07/04/2010

Bloody Sunday Report Delayed

The man heading the Bloody Sunday inquiry is to retain the conclusions until after the forthcoming General Election.

A NI Office spokesperson said: "The Secretary of State has asked Lord Saville to continue to keep possession of the report and therefore not to hand it over to the Government until the election has taken place."

The spokesperson added that it would be published to parliament "as soon as is practicable after a new parliament has been convened."

The report is currently being checked by a small team of officials and legal advisers, which includes staff from the Ministry of Defence and MI5.

The decision was confirmed hours after Gordon Brown's formal request to the Queen that Parliament be dissolved.

SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan said it was "regrettable" that the Bloody Sunday families faced a further delay.

The long-running probe is into the death of 13 people killed after paratroopers opened fire during a civil rights march in Londonderry and into one victim who died later, following the January 1972 events.

It was closely followed by a mass 'revenge' bombing in Belfast by the IRA - known as Bloody Friday.

In just 75 minutes of violence, nine people were dead and some 130 more were mutilated, injured and mentally scarred by what they had witnessed.

It was widely recognised as being in direct retaliation for the Bloody Sunday shootings in Londonderry which are now the subject of a long-drawn out, multi-million pound Public Inquiry.

See: Adams On Rack Over IRA

(BMcC/GK)

Related Northern Ireland News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

14 November 2024
Police Appeal Following Burglary In Ahoghill
Detectives are appealing for information following a report of a burglary in Ahoghill on Tuesday, 12th November. Police received a report that the back door of a house on the Ballymena Road was forced open shortly before 6pm.
21 January 2002
Hume gives evidence at Bloody Sunday Inquiry
The Foyle Member of Parliament John Hume has begun giving evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in County Londonderry. Speaking at the Guildhall on Monday January 21, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate told the Saville Inquiry of his fears for the fate of the Civil Rights marchers on that fateful day.
26 May 2010
Saville Inquiry To Report In June
The most expensive such probe ever held is to finally make its report public. The Bloody Sunday Inquiry by Lord Saville opened at Derry's Guildhall in 1998 and heard evidence from more than 900 people. It finished hearing evidence in 2004, with the report initially due for publication the following year.
18 February 2002
Bloody Sunday picks up top award at Berlin
A controversial film about events surrounding the 'Bloody Sunday' shootings in Londonderry 30 years ago has been recognised with a top award at the Berlin Film Festival. The film, which stars 'Cold Feet' actor James Nesbitt, beat off competition from 400 other entrants to land the festival's top award – the Golden Bear Award.
09 January 2002
Relatives of Bloody Sunday victims attend second film screening
The relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday have had to steel themselves yet again for the premiere of another movie about the tragic sequence of events which took place thirty years ago.