A lawyer for the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) today rejected as "absurd" allegations that the department was resisting inquiries from the Bloody Sunday Inquiry and even frustrating it.
Mr Ian Burnett QC made the claim as the inquiry resumed public hearings into the killings of 13 Catholic civilians in Derry 29 years ago.
He was responding to criticism levelled against the ministry earlier in the inquiry over what, according to relatives of those shot dead, amounts to obstruction of the investigation into events surrounding the killings on January 30th, 1972.
They have pointed to the destruction of the guns fired by paratroopers in the Bogside that day, the disappearance of hundreds of photographs taken by the British army during the operation and the absence of a full-time legal team acting for the MoD at the public hearing.
As the inquiry reopened at the Guildhall, Derry, Mr Burnett spoke of those working in the MoD's Bloody Sunday Unit - set up within the department to assist the inquiry - as being "of the highest calibre and integrity".
Mr Burnett dismissed "conspiracy theories" suggesting the shootings in the wake of a civil rights march were planned and involved both prime ministers of the UK and Northern Ireland - Sir Edward Heath and Mr Brian Faulkner.
Reuters