Para officer says 'innocent people were shot' on Bloody Sunday

A story on the BBC website reports the former head of the British Army, General Sir Mike Jackson, saying he believes innocent people were shot on Bloody Sunday in 1972.

In BBC Northern Ireland's Spotlight programme, Jackson said 'I have no doubt that innocent people were shot.'

He said people must wait for the outcome of the Saville Inquiry before drawing any conclusions. Jackson served in the Six Counties for seven years and was a captain with the parachute regiment on the day. However, considering it was the 2nd Parachute Regiment who opened fire on the day, Jackson is well positioned to know who was targeted.

The inquiry was established in 1998 and will report its conclusions ten years after it was established but the previous inquiry, the Widgery Inquiry, reported only three months after Bloody Sunday, with the conclusion that the soldiers had been fired on first.

But Widgery found no conclusive proof that the dead or wounded had been handling firearms, many eyewitnesses were not called and testimony was not taken from wounded survivors. Jackson's statement confirms the long-known failings of the Widgery Inquiry and indites all British authorities who have protected the criminals for so long.