'Wilford didn’t act on his own' - Derry's Bloody Sunday March committee

Derek Wilford has been "rightly blamed for the key role he played in the Bloody Sunday murders" according to the Bloody Sunday March Committee (BSMC).

In a statement on the death of what they described as "the murderer and liar Derek Wilford", BSMC said: "Those that have tried, since the announcement of his death, to excuse or make light of the massacre should be ashamed of themselves, although they probably aren’t. 

"Nobody who cares about justice will feel even a twinge of regret at his passing. He had more than half a century after the bloodletting to enjoy life. But the agony of the families of his victims endures to this day. 

Wilford's 'terrible legacy' remembered in Derry

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"It is relevant to point out that Wilford didn’t act on his own. He and the rest of the murder gang had been sent into the Bogside by very senior British Army officers who will have understood exactly what the paras were about to do. 

"The guilty men included, among others, General Frank Kitson, General Michael Jackson, Major Ted Loden, etc," it said.

The organisation added: "It was Kitson who organised the deployment of the paras - who had been based in Belfast – to Derry to 'police' the march organised by the NI Civil Rights Association. 

"Jackson was the most senior officer present in the Bogside during the shooting. 

"Loden was in command of Support Company, the unit which fired all of the shots which killed or wounded. 

"It was Jackson who, just hours after the murders, wrote out in his own hand-writing the British Army’s cover-story about Bogsiders opening fire on the soldiers. Jackson was the top perjurer at the Saville Inquiry. He then ascended the ranks all the way to the very top - Chief of the General Staff. 

"It was Ford who has been shown on television at a barricade on William Street shouting “Go on the Paras!” as the killers poured through, running towards Rossville Street to launch the murder spree," it said.

"We could go listing senior British Army officers directly involved in the killings. Wilford wasn’t a rogue officer acting on his own.

"A great deal of the truth emerged at the Saville Inquiry. But not all of it. What’s left out are the roles of the high-ranking military and political figures who organised the killing and then produced the stream of lies intended to cover it up. 

"Half the truth isn’t enough. We are entitled to the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 

"There’s still some way to go before we have the full truth of how Bloody Sunday came about and who made it happen."