Page "Bloody Sunday (1972)" Paragraph 37

Two days after Bloody Sunday, the Westminster Parliament adopted a resolution for a tribunal into the events of the day, resulting in Prime Minister Edward Heath commissioning the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery to undertake it.

Many witnesses intended to boycott the tribunal as they lacked faith in Widgery's impartiality, but were eventually persuaded to take part.

Widgery's quickly produced report — completed within ten weeks ( 10 April ) and published within eleven ( 19 April )— supported the Army's account of the events of the day.

Among the evidence presented to the tribunal were the results of paraffin tests, used to identify lead residues from firing weapons, and that nail bombs had been found on the body of one of those killed.

Tests for traces of explosives on the clothes of eleven of the dead proved negative, while those of the remaining man could not be tested as they had already been washed.

Most Irish people and witnesses to the event disputed the report's conclusions and regarded it as a whitewash.

It has been argued that firearms residue on some deceased may have come from contact with the soldiers who themselves moved some of the bodies, or that the presence of lead on the hands of one ( James Wray ) was easily explained by the fact that his occupation involved the use of lead-based solder.

In fact, in 1992, John Major, writing to John Hume stated: