Rocky too
Sir: Noel Malcolm (4 February) is a little rocky on his reporting of our 'Death on the Rock' programme and the subsequent Windlesham/Rampton Report.
We did not conclude that the IRA terrorists were murdered. We presented all the eyewitness evidence we could gather and concluded with the views of an emi- nent QC, George Carman, that perhaps a judicial inquiry would be the best way of resolving the conflicts of evidence.
We were not in the business of express ing opinions but of finding and examining evidence. Some of that evidence is disturb- ing and contradicts the government account.
With regard to Mr Malcolm's statement that Carmen Proetta saw the aftermath of the shootings rather than the shootings themselves, he appears to be unaware of new evidence which has emerged since the inquest, which casts doubt on the testi- mony of one of the key Gibraltar police witnesses, Inspector Revagliatte. Mrs Proetta is in no doubt that she saw the shootings.
As to the alleged one-sidedness of the programme Mr Malcolm implies that we only asked the Government for their com- ments at the last minute. In fact very early on we asked the Government for an interview, for on or off the record brief- ings, for assistance in finding a spokesman for the armed forces, for help in blowing up a car to demonstrate the appalling intentions of the terrorists. All this was denied.
There was no legal basis for banning the programme as the Windlesham/Rampton Report makes clear. To have not transmit- ted the programme because of a Govern- ment's unwillingness to participate would give a Government an effective veto on matters of public importance. Is this what Noel Malcolm wants?
Roger Bolton
Editor, This Week, Thames Television, 306-316 Euston Road, London NW1
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