40 years on Claudy Bomb victims call for action

Standing in silence in a sun-dappled village 10 miles from Londonderry, a small handful of survivors of the bombing were joined by some of those who lost loved ones in the triple-blast atrocity that killed nine civilians and injured scores more, at the bronze memorial for a silent Act of Reflection.

Despite investigations and assurances spanning four decades, as yet no one has been brought to book for the atrocity which ripped through the village causing horror and mayhem.

Among those to mark the 40th anniversary of the atrocity was David Temple, whose brother William, a 16-year-old boy who survived the first blast, died in the third bomb.

Mr Temple called for all those involved in the bombing to “come clean”.

“The Irish Government, the British Government, the Roman Catholic Church, everyone has to come clean on Claudy. There is a lot of information out there in London and they should all come clean and let the victims know what happened and why are they trying to cover up everything,” he said.

“My appeal to the police is get your finger out and get things sorted out and let the victims know. In my books they have a lot to do, they knew a lot and they don’t want to say anything because, I think, they are protecting people. Everybody should come clean on this.”

Not far from Mr Temple stood Mark Eakin, whose sister Kathryn Eakin, a little girl of eight, who was cleaning the windows of her parents’ shop, watched by Mark at the time the first of the three bombs exploded.

Despite medical help at the scene, Kathryn died. She was the youngest person to die in the atrocity.

Asked what he thought of the Victims Commissioner’s visit to the village and his assurance that he was to seek a meeting with the Chief Constable, Mr Eakin said: “I think it is good to get a response, but the case still stands that we need to get the support of the PSNI, and his position and Peter Robinson’s position, and leave that in their hands to resolve the situation. I don’t want to see another letter coming out where I am being told that there are no more resources, because that is not acceptable.

“I don’t think anybody needs to be told again just how we feel, we feel let down. We feel that there is not enough being done. Yet again we are calling on people and asking for someone please to resolve this situation and to get the support of the PSNI, then, hopefully, there won’t be any more excuses.

Mr Eakin was accompanied by his two daughters, Samantha and Rebecca, as they stood in silence for the Act of Reflection at the Claudy Memorial statue.

Asked what he would be asking of the Commissioner, he said: “I will be asking him what he can do to help us, and I would like to think somebody is going to get us whatever files that are kept about Claudy, which have not yet been seen. There are some files in London that we can apply for and I don’t see why we should have to apply for them, I think they should just be handed over. There could well be information in the files that is embarrassing to people, but if they are handed over to the authorities and let the PSNI deal with that - I am not saying I want a whole hoo-ha started over Claudy, but I do think that they should at the very least be handed over to the families. It is time the truth came out I don’t think people can hide behind it any longer. The people of Claudy , the victims of Claudy and all the other victims of the Troubles they want to know what happened; you know, why Claudy?”

Far from happy with how previous investigations have gone, Marjorie Leslie, who was a young wife and mother at the time of the bomb and was injured in the blast, said she was so disillusioned with official attempts to uncover what had happened that she was now going to seek a meeting with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness to discuss the bombing with him.

“I had my Achilles tendon to my left heel shattered. I am very lucky to be alive to be quite honest. It was like a nightmare.

“I would like to know why? Why Claudy? It is my intention to make an appointment to meet with Martin McGuinness, because I do believe that that gentleman would have some answers. I intend to do this in the very near future because we certainly will get nowhere with investigations as far as the authorities are concerned.

“The chances were probably opportunities missed and Claudy was forgotten. We were left to survive and we learned a coping mechanism, but that does not take the memories away,” Mrs Leslie said, continuing: “There was information collated and on the back of that you would have heard about so-and-so was arrested in connection with the Claudy Bombings. I have often wondered was this to appease the people? Was it to appease the public? ‘Oh, We have arrested someone’. I really have no faith in the authorities and in the investigation, and I think that all came out in the report which we had a few years ago. I am very disappointed and I am very saddened.”

UUP Alderman Mary Hamilton, who was also injured in the blast and whose business, the Beaufort Hotel on Church Street, was ripped apart by the second bomb, said: “Words are OK, but it is action we need.”

Referring to a statement by Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness in which he described the bombings as “appalling and indefensible”, Mrs Hamilton said: “He owes it to the families to talk to them and to answer the questions that they want answered. He also needs to contact the PSNI and tell them everything he knows about what led to the bombing. We need actionos now not words.”

She went on to call on the Victims Commissioner to also take action: “I would like to think that is the start of something and take things forward and get some closure for the families. The families are just sitting in limbo at the moment and there is nothing being done. We want to see action and not words.”