Victims' families 'offered payout'

Thursday 14 February 2013

The families of those killed on Bloody Sunday have been offered £50,000 each in compensation, according to reports today.

The BBC said that those seriously injured on the day had also been offered the same amount.

The offer was made following months of discussion between lawyers for the Ministry of Defence and the families' legal teams, it said.

The figure has been circulated in an email but it is not clear yet if a formal letter has been sent to the families.

Under the terms disclosed to the BBC, each of the 13 families whose relatives were killed would receive a payment of £50,000.

The 13 people who were seriously injured would receive the same sum.

However a solicitor for one of the families told the BBC the derisory offer and said his client felt it was an insult to those who were killed.

Thirteen people died when British soldiers opened fire during a civil rights march in Derry in 1972. A 14th person died later.

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