A former British soldier, who claims he was involved in army operation where another soldier shot a Derry mother-of-six was dead in her garden, said he was ordered that night to ‘shoot first, ask questions later’.
The new inquest began today at Bishop Street Courthouse into the death of Kathleen Thompson (pictured bottom left with her family) was a killed at her Rathlin Drive home in Creggan home by a bullet fired by a British soldier on November 6, 1971.
The soldier responsible for firing the fatal shot, known only as Soldier D, will give evidence tomorrow behind a screen but the Thompson family will be permitted to watch him.
Around midnight on the night Ms Thompson was shot dead, members of the Royal Green Jacket Regiment carried out a raid on a house in Rathlin Drive.
Shortly after the raid Mrs Thompson, who was 47, was found dead in the rear in her home, killed by a high velocity bullet which had struck her in the chest.
A former British soldier, who has been granted anonymity, gave his evidence behind a screen, however, the Thompson family were permitted to see him as he testified.
The man, known only as ‘Soldier E’, claimed that he had been stationed on a grassy area facing up to Rathlin Drive with other soldiers but that they could not see the area above the hill. He said that he and his soldiers only learned of Ms Thompson’s death when they were making their way back to the army base in Ballykelly. He said they did not know any other details about it.
He claimed he had been briefed to ‘form a protective cordon around the area’. He added: “I was specifically told to shoot anyone who came across that grassland and to ask questions later.
“I was told to shoot the streetlights first as a warning and then if anyone continued to run just shoot them.”
Soldier E said he had disagreed with this briefing as it went against the rules of engagement and said he did not pass it on to his men.
Other witnesses this morning, including Ms Thompson’s daughter, Minty, who was 12-years-old when she and her father discovered her mother’s body in their back garden, said they had not heard any gunfire on the night in question. However, Soldier E claimed he had heard gunfire come from ‘in front’ of him.
Soldier E also said there had been an incident of ‘green on green’ gunfire, which meant that soldiers had mistakenly fired at each other. However, he admitted that, although this would be considered as a very serious matter within the army, he had never heard about any investigation into the alleged friendly fire.
Soldier E also claimed there it was a ‘possibility’ the Parachute Regiment were involved in reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering and said he was sure the SAS were involved.
Despite being challenged and told the first known presence of the SAS in Northern Ireland was some two years after Ms Thompson’s death, he replied, ‘You’re wrong’.
He also said he ‘didn’t know’ where he had gotten the information to suggest the Parachute Regiment were involved, despite their first known presence in Derry being on Bloody Sunday, January 1972, when they killed 14 civilians.
Soldier E claimed he had spoken to a man in recent years who claimed he was in the SAS and in Derry at the time Ms Thompson was killed. He said the man was a brother of an ex-girlfriend and was evasive when asked if he would be willing to provide the name to the Coroner. However, he was instructed to do so. He was also instructed to provide the name of a soldier whose death he said he witnessed by IRA sniper.
It was also put to Soldier E that he was confusing his account on the night Ms Thompson was killed with another operation in Derry. Soldier E claimed there had been ‘over 3,000 troops’ involved on the night Ms Thompson was shot dead.
However, it was put to him that he may have been confused and that he might have been recalling Operation Huntsman that happened in the same area in August of the same year involving a significant number of troops where the British Army shot a local man dead.
However, Soldier E disagreed and said, while he may have gotten the number of troops wrong, Ms Thompson’s death was the only civilian death that had taken place in any operation he had been involved in.
Neither the soldier who is said to have shot Ms Thompson dead, known only as Soldier D, nor any of the other soldiers who were there at the time of the incident, were interviewed by the RUC after the shooting, which was instead delegated by the RUC to the Royal Military Police (RMP).
However, Soldier D is expected to give evidence for the first time about the killing behind a screen tomorrow afternoon and the Thompson family will get to watch him make his testimony.
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