Bloody Sunday (1972) withdrawn from the Shankill. At the end of 1972, Lt Col Wilford, who was directly in charge of the soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday, was awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1992, John Major, writing to John Hume stated: "The Government made clear in 1974 that those who were killed on 'Bloody Sunday' should be regarded as innocent of any allegation that they were shot whilst handling firearms or explosives". In 2007, General (then Captain) Sir Mike Jackson, adjutant of 1 Para on Bloody Sunday, said: "I have no doubt that innocent people were
Bloody Sunday (1972) premeditated action, though "there was no point in trying to soften or equivocate" as "what happened should never, ever have happened". Cameron then apologised on behalf of the British Government by saying he was "deeply sorry". A survey conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion in June 2010 found that 61 per cent of Britons and 70 per cent of Northern Irish agreed with Cameron's apology for the Bloody Sunday events. Stephen Pollard, solicitor representing several of the soldiers, said on 15 June 2010 that Saville had cherry-picked the evidence and did not have justification for his findings. In 2012 an