Kathleen Thompson inquest: ex-soldier says he fired three shots

The inquest into the death of a mother-of-six in Derry 50 years ago has heard from a former British soldier who said he fired three shots that night.

Kathleen Thompson was shot dead outside her home in the Creggan area of the city during an army operation in November 1971.

The former soldier, identified as KTM72, was giving evidence yesterday on Thursday about how he was one of the party that entered a house in Rathlin Drive to carry out an arrest and search.

The witness said three soldiers and himself entered the house accompanied by an RUC man but nothing was found.

The former soldier said that, when he left the house, there was ‘chaos’ outside.

KTM72 said he saw the muzzle flash of three or four shots from what he believed to have been a handgun.

He said he fired “three single shots” and another colleague fired two shots.

The witness said he didn’t think he hit anyone but added that Kathleen Thompson may have “got in the way”.

The former soldier said he would have been interviewed by the Special Investigations Branch if someone had been shot and these would have been “formal written statements”.

He said it had never been suggested to him that he had shot Kathleen Thompson.

It was suggested to him by Karen Quinlivan QC, counsel for the Thompson family, that Royal Military Police had taken four statements following the shooting and that it was possible that he was the soldier identified as C.

The barrister said details he had given in his statement seemed to be similar to the details in Soldier C’s statement.

However, the former soldier replied: “I don’t remember saying all that.”

Soldier C’s statement claimed to have seen a gunman with a woman standing behind him and seeing the gunman ‘slump’ after a soldier fired and hearing a woman screaming.

Ms Quinlivan suggested to the witness that he knew as a result of the actions of Soldier D, who has admitted firing into the garden where Mrs Thompson was shot, that he was in “some trouble” and had made a statement “to back up his account”.

She went on to suggest to KTM 368 that now, some 50 years later, he was not prepared “to give account supportive of Soldier D because that would be a lie”.

The former soldier replied: “I can’t remember what happened”.

Under questioning by Kevin Rooney QC, for the Ministry of Defence, the witness was asked when he had remembered that he had made a statement to the RMP and he replied that he “woke up in the middle of the night and thought I did”.