Bloody Sunday Trust chair Tony Doherty says John Hume was a 'Derryman first and last'

Mr. Doherty said the former SDLP leader was a Derryman to his marrow.

"John was a great Irishman who represented his city and country throughout the world and will always be renowned for taking huge personal and political risks for peace after decades of conflict and injustice.

"He was a great friend of the Bloody Sunday families and our campaign for truth and justice and was the first to cause a chink in the armour of the British Government’s adherence to the Widgery Report in his correspondence with John Major as early as 1992.

"During our many encounters with John over the years, he always spoke with great clarity and wisdom. He joined us in Dublin, London, Brussels and Washington as we took our case abroad in the 1990s.

"But he was always most at home in his beloved native city and never failed to convince his audience anywhere in the world that he was a Derryman first and a Derryman last," he said.