Thirty detectives to spend up to four years investigating 1972 Derry killings by British forces during Ulster Troubles

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

A murder inquiry into the Parachute Regiment's killing of 13 civilians on Bloody Sunday 40 years is to be launched, the Police Service of Northern Ireland has confirmed.

Thirty detectives will spend up to four years investigating the killings in Derry in 1972 which became one of the landmark massacres of the Ulster Troubles.

The PSNI inquiry, backed by the Public Prosecution Service, came about after a police review of the findings of the Saville report – the biggest investigation into disputed killings by the British security forces in UK legal history.

The report concluded that none of those killed in the atrocity were armed and that all those who died were innocent victims. The inquiry, which took 12 years to complete, blamed the Parachute Regiment and the army for the killings.

After the report was published David Cameron issued an apology, describing what happened in Derry as "both unjustified and unjustifiable".

While some of the families of those killed have called for soldiers involved in the shootings to face prosecution, others have argued for a line to be drawn under the past.

Éamon Ó Cuív, a former Irish government minister and grandson of the Republic's founding father, Éamon de Valera, told the Guardian earlier this year that all those involved in killings during the Troubles, including the soldiers on Bloody Sunday, should not face further prosecutions.

Even if retired members of the Parachute Regiment were to be brought to court it is unlikely they would serve any life sentences if found guilty as all those responsible for crimes committed in relation to the Troubles prior to the Good Friday agreement were given a de facto amnesty.