A FORMER chairman of a south Armagh GAA club has told the Kingsmill inquest how he knelt and prayed beside the bodies of the victims.
The inquest resumed on Tuesday after a two-week adjournment as police examine new evidence - a palm print on a getaway van which has been matched to veteran republican Colm Murphy.
Ten Protestant workmen were shot dead by the Provisional IRA when their minibus was stopped at Kingsmill, Co Armagh in January 1976.
John Moley was one of the first on the scene and described seeing bodies "littered across the road" as he approached in his car.
Giving evidence by Skype, he told the inquest he was travelling from Whitecross to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry for the removal of the remains of the Reavey brothers, murdered by loyalist gunmen the day before.
As chairman of Whitecross GAA club he had been asked to bring black armbands for a guard of honour.
He stayed at the scene for "no more than 10 minutes" but came across Gerry McKeown, who he knew through GAA circles, and the two knelt by the victims and prayed.
Mr Moley told the inquest that some of the men seemed to have put their lunch box in front of themselves and described their van as "littered with bullets".
"It was an horrific sight to see and it has given me many flashbacks throughout my life. It was a terrible scene," he said.
"I was shocked beyond belief."
Mr Moley said he had originally been contacted by Eugene Reavey to give a statement to the Historical Enquiries Team in September 2010 but none was ever taken, despite attending Mr Reavey's home when officers were present.
He said he was never contacted by police, nor has he given a statement to them at any point.
Edwin Scott, a policeman stationed in Newtownhamilton who was part of a group of officers called to assist Bessbrook station in response to the shooting, also gave evidence yesterday.
Mr Scott, who was then aged 21, said police were "always short-staffed" at the time and he was working 14 to 16-hour days due to the "ongoing security risk".
In his statement the officer referred to south Armagh as "bandit country", but refuted suggestions that patrols were reduced due to a heightened security threat or risk.
When asked if police ever held back or withdrew from an area he also dismissed the idea.
Mr Scott did say, however, that "from time to time areas would have been out of bounds". When asked why this was the case he replied: "I couldn't say."
Speaking afterTuesday's hearing, Alan Black, the sole survivor of the shootings, said he believed there was more to come about the atrocity.
"I honestly think there is. It's very, very hard just to say where we are at," he said.
"We've learnt an awful lot more than what we did know, but there's a lot more to come."
