Police to probe 1972 Bloody Sunday killings

Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie told families of the Bloody Sunday dead today that 15 full-time detectives will collect witness testimony and will question former soldiers who had opened fire as criminal suspects.

Nobody has ever been charged over the killings and Commander Gillespie said that detectives would "go where the evidence takes us."

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) had said in July that it would launch an investigation into the deaths.

Lord Saville published his report in 2010, following a 12-year inquiry into the killings.

The report found that the British army had fired the first shots on Bloody Sunday and were to blame for what happened.

British Prime Minister David Cameron apologised to the families and described the killings as "unjustified and unjustifiable."

The PSNI reviewed the findings of the report and announced this year that it planned to hold an investigation, but did not give a start date.

Ms Gillespie met the families after they had expressed concerns about the lack of progress in the investigation.

"We were able to give an update on the progress of the investigation, the resources we're putting into it and how we're going to liaise with the families during it," she said.

The victims' families and Sinn Fein welcomed the announcement.

Speaking after the meeting, John Kelly - whose brother was killed on Bloody Sunday - said he was reassured by what he heard and had been told that they would be regularly updated.

"I thought it was a very positive meeting, all the questions we asked we got answers to," he said.

"More than just the soldiers should be interviewed over this process, but the soldiers are the important factor - they are the people who committed the atrocity.

"Rightly so they are going to be brought in and interviewed about their actions that day."

Ms Gillespie said the investigation would "start in earnest" in the new year but preparatory work had already been done.