Bloody Sunday Parachute Regiment commander dies

The officer who commanded the Parachute Regiment soldiers who were present on Bloody Sunday – when 13 people were shot dead in Londonderry – has died at the age of 90.

Lieutenant Colonel Derek Wilford died at his home in Belgium. He had been suffering from Parkinson's disease, according to an obituary in The Times.

Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972, was one of the darkest days in the history of the Northern Ireland Troubles.

Members of the Parachute Regiment entered the nationalist Bogside estate in Londonderry during a civil rights march.

Paratroopers opened fire, killing 13 people on the day, and a 14th dying later.

'Unjustified and unjustifiable'

An immediate inquiry after Bloody Sunday led by then-lord chief justice Lord Widgery was described as a whitewash after it largely cleared the paratroopers of blame.

After years of campaigning by victims' families, then-prime minister Tony Blair ordered a new inquiry in 1998.

The Saville Inquiry, which concluded in 2010, found that Lt Col Wilford disobeyed an order from a superior officer not to let his men enter the nationalist Bogside estate.

The then-prime minister David Cameron apologised in the House of Commons and said that the killings were "unjustified and unjustifiable".

However, despite the inquiry's findings, Lt Col Wilford continued to say that his soldiers had been fired on first.

'Terrible legacy'

In a statement, Tony Doherty, the chairman of the Bloody Sunday Trust, whose father was killed on that day, said: "The passing of Derek Wilford, while felt by his family, will not be mourned by the families of the innocent men and boys whose lives were taken by armed British paratroopers on Bloody Sunday.

"Colonel Wilford lived in a constant state of denial, never once accepting any measure of responsibility for his actions on that fateful day.

"History, though, will ensure that his actions led directly to the deaths of many innocent people which, in turn, led to years of conflict and hardship for our communities.

"He left a terrible legacy and will rightly be remembered for that."

Liam Wray, who lost his brother James, 22, on Bloody Sunday, told the BBC: "For his family, I understand there'll be sorrow.

"I take no delight in his death, but I'll not be shedding any tears either."