The officer who commanded the Parachute Regiment in Derry on Bloody Sunday will tonight warn the British Prime Minister not to apologise on behalf of him or his soldiers. Thirteen unarmed civilians died in January 1972 when soldiers fired on people taking part in a demonstration.
Lieut-Col Derek Wilford, commanding officer of the paratroopers, said in an interview to be broadcast on Channel 4 News tonight that no blame should lie with individual soldiers who did nothing wrong and whom he describes as magnificent, saying they had nothing to apologise for. "My soldiers behaved according to the very best standards of keeping the peace.
"If people start talking about apologising then I think one has actually got to look at who was responsible for the decision to carry out that type of operation. What are they going to apologise for? Are they apologising for the government of the day? The military political machine of the day? Are they trying to apologise on my behalf and my soldiers? I would have to warn them not to do so. They cannot apologise for me."
He accepted there was a possibility that shooting from another regiment of the British army could have been misinterpreted by his men as heavy firing from the IRA. "I do accept that is possible - an awesome possibility - and that's a dreadful thing to have to live with," he said.
But it was the government of the then prime minister, Mr Edward Heath, which had decided to send in the paratroopers. "I think the prime minister of the time should be the person who is discussing it, frankly," he said, "perhaps with the aid of some of the senior cabinet officials, people responsible for Northern Ireland at the time and senior military people."