Killed while he helped wounded

A LIMAVADY man whose father was murdered in the Claudy bombings, has described how his mother was just minutes from also losing her life in the atrocity.

Gordon Miller, now aged 66, whose father David was killed as he carried the injured from the scene of one of the bombs, has recalled how his mother passed the scene of the first explosion just minutes earlier. David, a local road worker, who was 60 and from Irwin Crescent in Claudy, was killed by the second of three bombs in the small County Londonderry village on July 31, 1972.

He was one of nine civilians killed after being caught up in the Provisional IRA massacre after the car bombs were planted in the small area. Speaking to the Sentinel before the launch of the Claudy Bomb Report yesterday, Mr Miller, who was 28-years-old at the time, described how he nearly lost both parents in the attack.

Red hair

"My mother saw one of them (the bombers) run down through the old cattle market. He had red hair and jumped into a car just down the road a bit. She knew something wasn't right somewhere.

"As she was walking past the bank the first bomb went off and threw her against the railings. One or two minutes earlier and my mother would've been killed. They just abandoned them anywhere and ran. "

Mr Miller, who moved to Limavady from Claudy 45 years ago after he got married, described the moment he found out his father had been killed in the attack.

"I got the call about lunchtime to say there had been a bomb in Claudy so I went up. I couldn't get the car in because of the amount of roof tiles and slates everywhere, so I parked up the car and walked to my home. The whole place was just covered in glass and slates and what not.

"When I got home I walked in and my mother was sitting crying, I just thought 'there's something not right here', and that's when they told me."

Initial bomb

One of the bombs had exploded just 50 yards from Gordon's family home in the village. His father was killed as he returned to the scene of the initial bomb to help more of the injured when the second blast occurred.

"I couldn't believe it. It was like something out of a horror film. The only way they could identify my father was, he had a pin on his dungarees, he was meant to be getting a button on it the next day, he never got it on. That was the only way they could recognise him. He had been helping and moving people away from where the first bomb went off when the second bomb went. He was working with his friend at the time and the two of them were killed.

Everyday man

"He was just an ordinary, everyday man who looked after his family and did a day's work, he never did anyone harm.

"When I was younger we fished together, went for a pint and had a chat. He was 60 when he died. To this day it's very sad. It was a totally random attack that went very wrong. The phone lines weren't working at the time so no warnings could get through."

The Provisional IRA is widely believed to have carried out the bombing, but has never claimed responsibility. No person was arrested for the attack at the time but following calls for a new inquiry into the murders, a fresh investigation was started by the PSNI in 2002. As part of the investigation the police uncovered documents showing that the then Secretary of State Willie Whitelaw discussed a Catholic priest's involvement with Cardinal William Conway.

Mr Miller was presented with a six page summary of yesterday's report by the Police Ombudsman a month ago but says nothing will ever make up for the hurt, loss and grief of that late July morning of 1972.

"All we want is the truth and what happened after the bomb. But I will be surprised if anything else comes out that we don't already know about. I doubt it very much."

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