The inquiry has heard that photographs and witness statements should enable a detailed reconstruction of what happened in the courtyards and alleyways of Glenfada Park - the confined area where paratroopers shot dead four people and wounded five others in Derry on Bloody Sunday.
Counsel to the tribunal Mr Christopher Clarke QC pointed out yesterday that Lord Widgery, who headed the first inquiry in 1972, said the evidence available about events in Glenfada Park/Abbey Park was too confusing and contradictory for him to reach firm conclusions.
The "killing fields" of the Glenfada Park area formed a crucial and controversial section of the Bloody Sunday story, and the Widgery report had conceded that the firing by soldiers there "bordered on the reckless".
Mr Clarke added that Lord Widgery had faced the difficulty of the absence, as he supposed, of any photographic records of the events in Glenfada and Abbey Park.
But there were photographs available to this inquiry, some of which were before Lord Widgery, that cast considerable light on the places where the relevant individuals died, counsel said.
Those who died in this area were William McKinney, James Wray, Gerard Donaghy and Gerard McKinney; those wounded: Joseph Friel, Danny Gillespie, Joseph Mahon, Patrick O'Donnell and Michael Quinn.
Mr Clarke said the evidence appeared to show that Mr Donaghy and Mr McKinney were shot in Abbey Park. No soldier had admitted, during the Widgery inquiry, to firing into this area; "on that analysis, whatever else Lord Widgery was told, it was not the whole truth".
Counsel outlined the statement of Mr Friel, who described running through Glenfada Park to escape the paratroops: "People were running with me, running to get out of Glenfada Park. Everyone was panicking."
He heard a warning shout and stopped momentarily to look over his shoulder: "As I turned I could see soldiers about five or six feet into Glenfada . . . There were three or four soldiers . . . the soldier in front was moving forward at no great pace and was firing. He had his gun in front of him at just above waist height and was moving it from side to side.
"The other soldiers were not firing their weapons. There were other individuals dotted around the car-park. The soldier was not picking me out, the fire was random.
"I heard three shots, bang, bang, bang. I felt a slight blow to my body, no harder than a tap by a couple of fingers. My first thought was that I had been hit by a rubber bullet. I could not take it in that I had been shot.
"I looked down and could see blood. Within a second or two a large gush of blood came out of my mouth. I shouted `I am shot, I am shot'. I staggered but I do not think I hit the ground. Three fellows grabbed me and took me . . . to the Murrays' house."
Another witness, Mr Greg Doherty, describes going to the assistance of an injured man, believed to have been Mr McKinney, in Glenfada Park, as three or four soldiers stood at the opposite corner of the car-park. "The one in front was down on one knee with his gun raised, pointing it towards us. He was continually moving the gun in a figure of eight shape, pointing it at us."
Mr Doherty said the man he attended was alive: "His eyes were moving, as was his mouth, but no sounds were coming out.
"All the time the soldiers watched us without saying a word. I remember effing and blinding at the soldiers . . . to the effect that all this man had been doing was taking photographs and he had been shot."
In relation to another witness, Mr Michael Quinn, Mr Clarke referred to the controversial series of documents said to have been contemporaneous notes made by Sunday Times journalists of informal discussions and encounters after Bloody Sunday.
He pointed out that an entry in these notes stated: "Note under guarantee of total anonymity. Quinn told us the following:
"1. There were two `IRA' cars parked in Glenfada Park. He knows they were IRA men, known in the district. Two were in one, unknown in the other. He saw no guns.
"2. While standing between the fences on the south side of Glenfada he saw two youths carrying nail-bombs in their hands . . . At no time did he see the bombs lit, but he is adamant that he saw them. One description fits Gerard Donaghy perfectly.
"3. He says that he heard from a close source that a senior Official IRA man arrived on the scene and told the nail-bombers to take them away as there was too much danger to other civilians."
The hearing continues today.