McGuinness in denial over gun claim
MARTIN McGuinness has denied he was in possession of a machine gun in Londonderry on the day of Bloody Sunday.
The Saville report states that Mr McGuinness, then a member of the IRA, was present at the time of the violence and was “probably armed with a sub-machine gun”, but did not engage in “any activity that provided any of the soldiers with any justification for opening fire”.
Speaking on UTV on Tuesday, the deputy first minister denied the conclusion drawn by Lord Saville.
UUP MLA Tom Elliott accused Mr McGuinness of “cherry picking” the Saville report.
“Within less than two hours of the publication of the Saville Report, McGuinness has said that there is no truth to the claim that he was armed with a machine gun on that day,” he said.
“When pressed by journalists at a press conference to come clean about his activities on Bloody Sunday, he denied that the conclusion set out in the report was true.
He added: “So it has come to this already. McGuinness is only prepared to believe parts of the Saville Report. This selectivity does not serve the community or the truth.”
