Ex-paratroopers waiting to be questioned by detectives for their part in the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings have won the right for their interviews to be held in England or Wales.

A high court decision delivered by the lord chief justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, said seven former soldiers – each identified only by a letter – should not have to travel to Northern Ireland or be arrested.

Each of the men has offered an undertaking to cooperate and attend a police interview under caution at a police station in England or Wales, the judgment confirmed.

The men, all one-time members of the 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment, are suspected by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) of having committed serious criminal offences, including murder and attempted murder.

Thirteen civilians were killed and 14 injured in Derry on 30 January 1972 when soldiers opened fire with live rounds on civil rights marchers in the Bogside area of the city. A 14th victim died later.



Lord Saville’s 5,000-page report on Bloody Sunday, delivered in 2010, exonerated the victims and declared unequivocally that the shootings were unjustified.

The legal battle by the former paratroopers to resist removal to Northern Ireland for questioning follows the arrest last month of a former member of the regiment, identified only as L/Cpl J. He was questioned in Belfast for several days before being released without charge.

The men, represented by the City law firm Devonshires, want to protect their anonymity for as long as possible and fear for their lives if removed to Belfast.

The judgment states: “If interviewed in Northern Ireland, they would not be able to return to their homes during the interview period but would have to be detained for their own safety in conditions of close custody. Even if so detained, there would remain a risk to their safety.”

It also records: “The present position of the [former soldiers] is that each will exercise their right to silence in the interviews. It is, in our view, almost impossible to foresee that any will depart from that position. The interviews are therefore likely to be short and straightforward.”



Arresting and transporting them “for what can only be described as administrative convenience” would be “unlawful, irrational and disproportionate”, said James Lewis QC at a one-day court hearing in November.

But DCI Ian Harrison, who leads the inquiry for the PSNI legacy investigation branch, told the court “significant practical difficulties” would arise if his officers were required to conduct interviews in England, “having been prohibited from gathering evidence in the way I believe to be appropriate and effective”.



He added: “Conducting the interviews in England would require a significant and costly shift of the investigation’s manpower and other resources out of Northern Ireland for a lengthy, but uncertain, period of time...

“To be effective, it is necessary for the police to be able to conduct the interviews in accordance with their interview strategy and to be in a position to control and manage events to ensure that this takes place. I believe this objective can only be achieved if the interviews take place under conditions of arrest.”

The seven former soldiers are known as B, N, O, Q, R, U, V – the letters given to them for the Bloody Sunday inquiry. They live in England and Wales.



The three high court judges in London – Lord Thomas, Mr Justice Openshaw and Mrs Justice Carr – granted the seven men an order prohibiting the PSNI from arresting them on their undertaking “that they will attend for an interview under caution ... to be carried out by the PSNI at a police station in England and Wales, or other acceptable location”.



Sinn Féin said the judgment obstructed justice. The party’s NI assembly member Raymond McCartney said PSNI officers should not have such conditions imposed on their inquiry.



“It has been established that people shot and killed on Bloody Sunday were murdered and the PSNI has a statutory duty to investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice,” McCartney said. “The decision by the high court in Britain this morning to stop suspects being brought to the north for questioning is the latest in a long line of impediments put in the way of this investigation.

“The decision doesn’t inspire confidence in the justice system and the PSNI need to be free to investigate these murders in the same way as they would with every other killing.”

Commenting on the decision, Devonshires welcomed the high court’s decision. “Our clients have cooperated with every inquiry and investigation into the events of Bloody Sunday over 43 years and will continue to do so,” the firm’s statement said. “We informed the PSNI at the first opportunity that they would voluntarily attend for interview and that remains the position. The court agreed with us that in these circumstances there was no basis to arrest our clients.

“The decision confirms that even in police custody in NI there would remain a risk to our clients’ safety.” It added that there remained an outstanding issue “as to whether the PSNI have breached” undertakings given to the attorney general.



