Kathleen Thompson inquest: ‘wall of silence’ claim put to ex-soldier

The suggestion was put to a former British soldier giving evidence to today’s resumed hearing.

Kathleen Thompson (47), a mother of six, was shot dead in the garden of her Creggan home on November 6, 1971, during an army raid on the estate.

Karen Quinlivan QC, counsel for the Thompson family, queried why, despite there being two witnesses to a soldier who said he may have fired the fatal shots, no one had been able to identify who these soldiers were.

She asked the witness, known as KTM 466, if it was ‘possible soldiers are deliberately not helping the Coroner’.

The witness replied that, while he could not answer for anyone else, he was ’trying to be helpful’.

Earlier, the former soldier said he was ‘surprised’ to hear that shots had been fired during the November 1971 operation. He said he had been on the army operation on the night of November 5/6.

He said he remembered that particular operation as it occurred a few days before his birthday.

The former soldier said he had been providing cover for the entry team who were to search a house in the area.

He described ‘nothing unusual’ during the operation and added that he had no recall of shots either being fired at them or by them.

The witness accepted that he could be confusing the operation with another one.

He added that he could not recall CS gas being fired or any ‘green on green’ shooting.

The former soldier said that, as the units withdrew from the area, they would have gone down Southway - which he described as a steep hill - and this, he said, could have accounted for him not hearing any shots.

He added that talk of shooting had been on ‘the jungle drums’ but he had no recollection of hearing about Kathleen Thompson’s death.

The hearing continues.