WATCH: Derry MP leaves station: PSNI refuse to conduct pre-arranged interview

Foyle MP and SDLP Leader, Colum Eastwood, has walked out of Derry’s Strand Road barracks because PSNI officers refused to conduct a pre-arranged interview.

Prominent members of the Bloody Sunday families have also been contacted by the PSNI seeking similar interviews, it has emerged.

All the interviews relate to an alleged ‘unnotified parade’ in the city, in the city, on August 25, 2023. 

On that day, the Bloody Sunday families were accompanied to Derry Court by their legal representatives and local politicians, including Colum Eastwood, to hear proceedings relating to ‘Soldier F’.

Speaking outside Strand Road barracks at lunchtime today (December 15, 2023), Mr Eastwood, who was accompanied by his solicitor, Mr Ciarán Shiels, said: "I was asked to attend an interview with the PSNI because I walked alongside members of the Bloody Sunday families, to the Derry Court House, at a hearing for 'Soldier F'.

"I agreed to come but for one reason only, I was going to be very clear with the police that no member of the Bloody Sunday families will be attending to take part in this farce.

"This is an enquiry based on a mischievous complaint and in the light of the fact, 52 years ago, 14 people were murdered on the streets of this city and only yesterday, we now have somebody going to court over that, this seems to be the priority of the PSNI today.

"I have been sitting in there for 20 minutes and the PSNI have refused to send anybody down to interview me. So, I'll not be partaking in any further part of this process. I was only going in there to tell them that this is a farce and it shouldn't happen and that is the end of the matter. Good luck to the PSNI if this is the type of approach they are taking," said Mr Eastwood.

Mr Eastwood said he walked out because he had only agreed to attend the PSNI requested interview to say he would not be part in what he described as a "farce" conducted "on the basis of a complaint made by Jamie Bryson or somebody else because innocent families, who have been through five decades of hurt and pain and injustice walked up a street.

He added: "It is utterly ridiculous that the PSNI think this is the way to approach victims of what happened on Bloody Sunday.

"I was asked to come. We agreed a time. I thought from the very beginning this was a farce of a process and I was only going to go in there to tell them that. But, they didn't bother to turn up, so I am out here telling you instead."

Solicitor Ciarán Shiels, who acts directly for most of the Bloody Sunday families confirmed the PSNI intends to interview members of the families as well.

Mr Shiels said: "The position is that they [PSNI] are looking to interview prominent members of the McKinney, Kelly and Duddy families, who attended on the very first day of the murder proceedings being reinstituted against 'Soldier F' following the successful judicial review that we took in the Divisional Court to the decision to discontinue that prosecution.

"A small number of the families walked a portion of Bishop Street, accompanied by political and legal representatives. There was no major political statement in it. Nobody was inconvenienced. The police saw it. The police did not issue any warnings about an 'illegal possession'. 

"But, what did happen was, Jamie Bryson, loaded on Twitter 'sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander', as if we could equate the Bloody Sunday families with people marching hooded and armed in East Belfast, as if it was a quid pro quo situation and now you must interview under caution families who are already feeling traumatised.

"Let's traumatise them a bit more by bringing them down to Strand Road police station, where they can sit across an interview table and talk about why they attended Bishop's Street Court House, as victims, in relation to support for their loved one, who was in fact murdered on that day. To support the PPS, by the way, in their prosecution.

"Even 'Soldier F' wasn't threatened with arrest at any time in the last 51 years but we have now, at least five prominent members of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign who do face arrest if they don't go down to Strand Road police station and be interviewed under caution," said Mr Shiels.