Two south Armagh families who lost loved ones to
loyalist terrorists have cautiously welcomed the establishment a new team
to investigate unsolved murders over the last 30 years.
The Historical Enquiries Team has been set up
to re-examine over 3,000 unsolved murders during the Troubles - but for
two local families, the news has come 30 years late. Eugene Reavey's three
brothers were murdered at their Whitecross home by the UVF in 1976. He has
always claimed security force collusion in the triple murder and said,
that while he wants the authorities to track down those responsible, he
does not want the killers to go to jail.
"I don't think that would serve any
purpose," he said. "If you talk about closure, as the
Secretary of State has been talking about in this
bill, closure for us doesn't mean some piece of legislation. Closure means
that we know who killed them.
"The dogs in the street know who killed my
brothers but the authorities seem to have some hindrance in their way to
stop them going and prosecuting these people."
The day after the Reavey murders, 10 Protestant
workmen were killed by republicans at Kingsmills.
Bea Wharton, whose son Kenneth was amongst those shot
dead, said she just wants justice.
"We want to hear the truth - how it happened and
who did it," she said.
"You go from day to day and you don't know who
has done it. You could be talking to the ones that did it yet don't know.
"You just want to see some truth. The truth never
hurts and it always comes out in the end."
Meanwhile, the family of a Dundalk man killed by
loyalist paramilitaries in 1979 at Ravensdale are pushing for a full
public inquiry in to his murder.
Seamus Ludlow was abducted outside Dundalk and shot
dead almost 25 years ago.
An Oireachtas sub-committee will today (Tuesday)
launch hearings into a report into the murder compiled by a former Supreme
Court Judge, Mr Justice Henry Barron.
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