Absolutely nothing to do with the robbery but reading Den's post of 12 May 05 - 09:49 AM. I have a couple of questions, that I would most certainly have liked to put to Robert J. Breglio the American ballistics expert, and to the other ballistics expert, Dr. Hugh Thomas.

They are both linked as the evidence of both men seems to rely strongly on suppositions, that they may, or may not have grounds for making.

The first is to the American expert - How by examining the autopsies and medical reports did he conclude that the 'sniper' was using telescopic sights? In his study of the angle of the trajectories is he assuming that the three victims were standing upright? Did he verify this, or was it confirmed in evidence by others? If this is an assumption did he then extend the line of trajectory to a fire position most likely then conclude that the shooter would have had to use a telescopic sight.

The second relates to Dr. Hugh Thomas's comments in the interview with channel 4 in which "he claimed that these three victims could not possibly have been hit at street level as was the official statement. He said, "It would be almost impossible for those three men in the few seconds that were available to them to bend to exactly the same angle and face exactly the same way and be shot in exactly the same fashion."

Now I believe that in the British War Museum there is a photograph that demonstrates exactly how this circumstance regarding the possibility of quite a large gathering bending "to exactly the same angle and face exactly the same way" The photograph is of a collection of fighter pilots taken during the Battle of Britain. Apparently as the photographer took the shot a weapons armourer tested the guns on one of the aircraft. Everyone in that photograph is crouched, I was noted that those who were right-handed were looking over their right shoulders because the firing came from behind, while those who were left-handed were looking over their left shoulders. It prompted a change in formation where left handers if available were put out on the left side of the formation.

Now to get back to the three victims and Dr. Hugh Thomas's evidence, is he too assuming that these men were standing up-straight? Under fire it is not uncommon and quite natural to crouch, you try to make as small a target as possible, you double up, in this position I can certainly see how it would be possible to have an entry and exit would indicate a shot fired at a downward angle of 45 degrees, when in actual fact it was fired along a horizontal plane.

The walls of Derry were being patrolled that day by members of the Anglian Regiment if memory serves me correctly, but I am in no wat sure. Now they would not be carrying arms fitted with telescopic sights, it was not standard issue at the time, but that surely would have been examined in detail during the Inquiry. The timing as stated by the ballistics experts seem to indicate a semi-automatic rifle. It would be interesting to know. The above were merely the questions that immediately came to my mind, very interesting, thanks for the post Den.