'There should be no prosecutions'

At around noon on July 31, three no-warning car bombs tore through the heart of Claudy village killing nine people. Mary Hamilton was amongst those seriously wounded in the explosions.

The attacks killed six people instantly, with three more later dying from their wounds. Five of the victims came from the Catholic community and four from the Protestant community.

The bombings were widely blamed on the Provisional IRA, and shortly afterwards accusations were made that a Catholic priest, Father James Chesney was involved in the planting of the devices.

July 31, 1972, was also the day that the Army launched Operation Motorman in Londonderry. It was a definitive bid to end 'no-go' areas in republican districts. These were areas controlled largely by both IRA factions and where, for some years, the RUC and the Army had not ventured.

"I remember it as vividly as yesterday. A neighbouring woman came into the shop and said the Army were going into the Bogside," she said.

The PSNI launched an inquiry into the Claudy atrocity in 2002. At the time of the attack, no one had been arrested. The IRA in the city denied any involvement, but papers unearthed during the police investigation revealed the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw discussed Fr Chesney's involvement in the killings with Catholic Cardinal William Conway.

Sometime after the bombing Fr Chesney was questioned by then Bishop of the city, Neil Farren and later by Bishop Edward Daly. Fr Chesney was shifted to a remote parish in the West of Ireland in the late 1970s and then back to Malin Head, Co Donegal. He died there in 1980.

1972 was the single most bloody year of the Troubles with a grim total of 496 deaths. Amongst those victims was Mary Hamilton's brother-in-law, Ellis Hamilton, a part-time member of the UDR, shot by the IRA at Croppy Hill reservoir on December 20. Later that night five more people were murdered by loyalists at Annie's Bar at Gobnascale in the Waterside.

Mary Hamilton holds reservations about yesterday's launch of the Saville Report, whilst the report into the Claudy Bomb, now eight years in the making, has still to be brought out.

"The people killed in Claudy were all innocent victims going about their work," she said.

Asked if she believed if the people shot dead by the Army on Bloody Sunday were 'unlawfully killed', Mrs Hamilton said: "Why were there no women and children killed?

"I don't think the Saville Report will bring closure to it. Some people will not be happy until they get the results they want. The Saville Inquiry lasted 12 years - we are still waiting on a report on something that happened in the same year."

Mrs Hamilton also stated that the Saville Report was 'pushed ahead' because the Army was involved whilst she suggested that a political 'cover-up' took place with regard to Claudy.

"Father Chesney was sent away somewhere, like the other clerics that took part in child abuse. The people in Claudy do not matter. Kathryn Eakin was nine when she was killed in the bombs. Her parents have gone to their graves without closure."

Asked if she thought the Saville report would bring closure to the Bloody Sunday families she added: "From the point of view of the families they may get some closure, but there should be no prosecutions of any soldiers.

"The problem with the Claudy bomb is that anyone involved is either dead or gone away, so they cannot be prosecuted," she said.

The Unionist councillor criticised the cost of the Saville Report, which has approached the 190 million mark. She feels that the money would have been better spent in investment in the health service.

Mrs Hamilton concluded by saying: "I hope there will never be the need for another inquiry like this because it would mean the return to the darkest days of the Troubles."

The Sentinel asked the office of the Northern Ireland Ombudsman when the report into the Claudy bomb was likely to be published. A response confirmed that no exact date has been set but the report would be fortcoming "soon."