A former soldier who may have shot three Bloody Sunday victims dead was accused of lying when he told the Saville Inquiry yesterday he could not remember details of the day.
Lawyer for the majority of Bloody Sunday families, Arthur Harvey QC accused Soldier P of having a "failure of conscience" and not a failure of memory from the day.
Tribunal chairman Lord Saville of Newdigate also warned Soldier P that it was his last chance to say anything about accusations that he killed or wounded people without justification.
A corporal in the Parachute regiment in 1972, Soldier P said in his written evidence to the Saville Inquiry: "I have no recollection of firing my weapon or of seeing or hearing others firing weapons.
"I do not recall hearing any other non-military, types of rifle discharge. I must have been fired at but I do not remember it at this time."
But in 1972, the witness made two statements. In the first on the evening of Bloody Sunday, he claimed he fired 11 shots in Rossville Street, killing a gunman and nail bomber and firing warning shots over the heads of a hostile crowd. In the second statement, two days later, he claimed he fired only nine shots.
He claimed he shot a nail bomber in an alleyway of Rossville Street twice and that he shot a gunman at the rubble barricade in Rossville Street three times.
Questioned by counsel to the Inquiry, Christopher Clarke QC, Soldier P said it was the only time he had ever shot anyone but still could remember "practically nothing of the day."
Mr Clarke told the witness that he, with another soldier (Soldier J), were the only candidates so far responsible for the shooting of Michael McDaid, William Nash, John Young and Hugh Gilmour. Soldier P denied the allegation.
Mr Harvey, for the majority of Bloody Sunday families, told the witness there was a lot of evidence to indicate that no nail bomber was killed in the position given by Soldier P.
He suggested that Soldier P did not hit a gunman with three shots but shot three people who were taking cover behind the rubble barricade with one bullet each. The witness denied this.
"I suggest to you that you do not have any failure of memory, what you have is a failure of conscience." The witness denied this was the case.
