DETECTIVES from the PSNI’s Legacy Investigation Branch investigating the events of Bloody Sunday are continuing to question a 66 year old man today.
The suspect, who is a former British Army Paratrooper, was detained at his home in Antrim yesterday morning.
The pensioner spent the night at the serious crime suite at Musgrave PSNI station in Belfast where he is still being questioned this morning about the murders of John Young, Michael McDaid and William Nash.
The former soldier gave evidence at the Bloody Sunday Tribunal and was given the cipher ‘Soldier J’ to protect his identity.
The officer leading the investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison, said the arrest marked a new phase in the overall investigation which would continue for some time.
In September this year, the families of relatives campaigning for justice were informed of a police decision to start interviewing members of the Parachute Regiment before the year was out.
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 Septembers that police will begin interviewing the shooters next month.
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”.
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