Judge quits inquiry into Bloody Sunday
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A second judge has resigned from the "Bloody Sunday" inquiry into the 1972 shootings of 13 people by the British Army in Londonderry.
The unexpected departure of the reserve judge to the tribunal leaves the inquiry without any judicial cover and at risk of collapse if a third member of the panel should be forced to quit the proceedings.
Mr Justice Esson, who told John Reid, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, that he was stepping down on doctors' advice, was appointed after Sir Edward Somers resigned from the tribunal last year for personal reasons, delaying the inquiry by several months and adding to the £45m legal bill.
The Canadian judge has spent the six months since his appointment shadowing the three full-time tribunal judges, including Sir Edward's replacement. Because of the "advanced stage" of the proceedings, ministers would not be seeking a replacement for the 71-year-old judge, a spokesman for the Government said in a surprise announcement.
Lawyers representing the injured and families of those killed by paratroops at a civil rights march on 30 January 1972 do not expect the tribunal chairman, Lord Justice Saville, to complete his findings until 2003. Some even believe that a final report will not be available until 2004.
Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein MP who has already admitted being the IRA's second-in-command in the city on the day of the shootings, will be among those expected to give evidence in the coming months.
Three QCs representing victims and their families have already resigned from the case. A further two lawyers are no longer representing some of the victims, while another barrister has resigned from the legal team advising the tribunal.
Mr Justice Esson told Mr Reid in his resignation letter that his doctor had advised him to step down. "I have reluctantly concluded that I should follow that advice and for that reason resign my position."
An inquiry statement said that, as a reserve judge, Mr Justice Esson did not contribute to tribunal decisions or seek to influence them. The two other judges are the former Canadian Chief Justice William Hoyt and the former Australian High Court judge John Toohey, who replaced Sir Edward.
Bitterness surrounding Bloody Sunday and the wider issues of law and order in the province remain at the heart of the political negotiations on Northern Ireland's future.
Sinn Fein warned Tony Blair yesterday that the latest plans to reform the Royal Ulster Constabulary were "unworkable". Gerry Kelly, a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the party's policing spokesman, said the Government's implementation plan for policing was "incapable of providing for the new beginning to policing promised by the Good Friday Agreement".
Mr Kelly called on the Government to continue negotiating to help republicans to take the "massive historic leap" that he said was required to sign up to policing reforms.
* Four men have been shot in apparent paramilitary punishment attacks, police said. Three were shot in the legs in Bangor, Co Down and a fourth was shot in the ankles and a wrist in Belfast.