Former British Prime Minister David Cameron has revealed that the report from the Saville Inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday was "one of the most shocking" things he has ever read.
Cameron was speaking to BBC Talkback on Friday ahead of the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday on Sunday, January 30, and said that he felt a "huge responsibility" when he delivered a historic apology to the victims' families in 2010.
Cameron famously apologized in the British House of Commons following the publication of the Saville Inquiry and described the deaths as "unjustified and unjustifiable".
The apology was viewed live by victims' families in Derry.
He told BBC Talkback that he came to the conclusion after reading the report that he needed to be "clear and frank" in his apology.
"I was feeling what a huge responsibility it was to try and get this right, because of course the families affected and people of Northern Ireland had been waiting so long," Cameron told the BBC.
He said that his office was crowded with people when the report was published and that he kicked everyone out so that he could read it without interference.
"It was one of the most shocking things I have ever read. I knew before I read it what a responsibility it was but I knew in reading it something very special, very clear, very frank needed to be said," he said.
He added that he was "very conscious" that there were thousands of people in Derry waiting to hear the results of the Saville Inquiry, which found that none of the Bloody Sunday victims were posing a threat or doing anything to justify their deaths.
Cameron also explained that he described the killings as "unjustified and unjustifiable" because that was "what he felt reading the report".
"Ultimately after I had read the summary, I took out a fresh sheet of paper and said how do I feel having read what I read," Cameron said.
In a separate post on Twitter, Cameron said that the Bloody Sunday killings were "unjustified, unjustifiable, and wrong".
"As we mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, my thoughts are with the victims' families. No words can ever dampen the pain they have suffered, but I hope the full apology I made in 2010 helped," Cameron wrote on Twitter.
As we mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, my thoughts are with the victims' families. No words can ever dampen the pain they have suffered, but I hope the full apology I made in 2010 helped. What happened was unjustified, unjustifiable and wrong. https://t.co/I8xDpzJYyU
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) January 29, 2022
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