there was a discussion about a nail bombing operation. He claimed Martin McGuinness and the IO were present as was Gerard Donaghy. In his statement to the Inquiry he claimed Mr. McGuinness suggested a bomb attack on government offices in the Guildhall Square under cover of the NICRA march.
Paddy Ward claimed he was asked how much explosive they had and he said they had 30 pounds of Gelignite in Beechwood Avenue. The alleged plan was for Fianna members to mix with the crowd and select targets before planting the bombs as the crowd dispersed and use the crowd as cover to escape. He claimed he went on a recce that night to select targets with another Fianna member. He claimed the plan was to use nail bombs. He denied nail bombs were an anti-personnel weapon not suitable for an attack on a building.
He claims to have met Martin McGuinness again on the Friday (28 January 1972) and was told detonators would be supplied. He claims there was second recce on the Saturday afternoon when they decided to attack the Post Office, City Hotel, Littlewoods and Chadas store.
Contradictions
In his interview with Liam Clarke [summary at AW0008.0046] Paddy Ward gives a different account. There he claimed he met Martin McGuinness on the Saturday and that targets were not selected until the day itself. Paddy Ward claimed he had been talking off the top of his head when he spoke to Liam Clarke. He had not done any research. He said Liam Clarke misled him and he should have told him what he was going to put in the book. In the interview Mr. Ward also referred to their being twelve people with nail bombs whereas in his statement he says there were only eight. He also said Martin McGuinness issued them each with two nail bombs an hour before the march but in his statement he claims to have made up the nail bombs himself the night before. Only the detonators were required and he now claims these came from Martin McGuinness on the Sunday when they met at the Bogside Inn.
Paddy Ward claims he drove the nail bombs to the Bogside Inn in the back of a green Cortina estate, registration RAT142G. However at 16 he was too young to have had a licence and the registration RAT142G was registered in 1969 to a lorry. Mr. Ward claims he carried the 16 nail bombs into a garage behind the Bogside Inn where Colm Keenan fitted the detonators. However when he spoke to Liam Clarke he had said it was Sean Keenan, Colm’s bother, who fitted the detonators. He claimed Gerard Donaghy was amongst the 8 Fianna members issued with 2 nail bombs and that they were all wearing Parka coats with deep pockets. However Gerard Donaghy was wearing a denim jacket when he was killed.
Paddy Ward then claims he left the car in St. Columb’s Wells and walked back to the Bogside Inn. Some of his Fianna group then joined the march but Paddy Ward and another did not join it until it was in William Street. There he claims to have met 2 of the others who told him the army had put up barriers to prevent the march reaching the Guildhall. It was put to him that had he been as involved as he claimed he would have been aware of the army barriers long before the march actually reached them. He said he had not checked the route. He now claims it was as a result of realising the route was blocked that he decided to call off the operation and return the nail bombs back to the car. He claims he sent the others off to round everyone up but he joined the rioting in Little James Street. Again he contradicts the account he gave to Liam Clarke in that there he claimed Gerard ‘Mad Dog’ Doherty called off the operation. In the interview summary he is quoted as saying he “distinctly remembered” Doherty saying it was too dangerous. In the interview he claimed they all returned to the Bogside Inn and disarmed the bombs, except for Gerard Donaghy who could not be found. He now says this is wrong and that he remained at the riot in Little James Street. He said he could not recognise himself or anyone else in any of the photographs taken of the rioters in Little James Street. Mr. McGrory suggested that every time he told the story Mr. Ward’s own significance increased. He asked if this was because he was thinking of writing a biography and wanted to make himself sound more important. Paddy Ward said Bloody Sunday was only one day in his life. Mr. McGrory suggested the reason he was upset with Liam Clarke was that Liam Clarke had not made him sound important enough.
Damien Donaghy and John Johnston
Paddy Ward claims to have been in the area of Aggro Corner and to have witnessed the first shootings. Damien Donaghy and John Johnston were shot on waste ground west of Aggro Corner by Paras stationed in the derelict building known as Abbey Taxis. However Paddy Ward claims he saw a Major advance from the barrier in Sackville Street and fire a pistol whilst standing on the waste ground at Aggro Corner. He claims these were the first shots fired and that they struck Damien Donaghy and John Johnston. This is contradicted by all the evidence regarding these shootings and it is known no soldier fired at Aggro Corner.
Fantasy
Paddy Ward also claims to have witnessed Bernard McGuigan being shot behind Block 1 after running down Rossville Street. He then claims to have returned to the green Cortina and to have come under fire himself. He claims a bullet came through the roof of the car and out the bottom. No soldier claims to have hit a car on Bloody Sunday. He drove to what he described as a Fianna arms dump near the corner of Lone Moor Road and Brandywell Road where he dumped the nail bombs and collected a .303 rifle and an M1 Carbine. He said his only thought was to get over to the Bog and find a target.
On his way back he claims to have driven to Hamilton Road where he heard firing. He claims there was a man who had been firing at the army post on top off the Mex Garage from the gap in a wall on Anne’s Road. He claims to have rescued the man who was “pinned down” by army fire by opening fire himself from with the .303 from the gable end of a house. He marked the positions of the man he rescued, the car and the gable end from which he opened fire [AW0008.0071]. He claims he fired 5 single shots and another man with him fired 12-15 rounds from the M1. No soldier claims to have come under fire from two weapons at once.
Shooting at Army Helicopter
He then claims to have returned the M1 to the arms dump and gone to his girlfriend’s house with the .303. He says he ran through the house past his girlfriend’s mother and father carrying the rifle. From the garden he claims to have shot at and hit an army helicopter which he thought he had brought down before it rose again and flew off. Mr. and Mrs. McGilloway, the girlfriend’s parents, have made statements saying they have no recollection of any such event. Mr. Ward said they had been under “peer pressure” to deny the incident.
Later he claims to have seen Reg Tester holding a rifle outside the Bogside Inn and to have said to him “are you going to use that thing?” Reg Tester was over 40 on Bloody Sunday. Arthur Harvey QC asked if Paddy Ward, who was only 16, got a clip round the ear from Mr. Tester.
Family
Paddy Ward also claims later he was involved in a feud with the Provisional IRA and Martin McGuinness in particular. He claims his brother and sister were the subject of threats and violence. He specifically claims William McGuinness, Martin McGuinness’s brother, came to his house and when his sister was there. Mr. Ward says she was alone and lost an unborn child as a result. He also claims his own brother was shot by the Provos. However he denied personal antagonism towards Mr. McGuinness.
Convictions
On 17th June 1982 Paddy Ward was sentenced at the Belfast Crown Court to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, concurrent on each of three counts: one being for possessing a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances; the second, for conspiracy to convey ammunition and explosives unlawfully into Northern Ireland, and the third for lending a vehicle for the purpose of terrorism. Again on 6th February 1984, Mr. Ward was sentenced by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin to three years imprisonment for kidnap.
INQ 2006
Sergeant, Signals Platoon, Head Quarters Company 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment
Made Statement to Inquiry on 4 August 2003 [C2006]
INQ 2006 was a Signals Sergeant on 30 January 1972 manning one of the radios in the Gin Palace. The Gin Palace was a converted truck which served as 1 Para’s communications Head Quarters. It was parked at the forming up position in the Foyle College car park.
The inside of the truck was divided into a radio room and an operations room with a hardboard partition. The operations officers monitored operations using maps and the radio transmissions. The signallers manned the radios and passed messages between the various units and the operations room.
Documentation
The signallers each kept a radio log for the network they were operating, i.e. Brigade or Battalion net. In addition there was a scrambler called a BID 150 which was used occasionally for secure communication with Brigade. The signallers logs recorded, so far as possible, all radio traffic in a manuscript note. There was also a battle log kept by the operations officer to record all significant operational matters. INQ 2006 identified the Inquiry’s document W0089 as a typed version of the 1 Para operations battle log for the day. This would have been compiled from the two manuscript battle logs kept by the two operations officers. It would have been prepared by 1 Para’s intelligence section. The Inquiry does not have the manuscript originals of these or any other 1 Para logs. The signallers’ logs would not normally have been typed up and were eventually burnt. However INQ 2006 said he understood all the logs were impounded for the Widgery tribunal. The typed battle log would not have been checked by anyone in the signals platoon. Finally there were also message pads of ‘F sig 266’ forms used to pass messages within the vehicle or between vehicles. There would have been carbon copies of the F sig 266 memos.
Badgering Brigade
INQ 2006 described the situation prior to 1 Para deploying on Bloody Sunday as one in which the Company commanders were badgering Colonel Wilford for orders to go in. Colonel Wilford was badgering the Gin Palace who in turn badgered Brigade. INQ 2006 said he was instructed by INQ 2033, the Regimental Signals Officer, to seek authorisation from Brigade for 1 Para to deploy. INQ 2006 agreed, having looked at the typed battle log, it accorded with his recollection of pressing Brigade for authorisation. This is also reflected in entries in the Brigade Log [W0046 at 15:55] and on the Porter transcripts [W0127] (a civilian called Porter tape recorded the army’s radio transmissions over the Brigade Net and these tapes and transcripts are in the possession of the Inquiry).
Order to Deploy
INQ 2006 said he received an order over the secure net (BID 150) to “Yes, go go.” He then yelled this through to the operations room and one of the operations officers confirmed the order with Brigade. This would have been the detailed order recorded in the logs at 16:07 for an arrest operation in the area of William Street/Rossville Street but for “no running battles down Rossville Street.” The operations officer then forwarded the message to Colonel Wilford. Once the operation was under way the operations officer took over control of the radios from the ops room. INQ 2006 said he probably went outside for a cigarette once the operation began. The signallers’ role during an operation was just to ensure the hardware was operating properly.
INQ 2006 said he made a statement to the Widgery tribunal but was not called. The Inquiry does not have a copy of any such statement. None of the Gin Palace signallers gave evidence to Lord Widgery.
There is a statement from Captain 200 referring to INQ 2006 being part of a weapons demonstration team for Lord Widgery [B2022.0049]. INQ 2006 demonstrated a 9mm pistol during the demonstration on 20 February 1972. This was done at Lisburn barracks. INQ 2006 said he was one of the Battalion’s foreign, i.e. enemy, weapons experts.
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