The explosive evidence of soldier 027: 'There was no justification for a single shot on Bloody Sunday'

From behind a screen, deep in the bowels of Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, a former soldier, identified only as 027, accused his comrades-in-arms yesterday of one of the most infamous acts of violence by the British Army against civilians.

He had arrived at the inquiry building in a car with blacked out windows and was rushed in through a rear entrance only minutes before he was due to give evidence.

It was testimony that the Army had long feared and it was heard in silence yesterday in the presence of the families and lawyers of the victims of the 13 men who were shot dead 30 years ago in Londonderry during a civil rights march. A 14th died later from his injuries

In his account, soldier 027 explained how he believed two of his colleagues were responsible for 10 of the 13 deaths on 30 January 1972.

He said the night before Bloody Sunday his unit had been so keyed up to expect an attack by IRA gunmen that the soldiers were talking about "getting kills" the following day.

He even told the inquiry how one colleague from 1 Para appeared "exuberant" as a terrifying display of firepower was unleashed against civilians.

He added: "There was no justification for a single shot I saw fired. The only threat was a large assembly of people and we were all experienced soldiers who had been through riot situations before."

Soldier 027's evidence is so damning that he fears for his own safety – from the retribution of his former colleagues – and has been given special protection under a scheme, paid for by the Northern Ireland Office, to ensure he co-operates with the government-appointed inquiry.

A radio operator in the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment's anti-tank platoon on Bloody Sunday, he is the first of the paratroops on the ground to give evidence to the long-running inquiry chaired by Lord Saville of Newdigate.

Describing the positions some of the soldiers were taking, he said he saw Lance Corporal F drop to one knee at the wall at Kells Walk, Rossville Street, and begin shooting at the centre of the people at the rubble barricade. Soldier 027, who said he was standing directly behind F, could see nothing to justify the shooting.

Under close questioning from Christopher Clarke QC, counsel to the inquiry, he said: "I think I was fairly baffled by what was happening. I was standing up. I think I could see the whole frontage of the crowd. I did not see anything that appeared to justify firing."

In total the Paras fired 108 shots that day. Soldier 027 said he scanned the crowd with his rifle sights but did not fire because he could not identify a gunman or a bomber.

He was asked if he saw anybody throwing anything from the barricade or from the crowd at the barricade. Soldier 027 replied: "Not that I noticed, no."

He was asked if he saw anybody with what appeared to be a weapon or a bomb, he answered: "No, I did not."

He recalled that "a large number of soldiers" from the anti-tank platoon arrived at the wall quite quickly but could not identify them.

None of his colleagues who fired explained why or what they were shooting at, he said.

He described people in Rossville Street, between the barricade and the Rossville Flats, crouching and immobile, others were crawling, one was prostrate and another was kneeling by a man on the ground. There were six people killed near the barricade.

In his statement, he said: "I had the distinct impression that this was a case of some soldiers realising this was an opportunity to fire their weapon and they didn't want to miss the chance."

Soldier 027 said he could not remember how many members of his section ended up in Glenfada Park. He knew that Lance Corporal F and Soldiers G, E and H were there in addition to himself – but added that other soldiers were there too. He recalled he had relayed a ceasefire order before the soldiers, led by F and G, broke off into Glendfada Park area where four people were shot dead.

He could not say precisely what the soldiers intended to do, but he believed they may have been trying to complete the arrested operation they had been deployed to do.

In his statement, 027 said that as he approached Glenfada Park there were some 10 or 15 rounds fired in a series of rapid staccato shots which changed into a burst, he recalled. These were probably from military self-loading rifles.

But under questioning yesterday he said he had "no recollection" of seeing soldiers firing there and described his previous account of this as an "apparent inconsistency".

Asked if he could see anything that would have justified a shot in Glenfada Park, 027 replied: "No, I do not recall anything that would have justified firing a shot."

Soldier 027 said he was unable to elaborate upon the "very shocking" and "unspeakable acts" which took place that day and still haunt him. He said: "It is not something I can articulate or express in words, it is something I carry with me."

Soldier 027, who was 19 on Bloody Sunday, described the Paras as "the rottweilers of the British Army". They had been convinced they would face IRA gunfire.

They had bragged about going to Londonderry to "get some kills" after a briefing on the eve of Bloody Sunday and one was "exuberant" as firing began. He could not say if this soldier joined in the shooting.

He also remembered being passed an exploding, or "dum-dum", bullet as the Paras waited in armoured vehicles to enter the Bogside.

Before the Paras went in to the Bogside, 027 said, he recalled a seeing a puff of dust in the ground in front of him as they moved through a churchyard. It was only later that he realised this may have been a bullet hitting the ground. The Paras could hear rioters at that time.

In his witness statement, he described how he joined 1 Para in 1971, and first arrived in Belfast in August or September of that year. Joining 1 Para, in Belfast, he said: "There was an element of enjoying the violence of the situation. We adapted to it and the abnormal became normal."

A couple of weeks before Bloody Sunday, he said bombs were planted in the Palace Barracks by someone working in the cookhouse. This incident increased the frustration of the soldiers, he said. "There was nothing 1 Para wanted more than for the IRA to come out into the open and take us on." Riots were generally a sort of "ritualistic" game with people playing their roles, he said.

"What made Bloody Sunday so significant was that the rule book was torn up and the accepted game plan, developed through precedent, was thrown away."

The constant threat of sniper fire was a big factor in a soldier's life, as was "contempt for an opposition that would not reveal itself".

Soldier 027 claims that his statement to the Widgery Inquiry, the original investigation into Bloody Sunday, was fabricated to justify the shootings. Like the record of his statement to the Royal Military Police, taken immediately after Bloody Sunday, it contained facts that had been "altered and added" to back up the official line.

Other Paras, who have yet to give evidence to the inquiry, are expected to say they only fired at people who were armed. Soldier 027 will continue giving his evidence today.

The inquiry was set up in 1998 and is not expected to conclude until 2004.