Fr Edward Daly waves a white handkerchief as an injured man is carried away on Bloody Sunday
DETECTIVES from the PSNI’s Major Investigation are to start interviewing Bloody Sunday soldiers next month as part of a murder inquiry.
The families of relatives campaigning for justice were informed of the police decision following a meeting in Derry last night, Wednesday, September 16.
British soldiers from the Parachute Regiment opened fire on a civil rights march through Derry’s Bogside area, killing 13 people.
In 2012, the PSNI announced there would be a murder inquiry into the shootings in Derry in January 1972.
It is the biggest murder inquiry currently being carried out by the PSNI.
The inquiry was sparked after a report by the Saville Inquiry.
Lord Saville and his team found, after a 10 year inquiry, that all those shot dead on Bloody Sunday had been killed without justification.
The PSNI have faced strong criticism from families of the loved ones who were murdered on Bloody Sunday for taking so long to interview the soldiers that fired the fatal shots.
The officer leading the murder investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison – met the Bloody Sunday families last night to update them on the inquiry.
It follows complaints to PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton at a public meeting in Derry earlier this month that families had not been updated on the current state of the police investigation.
He promised the families that they would be updated as soon as possible.
DCI Harrison told families at last night’s meeting that police will begin interviewing the shooters next month.
DCI Ian Harrison leadling Blood Sunday murder inquiry
The interviews are expected to take around two months. It is not yet known if the interviews will take place in the North or at police stations in England.
Following the completion of the interviews, the PSNI will compile a report for the director of the Public Prosecution Service Barra McGrory.
The PPS will then have to examine the evidence and decide if the file meets the “test for prosecution”.